While doing some reading for some youth ministry stuff I'm teaching soon, I came across this book "In Search of Adolescence" by Crystal Kirgiss. Having read an article which summarised the book I was keen enough to buy the book and wait for it to arrive. (Kudos to Amazon - it was here in less than a week!)The premise of the book is simple enough. Most contemporary youth leaders have learned that 'adolescence' as a social construct is around 100 years old. Some writers have even gone so far as to blame this interpretation for all kinds of current social ills (p18), but Kirgiss carefully and methodically shows that such an interpretation is just that - an interpretation. It is not the reality.
Kirgiss has a PhD in medieval language and literature, so I'm confident she has done much more than enter "adolescence" into Google and plagiarise the results. Her research and writing take her readers into a journey through time with thinkers, creators, and preachers on the search for adolescence through the ages.
The Thinkers
Throughout the centuries, the thinkers - philosophers, astronomers, doctors - have been dealing with and have been writing about adolescence. Some of them would divide life into various stages ranging from three stages to twelve. All would include an age that bridged childhood and adulthood, sometimes called 'youth' and other times 'adolescence'. (48) This would be seen to begin with puberty and end, depending on the writer, at eighteen, or twenty-one, or twenty-four. Perhaps extended adolescence isn't just a contemporary issue.
My favourite quote in this chapter comes from Aristotle in the fourth century BC. He describes youth as those who . . .
are always eager and ready to carry out their desires
lack the discipleing and self-control to rein in their sensual desires
hate being slighted or mocked
hope and expect to do great things
are extremely close to their friends and want to be with them as much as possible
think they know everything.
It sounds like it could have been written anytime in the last fifty years, doesn't it.
The Creators
In the first chapter, she refers to "The Squire" from Chaucer's book "The Canterbury Tales" as a depiction of adolescence of the time. (I tried reading that book a couple of years ago. Might have another go.)In this chapter, she refers to two pieces of art work that wonderfully and visually show that what adolescents were like in medieval times is so much the same to what they are today. One of these is the cover of her book, and comes from Omne Bonum (All Good Things) a fourteenth century encyclopaedia. The picture associated with the word 'adolescence' shows a young woman staring into a mirror while raising her skirt. The young man has no beard, has his hand on his heart showing he is smitten, and is he reaching for a sword or . . .?
The second one comes from De Proprietatibus Rerum (On The Properties of Things). The entry for "the seven ages of man" includes this picture. Guess which one represents youth. (Hint - the one dressed differently and looking away from the adults and looking down on the younger ones.)
Kirgiss comments "We are often told that before the nineteenth century, youth as a rule followed in their parents' footsteps. But in both literature and life, there are many examples of just the opposite." (77)
Maybe we should read some old books and see what we can learn about teenagers from centuries past. It might be an encouragement for the youth in your church now to know that the struggles they deal with aren't completely unfamiliar to youth in ages past.
The Preachers
What did old-time medieval preachers say about youth?
Look abroad into the world: consider the generality of our youth in this age, what they are, what manner of lives they lead, how vain, lewd, and debauched the most are in their conversation; how rare it is to find one amongst many that is solid, sober, and religious, that makes real conscience of avoiding all known sin, and of performing holy duties, or of exercising himself to godliness, as becomes his Christian profession. Nay, do not many of them walk, and act, and talk more like atheists, or infidels, than Christians … ~ Samuel Peck 1686,From A New-Years Gift for Youth. Being the Substance of a Sermon, Preached at the Funeral of M. Elizabeth Bell, Aged Sixteen Years, Odd Months
There's a fair bit of this kind of language in sermons that Kirgiss refers to, BUT it would be a travesty for us to believe this was the whole message of preaching to youth in past ages. She notes that even the most damnably vitriolic statements about adolescentce are embedded in sermons that were not ultimately vitriolic deep down at their cores (90). Preachers were infinitely more concerned about the state of the souls of the youth of their parish.
Keep in mind, that preachers believed that a life of genuine devotion was in fact possible for adolescents. Do you believe that?
This is stunningly significant: Those adults who were the most vocal about the sins, weaknesses, and failings of adolescents were also the most hopeful about the potential of those adolescents to experience true and lasting inner transformation, not just modified outward behavior. (103)For those of us involved in preaching, this is a chapter well worth reading through. Point people to Jesus knowing that youth can be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Does it matter?
It's a fair question to ask. Does our view of the history of 'adolescence' really matter? Does it affect what we do today? Well, for a number of people it probably doesn't. But I reckon it actually does, and in ways we may not first realise. Primarily for this reason - we tend to romanticize or villify the past. You know the statements "Youth today have never had it so good." or "Things have never been so difficult for youth as they are now." Neither of these statements is wholly true, but we won't know that if we don't know any history.
Finally
Youth ministers of all shape and manner are today standing on the shoulders of faithful followers of Christ from every previous era, and a new generation of youth ministers will someday be standing on our shoulders. Our shoulders— which are really just the hands and feet of Jesus. But still. It’s quite astounding to consider. (127)
