The era of "modernism" began when Sir Isaac Newton gave us physics, which pictured the world as a big machine - understandable and predictable - and ended when Albert Einstein handed us the physics of relativity where often the answer to a question is, "it depends."

So "post-modern" people were thrust from a world of mechanical predictability into one where context rules, a world of mystery and pluralism, "in a nutshell, in which there are many competing views of what makes for truth," said Roland Martinson, professor of children, youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.

Martinson, a North Dakota native, is looking forward to putting foot to his native soil, he said, when he visits the University of Mary on Friday and Saturday to present two days of programs in cooperation with U-Mary's Christian Leadership Center.

On Friday, Martinson will present, to pastoral leaders and clergy, "Spiritual but Hardly Religious: Reaching Emerging Adults and other Post-moderns" at U-Mary's Benedictine Center for Servant Leadership.

"Post-moderns" are looking for hopefulness, for meaning and purpose, Martinson said:"They want their life to matter."

But many also tend to view God from an attitude of entitlement - "God is there to help them in crisis, to be successful, not so much a part of their daily existence (as) waiting in the wings," he said.

While each of the major Christian groups - Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical Protestant - has had some success in passing on faith to young people, all have suffered significant "faith drift" in young adults, Martinson said.

Adolescence, in Martinson's sense, is a journey into adulthood that is essentially a spiritual quest. Artistic works such as "The Lord of the Rings" and the Harry Potter novels and movies resonate with people because they deal with mystery and a sense of awe.

"In the Western world, the faith communities have lost their capacity to be persuasive about the God story, to tend that sense of awe and vocation, (so) others are doing it," he said.

In previous generations, those questioning young adults would return to the church in their 30s, he said. Today, many do not, and if they do, it is to other traditions, such as the megachurch, than those they grew up with, he said.

Another difference today is an elongated time between childhood and adulthood, Martinson said, a stage of life he calls "emerging adulthood," from about age 19 to the late 30s, during which youth become part of "the great urban cultures, the great metroplexes," living a philosophy Martinson calls "materialistic humanism."

But to be human is to be essentially spiritual, he said:"The critical issue and big mistake of modernism is the need to have God nailed down and figured out (which has) washed the mystery out of it."

Despite youth ministry's attraction to clearly-defined programs to arrest "faith drift," young people don't want another "top 10 list," "models" or "programs," he said: "What they're wondering about is, 'Is anybody out there willing to walk alongside us and not go away?' (They want) belonging, community."

Because young people from early on are so electronically connected to the world, they have a deep hunger for real human experience, Martinson said.

"For a parent to spend time in a young person's actual presence, to look into their face, hang on to their words - when a kid finds someone like that, suddenly they (feel they) have come home," he said.

Congregations that are places of high-quality relationships find kids are absolutely delighted to be there, he said.

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When the Board of Regents approached U-Mary President Sister Thomas Welder about creating a Christian Leadership Center, the first year, 21/2 years ago, was devoted entirely to focus groups, said CLC director Sister Kathleen Atkinson.

The focus groups gave the idea a resounding "yes," Sister Kathleen said.

Responding to the need they saw for ecumenical collaboration and empowering people, the center took as its mission "traditioning faith to the next generation," she said.

The ecumenical executive operations committee gives direction and response to the center's programs, always looking for ecumenical common denominators, ways to "pray together, share faith and learn about each other," she said.

Two ideas that are becoming annual events are the Leadership Days in September and January, she said.

In September, student leaders from Christian schools gathered to talk about "what does it mean to be part of faith-based schools?"

"We will do that every year," Sister Kathleen said.

January's Leadership Days, like the event that brings Martinson in, will be focused toward adults, she said.

Two more big event are coming up at the center, a concert and youth retreat March 8-9 with singer-composer Jesse Manibusen and a Christian art showcase March 22-24.

"One of the roles of ecumenism is to learn each other's resources" such as Martinson and Manibusen, Sister Kathleen said.

"The message of Jesus is too important, too central, to get it lost in a type of possessiveness," she said.

The CLC is tied to one of the Benedictine order's foundational values - hospitality, she said: "To provide a center for all these dreams to happen."

(Reach Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@;bismarcktribune.com.)