“Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There,” by David Brooks. I’ve just finished it and recommend the read to anyone in the ministry thinking through ministry joining sociological issues in the United States today. It’s great outside the ministry context, but I’ll provide comments from inside the ministry context as it’s the context in which I live. It deals with the ideology, manners, and morals of this elite Bobo class shaping U.S. culture. Bobos doesn’t mean “bimbos,” or shallow or unintelligent people. Rather it’s a term that combines the beginning of two words, BOurgeois and BOhemians. The idea is that these once two separate worlds are converging into one, making this a unique era. David Brooks is a writer in the New York Times, so that’s one of the places in which the name might ring a bell for you.
I’ll quote a few sentences that stand out to me worthy of reflection.
First, a grounding of the terms:
“The bourgeois prized materialism, order, regularity, custom, rational thinking, self-discipline, and productivity. The bohemians celebrated creativity, rebellion, novelty, self-expression, antimaterialism, and vivid experience. The bourgeois believed there was a natural order of things. They embraced rules and traditions. The bohemians believed there was no structured coherence to the universe. reality could only be grasped in fragments, illusions, and intimations. So they adored rebellion and innovation.” -pg 69
From the spiritual life chapter:
“Two million people voyage up to Glacier National Park alone each year to get all spiritual in the face of its grandeur.” -pg 220
“”Montana’s special gift is space,” writes local author Glenn Law, “landscape made personal; space that reaches out to the horizon then comes back and gets under your skin. It reaches inward, wraps itself around your soul, incubates and grows.”" -pg 221
“The challenges they face are these: Can you still worship God even if you take it upon yourself to decide that many of the Bible’s teachings are wrong? Can you still feel at home in your community even if you know that you’ll probably move if a better job opportunity comes along? Can you establish ritual and order in your life if you are driven by an imperative to experiment constantly with new things?…The Bobos are trying to build a house of obligation on a foundation of choice.” -pg 228
Hello, first I want to say nice blog. I don’t always agree with your opinions but it’s always a nice read.
Keep up the great blogging.