In the broadest definition, Generation-X encompasses folks born from 1960 to 1979.
Take a look at the Anglican blogosphere. Kendall Harmon, for example, was born in 1960. I was born in 1971. I don’t know when, exactly, Sarah Hey, Matt Kennedy, the Ould brothers, Binky, Mike the CaNNet ninja, the Confessing Reader, Baby Blue, and Greg Griffith were born, but I have hung out with them a good bit and we are all in the same generation, that being Generation-X.
On the “other” side of the Anglican blogosphere are hard core baby boomers like Mark Harris, Elizabeth Kaeton, Jan Nunley, and Jim Naughton.
Coincidence?
Read it all. For the record, I usually get roped into the end of the Baby Boomers, which many people date to those born until 1963. I don’t identify either with Generation X or the Baby Boomers. Generation X is sometimes described as filled with those who have no sense of a narrative structure in their lives (but are looking for one), and maybe there is a search for narrative in their blogs–I certainly sense so–KSH.
Another theory would be that Drell and his clan got old before their time.
#1 must be a Boomer!
The Boomers have “free love” in high school was the AIDS outbreak and I’ve known two death, but many more with ‘herps.’ Boomers pushed for acceptance of recreational use of drugs, in high school was when cocaine took over and the drug violence went through the roof. The generation before brought “no-fault” divorce and I was odd for in high-school, not only was I raised by two parents, but the original set. I graduated in 1988.
As one generation sowed the one after ended up reaping.
Maybe we all got odd before our time as we grappled with things others thrust on us. Yet, through it all is a forged strength.
A significant part of the baby-boomer section of that blogshere has swum the Tiber so the remaining babyboomer Anglican blogsphere is tilted.
Maybe we all got old before our time! :red:
(though odd works too 🙂 )
Harmon, like it or not you are a baby boomer. Dude, you have a kid in college.
Like Kendall, I look askance at the boomers, although being born during the brief time when there were 49 States in the Union, I should be a boomer.
Are we the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones]Generation Jones [/url]people? Perhaps.
Anyway, it’s an interesting observation, but I think it appears to only play out amongst bloggers. Certainly John Yates, David Roseberry, Martyn Minns, et al. are not Gen Xers.
Are there any more than 30 Episcopalians born after 1975? 😉
Hmmm. What is a “hard-core” baby boomer? I can’t escape the fate of my birth, which makes me a baby boomer, but … hard-core? And since I am definitely a reasserter, I don’t seem to fit Brad’s scheme?
I can’t identify with either generation either so I’ll take the “GenJones” handle. As I travel around the country, I find that GenX church goers in the Northwest and Southwest look seem different than GenX church goers in the South and East. Could region be more at play here than generation?
John316, I suspect you’re right.
1960? Punk. Nineteen fitty-five here. What’s sad is that I actually remember 1960.
1951 model here and a rabid Southern reasserter with strong Anglo-Catholic leanings.
I am definitely a “Boomer.” You will find, however, that a good portion of the Boomers realized how lost they were and circled back towards tradition, came or came back to the church and were not pleased to find the church infected with the same New Age speak and world view from which we were refugees! We are amongst you. ; >)
I think that the real divide is not boomer vs xer – its what years were you at school. Those at school in the late 1960’s to late 1970’s are more radicalized. Those that attended school in the 1980’s were more conservative in part as a reaction to the turbulence prior. Those coming of age in the 1980’s did not have those issues which were problematic (and needed resolution) such as the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the role of women, in loco parentis – instead those of us in the 1980’s benefited from the good change but also saw the excesses and costs of the changes. I think the leadership of the Episcopal Church were ’60’s activists who have not yet realized that the turmolt of the ’60s was too far and too fast – they probably believe they did not go far enough. Thus the 1938-1945 crowd have musch more in common politically with the 1947-1955 crowed and the 1957-1965 crowd have more in common with the early xer’s.
Somewhere in the episcopal fracas, there is an interesting sociological study. I tend to see the youthfulness of the orthodox side as the evangelical component. Evangelicals tend to be younger, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that evangelicalism attracts those of all ages. I think that those of an older generation (mine) have tended towards the institutionalist side of the episcopal church because, in our youth, long ago, institutions were formidable things in a person’s life. Indeed, in many social groups, the institutions you belonged to were percieved to define your life. I mean, I can recall when the gulf between the Racquet and Tennis Club and the Tennis and Racquet Club was a big deal. In my early days, a lot of people belonged to the episcopal church because, first, nice families were supposed to go to church, but second, as an institution it signaled your place in the community. It is hard to let go of that thinking once there is 40+ years of it under your belt.
But things have changed a lot in the last few decades. And some of us old folks have had things change us that were for the good, but not necessarily in a way we would wish on anyone else. (Others have not changed. It was not even all that long ago that I heard someone say that a particular large evangelical parish seemed to have a lot of people with engineering degrees.) But it is certain we are a long way from Digby Baltzell’s “The Protestant Establishment”. Institutions no longer hold their high place in the American imagination. The time when they did is ancient history. And that, I think, has a lot to do with why some people are so invested in the episcopal church as an institution, and others are not. It is part of the self-image of an older generation. And now there is an alternative that is telling everyone that the institution is not so important, and is drawing many people away from it. When you threaten someone’s self-image, well, it is a fearsome thing to see the defenses that can arise.
One of the conceits of our self-absorbed age is that every generation (or half generation) thinks it merits a unique name. Generational rivalry and conflict are as old as generations and will persist until there are none. Adolescents will always challenge their parents, and those in their late thirties and early forties—the almost, but not yet time of adulthood—will bump up against those who are sixty. A perennial pattern.
There is a chilling passage in TS Eliot’s Four Quartets when Eliot meets the ghost of Dante on the bombed-out streets of London. He is not identified as Dante, mind you, but it is as clear as anything ever is in Eliot that the ghost is Dante. This greatest of poets tells Eliot about the “gifts reserved for age.†First, is “the cold friction of expiring sense.†Second, is “the conscious impotence of rage at human folly.†Finally, and most terrifying, is “the rending pain of re-enactment of all that you have done and been; the shame of motives late revealed, and the awareness of things ill done and done to others’ harm which once you took for exercise of virtue.†All generations seem destined to follow this well-worn path.
I was born in 1961 (late end of the Boomers), but my husband was born in 1956 (smack in the middle), and the increasing age of my three children has always made me feel older!
I think the real story here is that Brad Drell was born on the eve of Watergate, never wore a POW bracelet (as I did for most of 1973 and 1974 — Capt. Thomas Duckett), can’t remember the deaths of JFK/RFK/MLK, and was barely out of diapers by GenConv76 . . . wisdom beyond his years!
This discussion reminds me of some very insightful words shared at the Plano 2003 conference by the late Diane Knippers
[The IRD’s Dianne Knippers told those gathered that the ECUSA’s acceptance of a “cultural disaster” has contributed to the current rift in the Episcopal Church.
Noting that more than half of the children growing up in the U.S. today will spend a significant period of their childhood without the presence of their biological father, Knippers says it is no wonder Episcopalians across the U.S. are divided over the election of Bishop Robinson, a baby-boomer who left his wife and children for a homosexual partner.
Knippers says she could blame the current rift in the Episcopal Church on “reality TV” and sexually explicit shows like Sex and the City, but as a sociologist in training she points to a number of cultural factors. She says the Episcopal Church leadership is captive to a particular type of culture.
“Our church is governed by upper-middle-class American elites who came of age in the 60s and 70s. They listen to NPR, and they don’t watch Fox News,” she says. According to Knippers, nearly 90% of the diocesan bishops who voted on Gene Robinson’s consecration were in seminary in the 60s and 70s, which she says is “not a good sign.”
The conservative spokeswoman contends that when these leaders cut their ties from the doctrine of marriage, from basic Christian teaching about sexuality, and from core sources of authority, it was “a stunning display of the prevalent social values of American campuses 40 years ago.”]
Perhaps the determinative factor is did one catch the ’60’s virus or not?
Bill Cavanaugh
The Baby Boom officially ended in 1954, which coincidentally is the year I was born.
Simple GenX Test:
If you can remember where you were and what you were doing when the Challenger blew up, but can’t remember where you were or what you were doing on November 22, 1963 then you are an Xer.
bb
Well, as a Blogger and an Anglican, I can sympathize with Kendall. I was born smack on the middle of the line between Generation X and Generation Y and I do not feel like I fit cleanly into either “generation.”
In some ways I am both, and in some ways I am neither. For instance, I have always been good with electronics and gadgets, but I did not have a TV or an Air Conditioner in my house until I was in middle school. I largely listen to late Boomer and Generation X music. I hate most of the music that represents the GenY crowd. I mean, they just kept cloning New Kids on the Block and Madonna. And don’t get me started on how they mangled Country music once it hit the mainstream in the late 80’s. I mean, can anyone picture Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings singing “She thinks my tractor’s sexy?” Oh, the horror!
I likewise never bought into this postmodern philosophy thing that is so rampant to GenY’ers. There is absolute truth and it can be known by man. Truth is not whatever I make it out to be.
I also can’t stand when people omit the Oxford Comma, which is a prototypical GenY thing. All items in a series should be separated by commas such as this (comma), that (comma), and the other. It is not this (comma), that (no comma) and the other. But then if I don’t believe in external, absolute truth, I can make up my own rules about commas, and they will be correct because that’s what I believe. And, as everyone knows, what I believe must be true for me because truth in pluriform. FYI…OMG!
That rant is neither here nor there. Maybe folks like Kendall and myself are good Anglicans because we shoot for the Via Media. We get the best of both worlds in moderation.
My parents, born in 1938 (mom) and 1939 (dad) are TEC-supporting, left-wing, educated/elitist/more-enlightened-than-you liberals who would not categorized themselves as either reasserter or reappraiser. They solemnly believe they are “orthodox” when in fact they are more “ostrich” – as in, “not of this is affecting our tiny little southern rural church” (which happens to be in Dio. of FL). I love ’em, but we couldn’t have more radically different views.
I was born in 1968, a Gen-Xer I suppose. I am an orthodox, moderately conservative and a definite reasserter.
My husband, born in 1951 and therefore either a late boomer or earlu Gen-Xer depending on whose parameters are being followed, is much like me although probably a slight bit more conservative.
Hubby and I are in Dio. of Central FL in a VERY orthodox Episcopal church in a VERY conservative area of FL.
I think perhaps, like nature vs. nurture with children, there is merit to both the generational differences theory and the geograhpical differences theory – it’s probably a mixture of both.
Sigh. I really should preview before I submit.
In #22 above, please note the following:
“categorized” should be “categorize”
“not of this…” should be “none of this…”
“I am an orthodox” should be “I am orthodox”
[blockquote]…the real divide is not boomer vs xer – its what years were you at school.[/blockquote]
Chips, there was a video produced in the 90’s called “Who You Are Is Where You Were When – – When You Were Ten Years Old.” The theory was that your worldview was essentially fixed by the time you were 10 years old, unless you had a “significant emotional event” that changed it. It was required viewing by the defense plant where I was working. Management (big word then; I was a “Certified Professional Manager”) felt that it would help with the generation gap issues plaguing the 5,000 employee plant. (In truth, they were hoping they could instill some good-ol-fashion work ethic in a generation they did not understand.)
The depression generation, of course, were the ones with the Word Ethic, driven by a hard experience with want and financial insecurity. A good Religious Ethic would only get you through one day a week. For the other six days, you needed the God of the Work Ethic to get you through.
The video had a name for the pre-depression generation that escapes me, and called my generation the [i]’tweeners[/i], born after the depression generation and before the boomers.
My “significant emotional event” was an encounter with the Living God at age 10. Maybe that’s why I’m so wierd out here in the wilderness trying to put people in situations where God can transform their lives (see http://resurrectiongulfcoast.blogspot.com/ ).
“Word Ethic” = NOT.
I meant Work Ethic.
Neil Armstrong first stepped out onto the lunar surface when I was ten years old.
I really think there is some validity to “Generation Jones.” I am neither a Boomer or a member of GenX. But first and foremost, I am a Christian!
Br_er: I guess that means my views were fixed in 1993, when Bill Clinton was president, the Gulf War had just ended, and Americans were fighting on the streets of Mogadishu to capture a Muslim warlord and feed starving people. And, of course, there was a bit of a “significant emotional event” during the fall of my freshman year of college (2001).
Do you (or anyone) think any of that has to do with my journey from life-long Southern Baptist to Anglican? I do suppose I qualify as one of the young-evangelicals-who-has-become-Anglican; I’m certainly the youngest person (at a staggering 24 years of age) whose posted here thus far.
All the “generation something or another” boggles my mind! I was born in 1936 and have all my life been told that my main problems relate to my having been born 50 years too late. By the way, I remember distinctly where I was and why I was there when the news boys were shouting, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it! U.S. declares War on Japan!”
I received my first Bible in 1944 when I entered 3rd grade and have been in love with it ever since. I have been teaching Bible to anyone who will let me since 1946. My formal training for doing so finally culminated in completing requirements for being a “colloque teacher” for the LCMS in 1999. In the meantime I also earned degrees in General Psychology and Sociology of Corrections. I am facinated with Church History and feel priveleged to be alive when so much of it is in the making. In the meantime, I’m doing my level best to make sure that those adults in our small Episcopal Parish who will let me teach them know what the Bible actually says about a lot of things. We are working our way through the Gospel according to Luke. Chapter 20 coming up.
By the by, I have never been “silent” about anything.
Trying to predict something about a particular person’s views based on the generation he or she belongs to is like trying to predict views based on whether a person is a man or a woman, from Texas or New York, etc. There are probably real trends that exist in large populations, but nothing so definitive that you can predict anything with any certainty in an individual case.
Having said that, in my own case, as the child of liberal TEC boomers, I am certainly more traditional in my views than my parents. Perhaps this is simply a reaction to their views. Or perhaps later generations can see that many boomers are willing to throw out so much of Christianity that what’s left is pointless. My boomer parents had the church-going habit ingrained in them from a young age and will keep attending and supporting the church financially even if God is just a literary metaphor, Jesus was just a clever cynic philosopher, and the Holy Spirit is just a warm fuzzy feeling. With my generation, if that’s all there is to Christianity, then I expect most of us would think that sleeping late and hanging out at Barnes & Noble is a better use of a Sunday morning.
I’d like to echo Jason (#29), though my parents aren’t liberal, certainly the bulk of folk my parents age in TEC that I’ve met are more liberal than I am on many issues of faith (not speaking politically).
I was born in 1980–late gen X or early gen y… take your pick–it is simply one factor to determine general trends.
Well, I was born in 1968, which makes me Gen-X by most definitions. But I’m what you would call a pretty strong reappraiser, which would seem to make me an outlier by Brad’s hypothesis.
In regard to #9 John316, I’ll add that I’m also definitely a Northwesterner — by culture and temperament as well as by location. Being a churchgoer here in the “None Zone” is perhaps a bit different than in the Midwest or the South 🙂
Yeah Ross, when I’m in the None Zone, I love to check out COTA, but I also love a good old fashioned Anglican pool party after church when I’m back home in the Bible Belt.
Aren’t most of those guys Drell mentions Southerners?
I was born in 1949 and I host 2 blogs, one on Genesis and the other on creative writing, which I guess is where I bridge the generations, since I publish Gen-Xer’s writings at http://teachgood writing.blogspot.com/
1955 for me. I believe that was the year Disneyland opened up?
Daniel Boone and McHale’s Navy were two of my favorite TV shows. The juxtaposition helped prepare me for the ordained ministry in TECusa.
: )
RGEaton
The only identification that ultimately matters is the identification that is ours in Christ; one who has been saved. The rest is rubbish
(speaking as a repented boomer)
For cryiing out loud. I’m 73, as of two days ago. Is there no stereotype for me? I feel left out and my feeling are badly hurt. Depression baby? Howzabout that? It fits: I have listened to the Baby Boomers and the Genxers and I get damnably depressed.
The Ancient Mariner in Maine
I like the “genJones” theory. I’ve tended to the theory that “boomers” really only includes people who were in college sometime from 1968 to 1972 (which means that people who never went don’t count…).
#36 Larry. I think I beat you. I entered our world 11/22/30 (nearly 77 years ago.) I believe we were called kids of the post-depression era. This year I guess I will be the biggest and the oldest turkey at our Thanksgiving dinner (11/22/07). Gobble Gobble!