The Generational Narcissism of Always Thinking We Face the Biggest Crisis Ever by Trevin Wax
- Andy McIlvain
- 2 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Generational Narcissism of Always Thinking We Face the Biggest Crisis Ever by Trevin Wax
Christianity Today began a series a little more than a year ago that traces all 70 years of the magazine’s history. Each installment walks through older issues, showing what news and commentary looked like in the 1950s and 1960s. I’ve read every release with interest. It’s like stepping into a time machine, perusing the archives to see what occupied the minds of evangelical pastors and church leaders in a different era.
What stands out most in these archival trips isn’t how foreign the commentary feels, but how familiar. Familiar in two ways. First, in the topics addressed. Second, in the way those challenges were framed as new, unprecedented, and urgent, often with the language of “crisis” applied to the cultural moment.
A Shaking World, Once Again
Here’s an example that captures what appears throughout the coverage, as commentators sought to awaken Christians to greater faithfulness in light of the times. Note the language used to describe the era:
What matters most is whether, in the light of the world-shaking and possibly catastrophic character of what is happening under our eyes, evangelicals are ready to confront this revolutionary age with deeper commitment to our Christian calling and a sense of urgency that is geared to the crises of the hour.
The world is shaking. Catastrophic developments. A revolutionary age. Multiple crises. This was written in 1960.
Sexual Chaos and Technological Fear
The similarities extend to subject matter as well. Consider the sexual revolution. In 1965, editor in chief Carl F. H. Henry called for “moral indignation” in response to the spread and exploitation of sexual immorality:
Every American dedicated to common decency must become morally indignant and let this indignation burn righteously in an articulate protest against an exploitation of sex that is unparalleled in the history of the world. Never before in human civilization has sex been so pervasively prostituted to financial gain, for the technological possibilities were not present until our time.
Note the “never before” language, alongside concern that new technologies were amplifying moral corruption. A few years earlier, in 1958, Christianity Today lamented how easily obscene material could be purchased, even in Washington, DC:
It is high time that our churches awaken to the kind of material being circulated to teen-agers and young adults of both sexes, sold openly at drug stores and newsstands under the guise of sophistication and respectability.
If smut sold at newsstands in 1958 was alarming, one can only imagine how those editors would respond to today’s reality, where pornographic material is easily accessible, even to children, through the privacy of a smartphone..." from the article: The Generational Narcissism of Always Thinking We Face the Biggest Crisis Ever by Trevin Wax