Title: Virtual Faith: the Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X
Author: Tom Beaudoin
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1998

Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. —John 3:8 CEV

The Spirit of God is moving in our times, but do we recognize it even in the tattoos, body piercings, and screaming music of "virtual" pop culture? For those who don't believe or can't accept that, this book will enable confrontation with fears and fallacies.

With section titles like "Why Religion Still Matters," and "How Religion Still Matters," Virtual Faith by Tom Beaudoin takes on a timely and provocative issue. How is culture influencing youth more than family, community, or church? The approach of the author, who admits to being raised on television and video games, is not the wringing of hands. He digs into the interactive nature of culture and faith, spiritual themes in movies, music, and literature, and the religious implications of fashion trends and body art.

In the forward, Harvey Cox asks, "Has Tom Beaudoin caught a new wave of spirituality at its birthing? … If he is wrong, he is fascinatingly and brilliantly wrong."

The Liturgies of Rock

Beginning with a personal view of his own growing up years, Beaudoin offers insight. What made Generation X (born between 1961 and 1981) creative, unpredictable, and yes, lonely? "Influences led to an immersion in popular culture as both substitute parent and surrogate minister," he says, adding later, "We were the first American generation in at least a century to lack a common cause."

Beaudoin is intrigued by the fact that Gen Xers are hostile toward religion or dismissive of it, yet still claim to be "spiritual." He asks the all important question which serves as the thesis of Virtual Faith: Could it be that popular culture was our [Gen X's] religious arena? He admits that as a student, secular rock bands spoke more deeply to his soul than Christian artists. He admits that "liturgies of rock" were as important to his sense of spirituality than commitment to an institutional church.

With this admission, the author begins an in-depth discussion of the religious significance of experience as opposed to institutions. Beaudoin, who has a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University and is working toward a Ph.D. in Religion and Education at Boston College, assures us that "theology has to do with living religiously which always takes place within a culture."

Quoting theologians such as Karl Rahner, he applies theological insight to contemporary problems. "Religiousness is present whenever we find ourselves at the boundary of our existence and need to go beyond ourselves to make sense of life," he says.

Religious Assessories

Beaudoin's chapter on being "virtually religious," explains how simulated religiousness is both "real" and "unreal." For example, he states that to Gen Xers fashion is as real a spiritual need as their grandparents' daily religious devotions. Because it is a way for the person to communicate himself to society, accessories such as a crucifix or a pierced navel are symbols referring to something else, the meaning of which is open to interpretation.

He states, "Whereas previous generations took the crucifix as a very serious and pious expression of religiousness, Xers have turned it (and rosaries, when worn as necklaces) into a free-floating religious talisman in our ready-made 'religiosity.'"

Beaudoin continues: "This is an indirect, subtle, and almost undetectable poke at the Catholic church. By turning it into an accessory, Xers highlight the extent to which those who pretend to wear it as a symbol of piety are also wearing it as a fashion statement—they are presenting their religious self-image to others. Xers first show there is nothing so sacred about a religious symbol that it cannot be turned into a fashion accessory. They then have the ironic audacity to claim that we are not the ones responsible for turning the crucifix into fashion."

The Irreverent Gospel

Virtual Faith shows that Xers do not receive religious truth from a religious authority as previous generations did, but through the "ultimate sacrament": personal experience. This, then, is the basis for constant attention to the immediate, bodily, and sensual. Pop culture, especially MTV music videos highlight this by focus on the close relationship between sexuality and spirituality. Beaudoin discusses Madonna's "Like a Prayer" and Tori Amos's "Crucify." He notes that conceptualizing Jesus in a different way breaks new ground for a spirituality that is irreverent and gospel-oriented.

The chapter on suffering leaves a lingering impression. Described as "a sadness and anger," suffering commonly leads to despair, says Beaudoin. The gothic look, grunge-wear, piercings, and camouflage ironically make an entire wardrobe of bleakness. Gen Xers have commercialized suffering; their fashion is an exaggeration of death.

But the author is optimistic. He says these emotions force Gen Xers to confront questions about their own limits and to wonder about God. Finding solidarity with Jesus, they "liberate him from the cage in which the churches have imprisoned him." Gen Xers use irony to imitate real religion, a safe way to both practice and experiment. Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed that irony seeks "not so much to remain in hiding itself as to get others to disclose themselves." Gen Xers fashion, music, and video is an ironic expression of spiritual yearning.

The Icon—Common Currency

In an image oriented culture, the icon is the common currency of story, says Beaudoin. Gen Xers understand that revelation from God to humans is mediated through symbols. Symbols suggest that individuals must have imagination in order to interpret God's presence in the world. For Gen Xers, Cyberspace is a metaphor for the intersection of the human and divine. The Net is a virtual monastery for the spiritually dispossessed.

In conclusion, he claims that virtual religiosity is not enough. "If the virtual is to have significant value, it must lead somewhere, it must help clarify the real … [and be] brought into conversation with … religious institutions." Gen Xers' desire, he claims, is to interact with a rich tradition, even that of the church. "Taking responsibility for tradition [by Gen Xers] will not compromise our irreverence; it will only fund it more deeply."

Finally, Beaudoin, addressing elders and other skeptics within the church, makes a plea. Rather than seeing Gen Xers as full of sin and devoid of grace, their irreverence should be viewed as a legitimate mode of spirituality. In fact, says he, it may reinvigorate one's own faith! All alike must accept responsibility to ensure "that religious tradition maintains its irreverent possibilities" because popular culture can refresh the religious imagination. And that will serve well our ministry in or outside the church.

Marlee Alex is a writer and editor in Sisters, Ore. From her serene cubbyhole between the mountains and the desert, she enjoys research on postmodern thought and the church (well, whenever she isn't fishing, hiking, snowboarding—you get the picture).