Per discussion with friends on Facebook, over the book "The Rocks Don't Lie," I'd say the answer is yes. (Partial review of the book below.)
The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood by David R. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A genial refutation of young-earth creationism
Montgomery
generally keeps this story about how the earth's geology refutes any
version of a literal Noahic flood light on detailed scientific language.
And, it is written as a story.
He takes the reader to
various geological formations in the world thatr have been key to the
development of geology as a science, while narrating how key figures
from geology's history have studied and analyzed such formations. At the
same time, he narrates the history of Christian theological thought on
literal vs non-literal biblical interpretation in general, and
specifically on the Noahic flood. He intertwines the two in discussing
how different strands of Christian thought reacted to these scientific
findings.
Basically, by the end of the 19th century, a
literal or semi-literal young-earth creationism (if not 10,000 years or
less, certainly no more than 100,000 years) had fallen out of favor with
the great majority of theologians in most of the Western world.
With the exception of the United States.
Montgomery puts YEC developments in the historic context of:
1. Anti-evolutionism and the Scopes trial of the 1920s and
2. Anti-communism and the Cold War, etc., of the late 1940s and beyond.
As
talk of "culture wars" continues, and as Montgomery stretches YEC roots
back to the Second Great Awakening, this is good to remember.
View all my reviews
That said, unlike the First Great Awakening. the Second Great Awakening, or the Third Great Awakening, this "Fourth Great Awakening" has a much more political component.
The First one may have had some connection to the American Revolution; Wiki's entry claims that, but I think it overstates the case. The Second spawned the short-lived Anti-Masonic Party, but was not directly connected to abolitionism. The Third (I partially accept there was one, but definite more narrowly
in time than Wiki) had a bit of a political angle, more in the "Social
Gospel" of mainline Protestantism, though, than in the rising Holiness
Movement. was a bit more political, but not extremely so.
I also accept the idea of a Fourth Great Awakening, but while I disagree with Wiki that its timeframe for the Third is too long, I think it's too short for the Fourth.
Evidence for one starting includes that the National Council of Churches "peaked" in the late 50s/early 60s,
mainline Protestantism had clergy/laity separating more at that time, and fundamentalism and conservative evangelicalism grew rapidly.
That said, previous "Great Awakenings" shot their Roman candle in 35-45
years, really. (Which is part of why I think Wiki is too long on the Third and too short on the Fourth.) So ... W's two elections aside, is the Third Awakening
pretty much dying? And, does that in part explain some of the vitriol?
Angry death spasms?
We're at about the right time frame. Each previous Great Awakening died differently.
The First petered out, as much as anything. The fervor of the Second got a nurture in sects such as Mormonism, Adventism, etc. that got new life in the Third, which also faced American industrialization.
The Fourth had a start, if you will, and was almost stillborn, in the Scopes trial. Not all conservative Christians were young-earth creationists, and so, while they may not have been fully reconciled to Darwinian ideas aobut evolution, many probably could have halfway accepted a "tamer" version of evolution if combined with old-earth creationism.
But, the Second Red Scare ( the first being after World War I) changed everything. But not by itself. The Civil Rights Movement added a "second stage" to this rocket. (Although black megachurches have grown recently, the Fourth Great Awakening is much more a white Christian phenomenon.)
Because the Fourth Great Awakening tied with this, not just the Second Red Square, it naturally became more political. Non-Catholic parochial schools, battles over school prayer, tax exemptions and more, as well as political appeals, both open and coded, by both Democrats and Republicans, became part of this.
But, now, has it shot its bolt?
It may have. One sign? Per a new Wall Street Journal poll, almost 70 percent of Americans want to keep Roe v. Wade.
This is a slice of my philosophical, lay scientific, musical, religious skepticism, and poetic musings. (All poems are my own.) The science and philosophy side meet in my study of cognitive philosophy; Dan Dennett was the first serious influence on me, but I've moved beyond him. The poems are somewhat related, as many are on philosophical or psychological themes. That includes existentialism and questions of selfhood, death, and more. Nature and other poems will also show up here on occasion.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Are we seeing the end of a Fourth Great Awakening?
Labels:
civic religion,
history,
religion,
Religious Right
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