Andy Root and Ministry in a Secular Age part one
He has written extensively but has not often used audible books – apart from the Grace of Dogs, which is such a good book written because their family dog died and his son asked if dogs go to heaven. Because when your son asks a deep theological question that is what you do, write and book. Such a good book.
Anyway, I was excited because “Faith formation in a Secular Age” was on Audible. So, I bought it and began listening. In it he uses Charles Taylor’s work on ‘The Secular Age.’ to describe our current context and how that has shaped our responses as church. The first three books in the series explored that in terms of Faith formation, How we do church, and Role of pastor- leadership.
What I am offering here is based on my reading of these books in the order I read them. And I have used AI (ChapGPT, CoPilot and Gemini) to remind me of some of the main points. I wasn’t taking notes as I read these. These are my reflections on Andy’s books.
The first three books introduced all the themes that he would later explore in more depth with the follow up books. I did not read them in order. I was picking and choosing at first out of interest in the topics, and had no intention of reading all three, let alone all the follow up books. But here we are two and a half years later having read them all, some of them twice. My second retirement achievement. My third achievement is writing this long essay about it all.
Root starting point is Charles Taylor’s concept of the "secular age 3". This is not defined so much as the absence of religion, but as an age of "contested belief“ where people struggle to believe because of secularized public spaces; where belief in God has become just one option among many – no longer the default; and maybe most importantly the loss of a sense of the transcendent replaced by immanent. God has been pushed to the edge, and everything is explained in material, naturalistic terms, including in church. God has been pushed out of the story, even the story of the church, and we have put ourselves at the centre.
All this has left many people feeling spiritually flat or disoriented. All this drastically changes how people experience faith, meaning, and God—even in churches.
By the time I had finished this I had retired. And Andy realised he needed to write more books in the series. So I jumped to “The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticism”. I thought “mysticism”. I’m into that. What does he have to say?
As I understand it (it has been a while since I read this) the imminent framework at work within Secular Age 3 gives rise to a shift that is characterized by a "new social imaginary" focusing on human flourishing, in which individuals find moral meaning without reference to the transcendent. A consequence of this is the rise expressive individualism, where happiness is found in finding our true, unique, innovative, authentic, self through our own self creation (c.f. community and religious frameworks) He read a surprising number of autobiographies and developed a triangle classification system based on Taylor’s work. These were:
· Heroic Action – The belief that transformation comes through personal strength and overcoming challenges.
· Inner Genius – The idea that self-discovery and embracing one's inner purity led to fulfilment.
· Confession and Surrender – A counterpoint to the first two, emphasizing a shift away from self-focus toward recognizing God's transformative presence.
A couple of things about this. One is people would talk about a great autobiography they had read and I would think – have I read this? I hadn’t. I had read about it in Andy’s book.
The other was how much I was struck by how these how much these have shaped what it means to be a church leader. I recognised myself in these descriptions. For example, that through my heroic action, my hard work, outstanding preaching, leading deep and meaningful liturgy, I would be able to save the parish I was in. That my prayer like is discovering and embracing my true inner self (where I encounter God maybe) that would allow me to live a fulfilled life, and to lead heroically. I noticed I had placed myself at the centre of my story.
By now I had been invited to lead a workshop for the local Methodist’ Synod around “Sustaining and Maintaining our Churches” and I thought what Andy was offering would be helpful in all this. So, I became more intentional in my listening/reading. And I went back to one of the second of the original books – “The Pastor in the Secular Age”.
One of the things I like about Andy’s writing is how he uses story to explore some big theological and sociological themes. In this book Andy offers some quick biographies of “pastors” at various points in history and uses these to explore the cultural context they lived in and how that shaped their understanding and practice of Christian leadership. And he then explores how the Secular Age 3 is shaping our understanding and practice of being a pastor. This always happens. What he is offering is a way for us to see what is happening and to make some choices about how much we buy into that or allow that to shape us. I’ve already mentioned about how I realised the effect of this context had on what I thought I was doing. All this has helped me be aware of that and to make some more conscious choices about what I understand my role as priest is.
Andy suggests that the traditional roles of the pastor—as a moral leader, institutional figure, or religious expert—are no longer compelling or trusted. Instead, we are being pressured to be entrepreneurs, brand managers, innovators, and therapists, all of which he argues is diluting the core spiritual and theological role. The result is church leaders and church members being left exhausted, despondent, depressed, and inadequate. If we are honest and look around we can see how true all this is. I remembered conversations with senior figures arguing that theological education needed to change so that pastors became entrepreneurs. I have met some any colleagues who are exhausted, despondent, feeling inadequate. I have had so many moments like that myself. I recognised my own story in what he was saying.
The third volume in the original series is “The Congregation in a Secular Age: Keeping Sacred Time against the Speed of Modern Life.” Here Andy explores how this secular age and the immanent framework is experienced in congregational life. He explores why congregations feel pressured by the speed of change in modern life, a theme he explores further in “Church after Innovation” which I read next. Rather than adopting secular rhythms shaped by this constant need for innovation, he suggests focusing on sacred time which invites stillness, attention, and waiting for God’s action. Sacred time invites ministry as attentiveness – where churches practice discernment, resonance, and “being with” rather than constant activity. Resonance is a big theme in these books. Here resonance occurs when communities foster deep, meaningful connection with God, others, and the world.
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