Moments and Reactions — Religious and Secular Episodes

Abstract

Up until this point we have considered how Christianity and the secular world have constructed and sustained a fundamentally important set of narratives to support individuals throughout the trials and tribulations of twentieth-century life. In doing so, we detect the regular revival and constant reconstruction of these stories in both religious and secular forms. This argues against both crude elements of the secularisation thesis and some of the conventional assertions that surround religious history as it is currently written. This chapter elaborates further upon the idea that much can be gathered from examining the narratives of belief and emotions that surround individual historical moments within the twentieth century.²

A generation has grown up that is suspicious of a rich tradition, scared by massive continuity, unwilling to acknowledge permanent ethical values, revolted by togetherness and the bland together assurance that springs from the feeling of being part of a great whole … Middle-aged workmen in pubs, smart secretaries, adolescents in coffee bars and elderly women with dogs — all kinds and sorts of people betray an obscure awareness of life as uncertain, cut-off, undirected, and depending for its value (if any) on moments of purely individual heroism, insight, or love.¹