Generations

Last week I was looking at the work of Strauss & Howe on Generations. It makes a good evaluation of the material on adult development that I am teaching my second years. Just as a man’s (or woman’s) life goes in seasons from pre-adulthood spring to the winter of old age so history goes in similar cycles of about 80 years.

Their theory sees the crises of the depression and World War 2 giving way to the high of 50s prosperity. This was followed by a time of revolution starting in the 60s the time of civil rights, hippies and the charismatic renewal. After going through a time of ‘unraveling’ they said that we will face another crisis at the beginning of the 21st century. This is now interpreted as the war on terror.

So I wonder, as a Christian, what we can learn about our time from looking at other crises. Perhaps there are parallels between what we as Christians can be doing today and what heroes of faith were doing in their crisis. For instance, Bonhoeffer comes to mind, standing in opposition to the Nazi’s. But what sort of political involvement could we be involved in today? These thoughts have partly led me to look more at faithworks again and to sign up as a member.

Could this be one way to be discerning of the times?