Divine Hunger hits affluent Boomers

Review by WAYNE HOLST
Special to the WCR

Some seek consolation, spiritual ecstasy, an exit strategy from everyday busyness, even hope. They go seeking in charismatic and evangelical Christianity, Catholic or Orthodox traditionalism, Mormonism, new religious movements, Native spirituality, Eastern religions, etc.

Emberley writes essentially an anecdotal assessment, a philosophical commentary, from interviews and experiences he had in India and Canada accompanying the varied spiritual questings of baby boomers. Born between 1946 and 1964, boomers make up more than a quarter of our population, or 8.1 million Canadians.

From many of them spirituality is not happening in churches, synagogues, mosques or temples.

For various reasons it is quite apparent his country has seen an erosion of confidence in institutionalized religion.

This does not mean that Canadians have stopped being concerned about their faith. 65 percent of boomers, according to Reginald Bibby, sociologist of religion at the University of Lethbridge, say that spirituality is important to them (1995 study).

Divine Hunger is a stimulating consideration of today's fermentive Canadian religious landscape.

Emberley believes that popular boomer spirituality today is actually a harbinger of more complex challenges confronting us in the years ahead. He believes it will not be long before the concern prompted by the boomer quest and the ferment resulting from their efforts will permeate much of Canadian society.

Some of his most interesting ideas challenge commonly held assumptions. For example, he questions the orthodoxy of the respected theologian, Jean Vanier. Vanier, he says, is deemed by many boomers to be Canada's most prominent Catholic thinker.

Yet, if Vanier's discourse passes as enlightened contemporary Catholicism, then Roman Catholicism is in peril of losing its characteristic identity. He considers Vanier's work a kind of spiritualized Gnosticism that quietly glosses over much of what has been understood to be classic Catholicism.

Rev. Bill Phipps, former moderator of the United Church of Canada, in a famous 1997 interview with the Ottawa Citizen, was evasive about the truth of Jesus' resurrection, the reality of heaven and hell, and the literal meaning of the gospels.

Emberley, nonetheless, sees much good in Phipps' theology. Though he gained fame in notoriety, says the author, he had actually spent much of his career working quietly behind the scenes with the sick, the poor and the imprisoned.

For Phipps, the utter transcendence of God is paramount. Justice issues and mystery must go together. The Church needs to find ways to help people link the two rather than leaving them to explore mystery in private and cultic activity.

Emberley's contribution is in the challenges he raises against too easily accepted assumptions about spirituality and spiritual questers today. His reflections are sometimes convoluted and his logic a bit difficult to follow in places.

But Divine Hunger is a stimulating consideration of today's fermentive Canadian religious landscape. He is probably best read alongside Bibby's work. Bibby presents the issues more empirically.

Emberley spins intriguing speculative arguments and poses salutary questions.

(Rev. Dr. Wayne Holst is a writer who has taught religion and culture at the University of Calgary.)

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter