Colleen Carroll is the author of The New Faithful (Loyola Press, 2002), which chronicles the (re)turn to Christian orthodoxy among members of the post-Boomer generation.
MR: Briefly explain to our audience what you discovered as you traveled the country and spoke to young Christians. CC: I discovered a hunger for Christian truth, clearly and courageously articulated, among a growing number of young adults. These young Americans-ages, roughly, 18 to 35-were not the sort of people that one might expect to be embracing the demands of an orthodox (small "o") Christian faith. Many were raised in secular homes by liberal baby boomers who had rejected Christianity, or at least, any form of Christianity that made objective moral demands. The attraction of these New Faithful to Jesus Christ and the time-tested truths of the gospel is a startling and growing trend that promises to make a significant impact on American culture.
MR: What is it about the coming generation that makes them so hungry for serious worship and teaching, in contrast to their parents' (boomer) generation? CC: The young Christians I interviewed-most of whom are evangelicals and Catholics, with a few mainline Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians in the mix-articulated a hunger for truth, a hunger for the living God. In some ways, they see their attraction to Christianity and moral absolutes as a "rebellion against the rebellion" of the boomer generation, as one twenty-something man put it. Most of these young adults-including many who were raised in Christian homes-have suffered through decades of weak moral teaching, theological confusion, and worship experiences centered more on feel-good entertainment than praising God. They are starving for Jesus, for the gospel, for a faith that means something, demands something, changes something. And many have witnessed in their parents the effects of a diluted faith that does not change lives-hypocrisy, careerism, materialism, divorce. Others have faithful parents, but still find Christian orthodoxy attractive because it belies the cultural drift toward hedonism and moral confusion.
MR: What do the New Faithful think about creeds and confessions? Is there more to this (re)turn to orthodoxy than a worship style or a Christian ethic? CC: Though they have significant theological divisions within their ranks, the New Faithful generally agree on an orthodoxy that approves the tenets of the Apostles' Creed, an orthodoxy that demands strict standards of public and private morality, and that regards Jesus Christ as the supreme Lord and savior who alone can save them from sin and death. In terms of worship, a good number of the New Faithful are attracted to contemporary worship, as long as it is paired with a strong scriptural message. But I found a surprising number of young Christians-both Protestant and Catholic-who were hungering for more traditional or liturgical worship and had a deep, almost visceral attraction to the Sacraments and sacramental theology. In terms of morality, this group was fairly uniform in its rejection of abortion, premarital, extramarital, or homosexual sex, and any behavior that would violate the Ten Commandments, as well as in its embrace of the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.
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Issue: "Reaching Out In Our Time" July/August Vol. 12 No. 4 2003 Pages 37
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