They offer us a lens for considering our placement in history that is not attached to our chronological age, but rather placement in our generation.
Strauss and Howe studied human life-courses, the stages in which we live our lives from birth to death. Life-courses can be defined in four distinct phases, each about 20-22 years in length. Childhood (Birth to 20) is characterized by growth, receiving nurture, and acquiring values. Young Adulthood (Ages 21-41) focuses on vitality, serving institutions and testing values. Midlife (Ages 42-62) concentrates on power: managing institutions and applying values. Elderhood (Ages 63-83) centers on leadership — leading institutions and transferring values. Major events in history shape people according to the life phase that they occupy. Shared experiences sort people into generations. Each life phase is continually being vacated by one generation and inhabited by a subsequent one. When an entire generation moves into its next life phase, the movement is a “turning.” A turning lasts about a generation. These seasons of time produce generational archetypes: Prophets, Nomads, Heroes and Artists. These archetypes are moving through life influenced by their place in history as well as their life phase. (Howe, Web site)
Our congregations and communities are being influenced by five generations of folks, each with its own distinct perspective about who God is, what the role of church is and how to learn. Our elders are part of the GI Generation (born 1901-1924), a generation that came of age during the Crisis of World War II. They endured the Depression and conquered foreign armies. They participated in the sharpest rise in education ever recorded and were the beneficiaries of new playgrounds, scouting clubs, vitamins and child-labor laws. They built a world with skyscrapers and suburbs, central heating and air conditioning. To this generation, God is all-powerful and all present. While leaving us a long legacy, these folks are now in care facilities, homebound or dying. While able, they contribute significantly to the church. The GI Generation has cast a long shadow.
My parents are a part of the Silent Generation. Born between 1925-1942, they grew up the children of depression and war. This generation came of age too late to be war heroes and too early to be youthful free spirits. They are entering elderhood with unprecedented affluence. To this generation, God seems elusive and distant, a carryover from a childhood of fear. If this generation is in church, they tend to be risk averse, wanting things to be “the way they always have been.” They contribute to church, but less than the previous generation, sometimes seeing church as a dues-requiring club.
The Boomers, born between 1943-1960, are the children of post-war optimism. They grew up with the rise in suburbs, a “Father Knows Best” family order and the Cold War. Schooling was influenced by under-the-desk bomb drills and a race to the moon. Boomers rebelled against their parents and declared themselves arbiters of public morals. SAT scores began a seventeen year slide with this generation, later influencing school policies. These were the self-absorbed “yuppies” of the 1980s. Many Boomers are not in church, and if they are, they draw lines in the sand on many issues, heralding the “real” values of church. Others see the church as a club to join like Rotary.
I am a part of the Gen-X or 13th Generation. We experienced a childhood where mothers went back to work and some of us were latchkey children. Many of us saw our parents divorce and grew up in split families enduring shared custody. Hollywood shifted its portrayal of children from good to bad, and movie ratings went from G to R. Education was dubbed “A Nation at Risk.” At work or in politics, my generation tends to prefer non-affiliation or “free agency,” choosing self-employment over corporations and individuals over parties. Largely not present in church, some have returned with the birth of children, but are families under great pressure, juggling work, finances, elder care and child rearing.
My son is a part of the Millennial Generation, born between (1982-2002/04). This generation has been part of a shift to reclaiming children and babies as special. Child abuse and child safety, both on the streets and now on the Internet, are hot topics. Politicians have defined issues with consideration about the possible effects on our children. This generation has been the recipient of “No Child Left Behind” policy in an attempt to raise learning standards for all children. Some have experienced a kind of spiritual awakening, but are not necessarily found in church. This is the next “Hero” generation and they will come of age in what Strauss and Howe forecast as a Crisis (2020 and beyond).
Generational theory provides a useful backdrop for Christian Education. If good education meets people where they are, this framework gives a breadth and depth to understanding who is in the pew and in the classroom. It points to considering multiple intelligence teaching, not only regarding an individual’s personal intelligences but through the wider angle of examining generational experiences. It embodies our belief that we are “Reformed and always reforming,” underscoring the vitality and fluidity of context in our teaching and learning. Finally, it gives depth to some essential questions guiding our planning, teaching and even worship preparation:
• Who will be in the class? What generations will be included?
• What is the generational life experience represented?
• What could be some of the Biblical themes of the generation(s) in your classroom or sanctuary?
• How will those gathered “hear” the Biblical story based on their experiences?
• What kind of challenge is scripture offering those gathered?
I commend this theory to you for a first-time examination or a revisit in these challenging times. You will find provocative insight and guidance in your study.
Resources
Lifecourse Associates,
Strauss, William and Neil Howe. Generations: The History of America’s Future. New York: Quill William Morrow. 1990.
Strauss, William and Neil Howe. The Fourth Turning. New York: Broadway Books. 1997.
Jan Nolting Carter is a minister member-at-large of the Carlisle Presbytery and a member of the Gen-X generation. She led a discussion about this topic at the conference of the Eastern Association of Presbyterian Church Educators in late April.
