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<p>Pope Francis’ 2015 social encyclical Laudato si’ provides a challenging, helpful,
and timely lens through which to view this cultural moment. By analyzing the reception
of this encyclical, its structure and sources, and its resonances among others, this
thesis argues that Pope Francis’ target of his critique of the current state of our
world is what he calls “the technocratic paradigm.” This paradigm, with its historical
antecedents and metaphysical underpinnings, is incongruous with the way of seeing
and acting that is more rooted in our Christian tradition. Pope Francis entices the
Church to live out its distinct tradition with a renewed rigor. With the guidance
of this encyclical, this thesis wrestles with the power and ubiquity of the technological
paradigm and the saturation of our everyday lives with its products, procedures, and
practices. Neither option of blessing the technocratic paradigm as a gift from God
nor rejecting it as pure evil is plausible, but providing a constructive lens to think
through the current cultural moment is necessary. Many of the faithful remain distracted
and abstracted from the places where they live and the people with whom they interact,
and as a consequence, many express a hunger for a deeper and more meaningful engagement
with life. Through dialogue with a number of contemporary authors, this project will
point to some specific practices that might comprise a new spirituality for today.</p>
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