A Generation Alone: Xers Making a Place in the World

By William Mahedy and Janet Bernardi

Sometimes called Generation Xers, baby busters, thirteeners or twentysomethings, those born between 1961 and 1981 have inherited a bleak world. Many Xers come from broken families. It is a generation that has never known political, religious or economic leadership unmarred by scandal. It has grown up in an atmosphere of ever more brutal and widespread violence. But unlike much said about Xers, A Generation Alone is hopeful. Mahedy and Xer coauthor Janet Bernardi show that this is a generation in search of meaning and community--and open to a radical Christianity that accepts pain as part of the life of faith.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830816968
• ISBN13: 9780830816965
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Intervarsity Pr
• Length: 183 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Generation Alone

An article by Andres Tapia in Christianity Today (September 12, 1994), "Reaching the First Post-Christian Generation," noted that the 38 million young people born between 1963 and 1977 have grown up in "a world of MTV, AIDS, and a trillion-dollar debt." They are, some writers contend, radically different from their parents, whose values and aspirations they largely reject. To gain insight into this generation, I highly recommend A Generation Alone: Xers Making a Place in the World by William Mahedy and Janet Bernardi (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, c. 1994). Mahedy has taught, served as a missionary and army chaplain. (Today's youths have many traumatized traits in common with the war veterans he earlier worked with!). He's been college chaplain for the Episcopal Church in San Diego for 12 years. Bernardi is engaged in medical research at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, and coordinates campus ministries for the Episcopal Church. Mahedy represents the "silent generation" and Bernardi speaks for the "Xers." Both cast critical eyes on the "boomers" in between! Their study, Bernardi confesses, reveals "some startling, disturbing facts. We have discovered the impact of anomie--the lack of moral standards in society--on my generation" (p. 11). In Mahedy's judgment, "the spiritual and psychological problems of young adults and teenagers were far worse than" those faced by earlier generations (p. 13). There've been warnings in the past, issued by researchers such as Richard Chessick who, in 1977, predicted that we were creating a culture which incubates emotional and personal disorders. As he said, "'Today's children are caught up in the current whirlwind of barbarism. This provides a counterforce from which only the very strongest adolescents can emerge unscathed'" (p. 29). This "barbarism," Mahedy thinks, "is at root unbridled selfishness--the worst kind of immorality. It takes many forms, but most disastrous is family breakup" (p. 46). The lack of character which underlies broken commitments, the brutalization of youngsters' psyches when those they most naturally trust betray them, has begun to stamp our culture with its normlessness--a lack of moral principle which underlies much of the violence in the streets our politicians love to lament. Some commonalities unite the Xers. Most have seen their parents divorce and had working mothers. They're the "first generation of 'latchkey' kids" (p. 17). Many have been abused, often by a stepparent, or neglected. Parents have abandoned our their offspring, letting them to chart their own moral and spiritual pathways, leaving them bruised and cynical about a society which declares (by its actions) them liabilities, hindrances to adult pleasures, as disposable as unwanted embryos. While well-educated, Xers find employment problematic as sophisticated technologies eliminate the need for human workers. They know their elders have placed them in hock,

it makes sense to me

Born in 1962, I'm on the early edge of GenX (some would say I'm a Boomer--till I slap 'em!), and reading this book made some things fall into place for me. Like why I want to go to church, but when I do, I can't stand being there. It's not a place where people gather to support one another and to learn by confronting the hard things about life--it's a religion mill where people go to plaster over the hard things about life. That is not what I want or need. The previous reviewer is right--until there are churches that are willing to preach to people's despair and doubt and the apparent pointlessness they feel--NOT to talk around it or try to make everyone into Up With People clones--there's nowhere for us to go. And that does s--k because WE NEED GOD. Hopefully this book will open some eyes, though since I'm only the second reviewer I'm not too hopeful.

Ever wonder why Gen-Xers aren't coming to church?

A note to Boomers: You always wondered why we Gen-Xers seemed so messed up. When you read this book, you will know why: we have no family. And that is why God appeals to us--He is the Father we never had. So why don't we show up in church? Because no one there is talking about God. If you think laws, or pop psychology, or clever sermons will convert us, you're off track: it's the forgiveness, family, and fatherhood God offers. Go back to that and watch what happens.