Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding
By Diarmuid O’Murchu; Orbis Books, 2010; 216 pp. Paper $20.00
O’Murchu begins by rejecting the
classical markers of adulthood--independence, family, work. He nods to
Fowler’s stages of spiritual development, which include maturing to
individual responsibility for one’s beliefs, transcendence, and finally
universalizing faith. His thesis, however, assumes the protean self,
a concept introduced into psychological literature in the 1970s. The
protean self is fluid, able “to morph into a range of differing identities
as complex demands arise.” Later, in a chapter entitled “Calling Forth the
adult in the Twenty-First Century,” he expands protean to
co-evolutionary, by which term he intends to transcend anthropocentric
definitions of adulthood to include “a more conscious option to live in
harmony with the rhythm and flow of the surrounding creation.” Within this
web, “we appropriate a different set of values in our engagements with daily
life.”
In Part One, O’Murchu reviews the
“cultural meta-narratives” that inhibit the development of genuine adult
consciousness, including among others “the revealed truth of formal
religion,” “patriarchal power structures,” and “the valorization of rational
thought.” He deconstructs each of these meta-narratives with reliance on
impressive research and, it seems to me, some uncritical acceptance and use
of that research.
For example, in the chapter “The
Tyranny of the Rational Mind,” he writes of the development of agriculture
and cites authors claiming that the shift from hunter-gatherer to
agriculture resulted in widespread disease among American Indians. From
this he concludes “The agricultural revolution initiated profound shifts in
human consciousness. . . ., “ and then he immediately adds another citation
which links the agricultural revolution with the destruction of the “rich
fertile plains of North Africa and with the “Ego Explosion, which resulted
in war, patriarchy, social stratification. . .” and virtually all the other
evils we know today. O’Murchu’s conclusion is that “The patriarchal system
as we know it today came into being (possibly for the first time). A new
caste came to the fore, predominantly male, with an intense desire for
domination and control, using excessive rationality.”
All of this may be true; I am not
qualified to judge O’Murchu’s use of his sources; however, I find his
rhetorical leaps unconvincing. In the first place, why bring the
development of agriculture into an argument on the tyranny of the rational
mind? There is plenty evidence of patriarchy in the body/mind-female/male
dualisms in more accessible illustrations from our Greek heritage.
In Part Two, O’Murchu attempts
reconstruction, focusing on “a new way of being human” and evolutionary
factors contributing to the new description of adult. He
extrapolates ideas from Part One into a vision of cooperation rather than
competition, of spiritual integration with all of creation rather than
individual salvation, of network rather than institution. Unfortunately, in
doing so, he repeats much of what he has already presented in Part One.
I appreciate the basic insight of
this book, that the adult of the twenty-fist century must be flexible in
order to co-create in a rapidly changing environment, and I am intrigued by
the hopeful (Utopian?) vision of networks of local grassroots social and
environmental movements influencing governments. However, I find much of
the book old news, and I find the insights and suggestions buried in a great
deal of wordiness, repetition, and marginally relevant documentation. My
recommendation is decidedly lukewarm.
Pat Chaffee, OP
Racine, Wisconsin
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