Comments on: Made Real: Toward a Theological Model of Adolescent Authenticity, Part 1 of 6 http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/ Youth, Church and Culture Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:26:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: James http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-137 James Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:43:05 +0000 http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-137 Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James. Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.

]]> By: Ryan Unger http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-125 Ryan Unger Thu, 01 May 2008 06:20:23 +0000 http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-125 Did I miss 2-6?? Where did they go? Did I miss 2-6?? Where did they go?

]]> By: -kp- http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-119 -kp- Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:53:42 +0000 http://www.faithd.com/2008/01/24/made-real-toward-a-theological-model-of-adolescent-authenticity-part-1-of-6/#comment-119 <i>However, just as the path to authenticity and the nature of Real is obscured for the Velveteen Rabbit, so in the church we do not have clearly formulated understandings of how adolescents develop toward authenticity—nor even what it is. We have our hunches and inklings, but as much as we want to talk about teenagers “being real” and becoming “authentic” no one seems to have laid out a clear model of how this comes about. Further, the implicit models we carry with us are hampered by assumptions that do not stand up to theological rigor.</i> This is an interesting and suggestive final paragraph. I love that you're picking up on the embedded concepts of truth in the rhetoric of authenticity. My first thought is that our <i>real</i> self is in Christ, who is the personal <i>truth</i>, i.e., the only actually authentic Self before God the Father. Christ is the only one who could ever actually be - and who was and is - the ideal toward which David yearned: the ideal of personal authenticity in the face of the glorious Father. And that, I might suggest, is because Christ was and is the only truly obedient Son. There is much here. I look forward to your construction as it develops. I hope you're doing well. However, just as the path to authenticity and the nature of Real is obscured for the Velveteen Rabbit, so in the church we do not have clearly formulated understandings of how adolescents develop toward authenticity—nor even what it is. We have our hunches and inklings, but as much as we want to talk about teenagers “being real” and becoming “authentic” no one seems to have laid out a clear model of how this comes about. Further, the implicit models we carry with us are hampered by assumptions that do not stand up to theological rigor.

This is an interesting and suggestive final paragraph. I love that you’re picking up on the embedded concepts of truth in the rhetoric of authenticity. My first thought is that our real self is in Christ, who is the personal truth, i.e., the only actually authentic Self before God the Father. Christ is the only one who could ever actually be - and who was and is - the ideal toward which David yearned: the ideal of personal authenticity in the face of the glorious Father. And that, I might suggest, is because Christ was and is the only truly obedient Son.

There is much here. I look forward to your construction as it develops.

I hope you’re doing well.

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