July 2, 2021
How does the modern world make it difficult to concretely encounter the living presence of God? In this episode, Andrew Root, the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, talks with us about his recent book, The Congregation in a Secular Age: Keeping Sacred Time Against the Speed of Modern Life, the third in his series of books on ministry in the secular age, in which he engages the work of Charles Taylor and understanding congregations in contemporary life. Andy discusses how to make sense of the cross pressure of time, speed and fatigue as they relate to engaging with “depressed” congregations and argues how the demands necessitated by these changes, and the acceleration of social norm paces, contributes to imposing this despondency.
“At Princeton, we had precept groups—we’d engage text and debate. That gave me confidence to have those conversations anywhere.”