Using the Humanities to Present Christianity to Generation Z

Introduction

To counter the pluralism of today's culture, it is important that the Christian faith be presented objectively and with an insistence on truth. In today's world, truth is seen as subjective. Everyone has his or her own "personal truth." "Tell your truth," is how the saying goes. This is a problem because very often one's personal truth conflicts with another's truth or with objective truth — that is, reality. Since Satan is the father of lies, it is important that Generation Z recognize that real truth matters, as commitment to real truth is the only way to disentangle oneself from the culture of lies and come to Christ, as the Yanomamo convert to Christianity Bautista states: Christ is the only one who can save a soul from being lost.¹

This means that there is a need to focus on truth — real truth — and to see the world through the eyes of one who recognizes the spiritual realities of this world, that God and Satan are real. One way to do this is by using the realities of this world to show the way to Generation Z, which is inundated with an atheistic, politically correct doctrine similar to that supplied to the Soviets of the 20th century.² The key to opening up real truth to this generation can be literature, music, art, philosophy — that is, the humanities. The humanities are one of the best ways to present biblical Christianity to Generation Z. The humanities have taught people about the real truths of God and life for centuries, and today they have been pushed to the side. This paper explains how the humanities are one of the best ways to present biblical Christianity to Generation Z.

Who Is Generation Z?

Commonly referred to as Gen Z, this generation is completely unique in history.³ Technically speaking, anyone born since 1997 is a member of Gen Z.⁴ Also known as the iGeneration — because of its affinity for iPhones — this generation is technically savvy and has never known a world without the Internet. Yet there is much more to know about Gen Z than simply the fact that it is comfortable with digital technology. As White points out, the modern soul of the 21st century is completely devoid of Christian sensibility, even if nominally Christian. White calls the time now upon us the seventh age, in which the very question of what it means to be human is no longer clear. There is no longer any religious affiliation among the "nones" — Gen Z. The nones, those without any religious affiliation, were five percent of the population in 1930. Today they are 30 percent and their numbers are rising.⁵ In short, Gen Z has little to no faith in Christ. Christ is irrelevant in the great Digital Age. The iPhone and the atheistic ideology of social justice have usurped His throne. To drive home this point, a recent survey reveals that one in ten Millennials would sooner give up a finger than give up their iPhone — and those are Millennials.⁶

With Gen Z one can assume that feelings towards smartphones have not lessened. Once formed, these attachments are difficult to break. They grow and consume one until they become like a part of one's body, a part of one's soul. This is the state of things today. Gen Z wakes up in the morning and finds itself fulfilled — primarily because every waking moment is filled by some form of digital media consumption. There is no time for spiritual reflection. There is no reason to stop and wonder why things are the way they are. There is no reason to stop and ask oneself, "Who am I?" Everything in history has reached a final pivotal point in which social justice is within reach (so they are taught). Technology has eliminated all obstacles (so they are taught). Human perfection is happening now (so they are taught). The real pivotal moment in history — the Incarnation — is lost upon them. They have not been taught its significance. They do not sense the lack because they are not given a mirror that shows them who they really are. They are constantly fed projections of an ideal self and an ideal world rooted in atheistic materialism, justified by social justice banter that hides the true reality of things.

The bottom line is that they do not see that they have an immortal soul in need of saving. They do not even realize they are atheists in many cases, because they have simply given no thought to the matter.⁷ They are like the closed-minded characters of any Flannery O'Connor short story — more will be said on that below. Few authors of the 20th century have done a better job of holding the mirror up to human nature and showing the reader who he really is. For that reason, O'Connor can be an excellent tool for the apologist, because she helps to open the door to real reality and the real need for salvation.

White also asserts that apologists today must adapt to address this new generation because the old ways do not line up with the needs of this new generation.⁸ It is not just a matter of getting this new generation re-engaged with a latent faith. That faith is not latent. One must realize that one is preaching the Gospel to a generation that has never heard it. Generation Z must be considered no different from the heathens of the past. It is as though they have returned to some of the pagan rituals that were incorporated into Christianity, but have left Christianity behind in doing so.⁹ They may be Christian in name — some of them — but they are not acquainted with the Bible or its relevance in their lives. The Gospel needs to be made new to them, and it needs to be made relevant.¹⁰ But it is difficult to see the relevance of an important fact when one does not see how it applies to one's own life. The Pharisees did not see the relevance of Christ's gift of grace because they thought themselves already saved; they thought themselves already perfect; they thought in terms of earthly power — and neglected to actually think about the true state of their souls (Matthew 12:38–42; Luke 11:29–32; Matthew 16:1–4). Gen Z is very much like the Pharisees of old, often adopting a mocking attitude and tone towards Christianity. With cancel culture all the rage among them, they resemble the Puritans of Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter: they imagine that they are pure and must cast the impure out from among them. They very much resemble the Pharisees looking down their noses at Christ when he allowed the sinner to touch him (Luke 7:39–40).

But as Christ said from the cross, we must "forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). It is true — but that does not mean we must forget them. The apologist's job today is one of reaching out to Gen Z and presenting to them the truth of their own selves; for until they see that truth, they will not realize why they need Christ.

One point that summarizes the situation is taken from the film Gravity, in which a character cries that she is about to die and wishes she could pray but that no one ever taught her how to pray. That is where Gen Z is now: it is a generation that has not been taught the first thing about religion.¹¹ Yet at the same time this is a group that is heavily networked, understands technology and social media, and is involved in social justice.¹²

This is a generation that has to be engaged. Apologists of today must accept their questions, answer them, and engage with them wherever and whenever possible.¹³ This is a generation that believes in ghosts but does not believe in the redemption of the soul by Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross. Those two things — that belief and that unbelief — have to be bridged: that is the primary purpose of the apologist seeking to spread the faith among Gen Z.

To be successful, the anti-Christian aspect of the world today has to be carefully considered.¹⁴ It is this anti-Christian world that Gen Z faces and has grown accustomed to: Gen Z is too wrapped up in technology, and Gen X — the parents of Gen Z — has been too hands-off in raising their children.¹⁵ This is a generation that believes social media presence will make it happy.¹⁶ It is a generation that believes in worldly perfection rather than in spiritual perfection.¹⁷ It is a generation that does not even realize that each person has a spirit. It is a generation that has no concept of spiritual perfection or the need for spiritual perfection because it has no sense of spiritual imperfection. It is a generation that has been taught that if it says and does all the right things politically, then it will reach a kind of social justice heaven.

The parents of Gen Z are to blame to a large degree — but they themselves were given little to go on.¹⁸ The fact is it has been a slippery slope downward since the Baby Boomers embraced the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Freedom has been the buzzword ever since, but as E. Michael Jones points out, freedom — typically preached as sexual liberation — always leads to enslavement of the mind, body, will, and spirit.¹⁹ Gen Z has been given far too much freedom and independence, and their parents have not sought to protect the innocence of their children. That has made Gen Z particularly vulnerable to the temptations of the devil — and once snared and devoid of faith as they are, it raises many obstacles for the apologist of today. This is a Gen Z that is enslaved by Satan and does not even realize it because, to quote the film The Usual Suspects, "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."²⁰

Understanding the Problem and the Role of the Humanities

The problem here is that the world has not just been de-Christianized; it is actively promoting an anti-Christian worldview. Christianity is not just neglected: it is repulsed. The socialism of the past has crept back into the discourse of today's politics under the guise of social justice. Gen Z does not see that it is being misled towards godless atheism under the bright banner of social justice. Sin and the need for redemption have not changed or disappeared from the earth just because the politics of today have shifted to the Left. The Left does not have the power to heal the spirit. Only Christ has that power — but Gen Z does not see this because it has not been taught the true state of human nature.

Part of the reason for that is the disappearance of the humanities in modern education. The classics have been pushed aside in favor of social justice literature, critical race theory, and other modern inventions. The classics were for a long time part of the canon of Western literature because they reinforced in young minds what it means to be human. Dostoevsky understood completely what it means to be human, to have a body and to have a soul in need of Christ. He depicted real characters in 19th-century Russia who had to face this fact of reality. Shakespeare did the same in his time. Even filmmakers today, like Terrence Malick, are doing this. All of these works of art are helpful because they reflect a reality that Gen Z has not been made aware of. Gen Z cannot be expected to come to Christ unless it is first made aware of the reality of the problem: that human nature is fallen and every soul is in desperate need of God's saving grace.

How to reach Gen Z and teach them about Christ is a problem that can be solved by turning to the humanities. To summarize:

The problem is that Gen Z is atheistic and agnostic, mired in a politically correct worldview that is pluralistic. The solution, of course, is Christ — but how can one direct a godless generation towards biblical Christianity where the answer lies? The nature of the impediment is that Gen Z is not open to a Bible-based solution because the generation does not recognize the reality of its own very fallen human nature — that is, that it has a soul in need of saving. The way forward is to go backward. By using the humanities to show them the reality of the situation, modern apologists can help Gen Z to realize their human condition, which ultimately is a spiritual condition. These stories, both old and new — because many are still being told today in print and in film — can be very useful in opening Gen Z to the solution that biblical Christianity offers.

The humanities matter for one very simple reason: they teach what it means to be human. Our Lord used stories — parables — to teach His followers. The greatest artists of the world have emulated Our Lord in doing the same thing. Humans have a fallen nature and are in need of redemption. Yet their fallen human nature often prevents them from reflecting on this fact. Stories attract the attention of people the same way flowers attract bees. People are social creatures by design; that is how God made us. Stories bring people together. They tap into the programming that God has given to all people.

The greatest of the humanities do what Hamlet told the players to do when they performed: he asked them to "hold the mirror up to nature."²¹ The humanities show us who we are, warts and all. The best of them also point the way out of the mess we are in, spiritually speaking. The great challenge for every artist, just like every apologist, is how to communicate this truth to the audience of his day. The artist and the apologist are very similar in that respect: they must consider their audience and identify the best way to reach that audience with truth. As Emily Dickinson wrote:

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —²²

The humanities are a way of telling the truth in a manner that gets the point across but often buries it so that the hearer must spend some time in reflection. This was true even with Our Lord and His parables. His disciples would come to Him afterward and beg for the meaning of what He had told them:

"As Jesus said this, He called out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' Then His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. He replied, 'The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand'" (Luke 8:8–10).

If stories were of vital importance to Our Lord as He sought to communicate the eternal mysteries to His people, then we should treat the art of story with the utmost respect. Stories can make all the difference in opening the eyes of an individual who cannot see. That is the background of the humanities: they have always been recognized as important in the transformation of the mind, which is essential if one is to align one's will with God's.²³

There are so many sources to choose from when it comes to the humanities. One can focus on philosophical texts such as Aristotle, religious personal narratives like Augustine's Confessions, or dramatic works such as Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Homer's Iliad, or Shakespeare's King Lear. All of these offer a way into understanding what it means to be human. Once that foundation is laid down, the apologist is ready to bring the individual to Christ.

For the apologist seeking to bring Gen Z to Christ, the most helpful approach is likely one that uses works to which this young generation can most easily relate. These are modern and in some ways postmodern young minds. The most appropriate works will be ones that reflect characters who mirror their own situation. Authors like Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, O'Connor, and Shakespeare are all appropriate for this task, as are the films of Terrence Malick. In the following sections, some consideration is given to how the apologist might use these works to open this generation's mind to God.

Literary Sources for the Apologist

One of the defining characteristics of Gen Z is that they believe in technology and in social justice. Their focus is on this world, on happiness here, achieved by conformity to social justice ideals and through the use of the great tools of technology. They believe they are living the American Dream — or at least they did until 2020 struck. The disaster of 2020 and the response of governments around the world let a little bit of air out of the bubble of Gen Z and perhaps, for some, revealed for the first time the actual nature of the world in which they live.²⁴ For example, they may have begun to realize that just because someone spouts socially conscious doctrine it does not mean that person actually has anyone's interests in mind other than his own.

What does it mean to be in this world, to want to seek happiness, and to not know how to get it? Many in Gen Z suddenly found their dreams put on hold in 2020. If they were musicians or actors, their craft was cut off to them. Stages closed, theaters emptied, and venues where musicians perform were shut down. If they were going to college, they suddenly found themselves living in isolation, separated from others because authorities would not permit them to socialize like normal, healthy young people.

Why was this happening? Did any of them ask themselves that question, or did they accept the narrative that the media fed them? Today's apologist can certainly use this very real moment in history to begin to engage with Gen Z. It is also an opportunity to make reference to works of literature that can help Gen Z probe reality even further. The point of probing reality is to arrive at truth. Truth is God. All truth comes from God. Getting Gen Z interested in truth — any truth — is therefore of the essence.

One of the best books of the 20th century is Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. This is a book about a man who was raised in the Christian faith but, by the time he has reached the age of 30, fails to see what the relevance of his faith is any longer. At the same time he is not very comfortable living in the world around him, where no one seems to think about the meaning of life. He spends his time often lost in rumination; others think him dreamy and flighty — but really he is simply reflecting internally on the beauty of the world, on the sadness of the passage of time, and on the great question of "Who am I?" — even though he never really explicitly asks that question of himself. But it is there, always haunting him.

As the main character of the novel moves through the book, he bumps into others, has meaningless flings with women in an attempt to satisfy some desire within, goes to the movies to indulge escapist fantasies, and plots his future career in an attempt to please his elders. All the while, the question of religion nags at him and he wonders why, since it seems to have little place in the lives of others. Indeed, most people he meets seem to view religion as though it were a settled matter — something nice to have around, but nothing really of any great importance in the real world.

One of the big questions the main character finds himself asking is why the real world seems so sad, so empty, so cold and indifferent at times. He cannot account for this. What he is secretly wondering, of course, is why the world is fallen. As a Christian he knows the religious explanation: he knows about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden — but this knowledge is not really real to him. It is in his mind only; and his mind is disconnected from his body and from his spirit. He does not apply the truth that he was given in his youth — his Christian faith — to his situation in life. The problem essentially is that he is not practicing his Christian faith. And he knows that, too.

Part of what haunts him is good old-fashioned Catholic guilt. He has been brought up to believe that sin is real and that forgiveness of sins is not only possible but necessary. Yet he is also a man of the world, and the world does not believe in Catholic guilt. The world says that guilt is a construct, that one's conscience has been taught that certain things are wrong, which is why one feels guilty when one does them. But this guilt can be unlearned; one can kill a conscience, just as Macbeth does in Shakespeare's tragedy. Macbeth knows that killing the king is wrong — but he does it anyway. And soon enough Macbeth is killing anyone and everyone because in his mind he has already gone over to the devil, so why stop there? Kill or be killed becomes the motto of his downfall. Percy spares his main character in The Moviegoer from such a fate; rather than seek to kill off his conscience, the character listens to what it has to say and seeks to know how to apply the truth he knows to be objectively true but finds hard to apply.

Why is the truth hard to apply in this world? It is because the truth is bound up in charity. That is the way of it, since Our Lord is not just Truth Itself but also Charity. Christianity is nothing without charity, as St. Paul writes: "And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Charity can be the saving grace that pulls a person out of sin and sets them on the road to God. It is what saved Boniface of Tarsus, after all.²⁵

At long last, the main character in Percy's novel comes to realize the full extent to which charity must be exercised. Charity is the one thing that can save him, since he cannot save himself through his muddled intellectual endeavors. What he does know is that his cousin Kate needs help: she is depressed beyond measure and very nearly in a state of despair. Percy actually suggests that everyone is in a state of despair if he or she is not actively pursuing holiness; but most do not realize their true condition — because they find enough empty distractions with which to busy themselves, or because they see no point in pursuing the matter. Percy never judges or condemns his characters, but he does show that charity is much needed in this world. The main character realizes this and shows charity — genuine, selfless love — towards his cousin Kate. She responds, because it is the sort of thing one infrequently comes across. It is a rare occurrence indeed to receive true charity in the modern world. Usually it comes with a catch.

Dostoevsky shows as much in The Brothers Karamazov in the Grand Inquisitor scene, in which the skeptical brother — the unbelieving Ivan — tells the believing brother, faithful Alyosha, a story in which Christ returns to earth and is condemned to death all over again by the Inquisition. Christ says nothing but only gives his accusers a kiss — a display of genuine charity. After telling this story, Ivan goes on to state that because Christ is always being condemned he cannot believe in the goodness of God. He sees charity as an unrealistic ideal that only "God" could have for such cruel creatures as man. He tells Alyosha that he admires him for his faith but that such faith is ultimately a fantasy. Alyosha says nothing in reply but gets up and gives his brother a kiss. "Literary theft!" Ivan exclaims — but the gesture touches Ivan in a way words never could. Alyosha shows in his own actions the kind of charity that Ivan believes to be unreal. That kind of charity is what Christ expects of His followers. It is what St. Paul told the Corinthians they must possess. Without charity, faith matters not a whit. Alyosha's faith is made effective in charity. Charity is what serves as a testament to the reality of God in this world, which is run by the devil — the Father of Lies.

And so in The Moviegoer, Kate is saved from suicide by her cousin, whose charity brings her out of the abyss of herself and leads her to finding purpose in life. The main character stops chasing fantasies in flighty romances with other women or in movies. He finds reality — having a meaningful relationship based in charity and aligning oneself with the laws that God wants His people to follow. At the end of the novel, the main character is fielding questions from a group of children: they are asking about God, life, sin, death, and what one must do to reach Heaven. The main character answers them all, truthfully and honestly, as he has been taught by the catechism of the Church from his youth. Charity and truth are thus shown to go together. Before he embraced charity, he was self-seeking and confused, conflicted and lost. After he embraced charity, everything suddenly became clear to him and he no longer felt the same sense of confusion and misdirection — both of which are the tools of Satan. The main character had been in the hands of Satan — but by embracing charity he puts himself into the hands of God. He receives ashes on the forehead at the beginning of Lent. He comes away from Church with a renewed sense of what it means to be in this world: one is on a pilgrimage to Heaven or to Hell. It is up to oneself to decide which way one wants to go.

Every member of Gen Z is in this same situation. The Moviegoer can be a good source for explaining to them what that situation is. It is one of many tools, however. The thing to keep in mind is that they all tell the same truths about human beings. That is why they are useful in apologetics: they show man what he is and why Christ is the answer to his problems.

Conclusion

Biblical Christianity offers the solution to the problems of human nature. Cancel culture, political correctness, liberal utopian visions — these are all but fanciful constructs that do nothing to save the soul, which is indeed in need of saving. The apologist cannot confront Gen Z with solutions to problems that it does not realize it has, however. The apologist must first show Gen Z what real human nature is by using the humanities and getting Gen Z to see that the human condition has not changed from one place to another since the Fall of Man.

There are many ways to view apologetics.³⁵ But one way that few ever touch upon is the humanistic way — the way in which the apologist presents to the hearer an image of himself that the hearer has never really thought to reflect upon — much in the same way that Christ presents an image of the hearer to His audiences in His parables about the sower, or about the woman who sweeps her house, or any of the other many parables that He told. Stories have the power to get people thinking more deeply than a mere recitation of logical facts can do. Logic and reason are important — but before they can be used most effectively, some groundwork in the humanities can help the apologist to make good inroads into bringing Gen Z to Christ.

Whether one is first engaging with Gen Z by simply answering questions that Gen Z has and then referring the subject to some of the humanities presented herein, or whether the apologist is first working to strengthen his own understanding of human nature by perusing these works and referring to the guidance of Dr. White — whose explanations of the humanities are surpassed by no one when it comes to seeing them in the light of the Christian faith — it makes no difference. The key is to become engaged and to begin using the humanities as a way into the world of reality. This reality is the world that God wants us to see. It is why He gave us the gift of the humanities in the first place. The modern world, however, is one rooted in lies. Satan does everything he can to deflect our attention away from truth and back to our own vain and self-centered lives. It is why he is so happy to see so many of Gen Z using social media to create shrines to themselves. They are so busy erecting shrines to themselves on social media that they do not think about what place they should be giving to God.

The apologist must reveal to Gen Z the true nature of this world — and the humanities can help him to do that because the humanities are works in which the mirror is held up to nature. From Shakespeare to Dostoevsky to Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor to Shoefoot and Malick, one can draw widely from any number of sources. The truth of who we are can be found in all of them. And from that point, getting back to God is straightforward — because God is the answer to the problem of why we are what we are.

The humanities are a gift that can keep on giving. The apologist can connect themes in these works to themes in Scripture — such as the necessity of charity in one's life. Charity is a theme in many works of art, but it is most evident in the great works of Christian art. Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Percy, Malick, O'Connor, Shoefoot — they all have one thing in common: they are all Christian. If one wants to show real reality to Gen Z, one can rarely do better than putting Gen Z in front of Christian artists whose vocation it is to hold the mirror up to the world and reflect the realities of this life in such a way that the viewer, reader, or hearer cannot help but also catch some of the rays of God's light.