Been to an Irish pub lately? Do they really have pubs like that in Ireland? And does anyone really care?
It might not matter so long as the happy customers think it is an authentically Irish pub. In our times we want it real; or, at least, to think it's real. There is nothing better than something that is "authentic". There is an ad on TV at the moment for authentic lasagna. But what does the word mean in this context? Do we think for a second that Italian grandmothers really cook lasagna like McCain's does? Whatever the case, it is clear that the word "authentic" is a word with very positive associations in the common consciousness.
In the age in which everything has been treated with spin and in which everything is manufactured, advertisers have realised that if they can just convince us that their product is even better than the real thing we might just buy it " and buy it. And ironically, we may just connive with them in our own deception.
This, at any rate, is part of the world as described in David Boyle's book Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life. It's a world in which there are things which are self-consciously fake though they may resemble "real" things (like the format of web newspapers, or McDonald's food); there are things which are virtually real but really fake (like Survivor, or driving a giant off-road vehicle to pick up the kids from school); there are things which are only virtually real but have real and beneficial outcomes (like amazon.com, or Viagra); and there are things that are self-consciously and deliberately "authentic", like "organic" food, or free-range eggs, or live yoghurt, or reading groups.
Technology, Boyle observes, has succeeded in making us feel increasingly distant from the natural world and from unprompted human contact. And while we aren't about to give up air-conditioning and the internet, there is still the feeling that this artificial and pristine experience of life is not enough: it isn't real. So, there is a growing trend back to the "unspun' and the natural, the unprocessed and the sustainable. Artist Mark Dion says "Authenticity is the key. One of the reasons why museums are incredibly important now, and people seem to be flocking to them like never before, is that, despite the popularity of new technologies, people are still incredibly hung up on the actual thing, the object, the specimen - as a means of communication (p. 129). One museum in York, UK, even claims to give its visitors the real smell of a Viking-era village.
There has been, Boyle claims, a wholesale cultural shift towards the real. And real means ethical, rooted in the past, honest, natural, simple, "unspun' and, above all, human. Boyle's book abounds with fascinating illustrations of his thesis. One of the first examples of this New Realism was the wholesale rejection of New Coke by consumers in the 1980s. Eventually, Coca-Cola had to return to its traditional formula after a consumer uproar.
And so, Boyle predicts the rise of a "New Humanism", a kind of post-postmodernism. As he puts it: "Our demand for authenticity is partly a response to living in a fake, constructed world, to being manipulated over the airwaves at every moment of the day, to the way virtual communication is cutting out human contact. It is partly a simple reaction against modernity. But it is also something else: it's a demand for a different kind of life in the century ahead when, for the first time since the industrial revolution, questions about how we are intended to live " and how we should live " become central again" (p. 283). The New Humanism includes the recognition that the spiritual aspect of human life is not an optional extra but an essential feature.
If Boyle's prophecy is accurate, then there are significant ramifications for how churches might gain traction in the culture of authenticity. It will certainly be the case that a high value is placed on the integrity of our care for individuals as opposed to our mastery of the structures and hierarchies of our organisation. People have a very highly-tuned sense of the insincere, with the result that the credibility of our message will be indexed to our behaviour. There may be larger churches, but it will be the ability of churches to feel "small" and personal that people value. We ought to be careful of mere pragmatism and recognise that in the world of rapid change people yearn for links with the past " not the dead hand of mere traditionalism, but the feeling of belonging to something continuous and deeply rooted in human experience.
