Jesuit Education and the Dubious Frontier

March 02, 2011 by Matt Emerson

Continued from Page 1

Today, releasing a "sex tape" (see Kim Kardashian) is a savvy career move and wearing raw meat (as Lady Gaga recently did) is considered fashion, not lunacy. In fact, the more bizarre the behavior, the greater the attention: Oprah Winfrey called Lady Gaga a cultural and spiritual leader and Time magazine named her one of the most influential people of 2009.

The challenges are obvious and daunting. In this boundary-demolishing context, where sex tapes build resumes and raw meat makes dresses, where is there room for a stable concept of human dignity? How can we persuasively invite students to believe that men and women are created in the image and likeness of God? How can we expect our students to appreciate their intellect and their spirituality when most of what they read and hear respects neither? How can we expect them to care about sacrifice or the reality of sin? In this world, what has become of the idea of temptation?

I have no clear answers to these questions, but before we offer responses, we must know where we stand, which is not on an empty terrain waiting to be shaped and converted. We are in New York City and the Vegas Strip, an Apple Store and an American mall. If this terrain is a frontier, it's been long settled.

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