Episode 2 - Recap and Questions

Recap of Episode 1

Last session explored how, in a complex world, it can be difficult to see how our faith connects with all of life. Instead of connecting our faith with all of life, we can be tempted to either assimilate or withdraw from the culture around us. 

• Since watching the last episode, where have you experienced or noticed any examples of the temptation to either assimilate or withdraw? 

Introduction to Episode 2

Who am I? How does my faith affect how I answer that question? How does our culture shape our response to this question of identity? Is there a conflict? As Christians, the story of Scripture and the person of Jesus shape the whole of who we are. And yet we often experience tension with our culture, which provides alternate answers to this question. We are told we must choose who we want to be, rather than receive our identity as a gift given by God. 

This session discusses some of the ways our culture shapes us, and why this so often leads to a crisis of identity. Read Romans 12:1–2. 

Episode 2 Outline & Notes 

Key characteristics of our culture contribute to our contemporary identity crisis: 

Dislocation—Tradition is treated with skepticism, which creates a break with the past. We’re cut off both from our history and from the future.  

• What ways to you feel cut off from a formative story (be it familial, cultural, religious, or otherwise)?
• Are there ways that a history or tradition (familial, cultural, religious, or otherwise) has formed or grounded you?  Has that formation been helpful or stifling?
• What ways do you think the Christian story provides for us a history and a future?

Invention—Individuals have the right to choose who they want to be. We exercise this choice through consumption—buying and selling our identity. 

• Are you aware of cultural messages that try to shape who you are?
• What does culture tell us makes a happy and full life? 

Fluidity—Our identities are constantly changing in line with cultural trends and fashions. We constantly ask the question, “Who am I now?” 

• Have you experienced your identity shift?  What has caused that shifting?  Trends and fashions? Life stages? Expectations of family and friends?
• Can there been any goodness that comes out of the "search for self?"  

Constraint—Infinite choice at the personal level is held together by conformity at the public level. Our private and public lives are divided, creating a conflict between them. 

• Do you feel like there is a lot a "room for interpretation" (even for Christians) when it comes to naming our particular, personal beliefs?
• Do you experience tension around asserting your beliefs in the public sphere?

What activities could help us each remember that our true identities are rooted in Christ?

Lord, to be turned from you is to fall, to be turned to you is to rise, and to stand in you is to abide forever. Grant us in all our duties your help, in all our perplexities your guidance, in all our dangers your protection, and in all our sorrow your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. –Augustine