The Elusiveness of Paradise: The Legacy of Canada’s Baby Boomers with Reginald Bibby

Thursday, January 25, 2007

The Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar Lecture
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 7:00pm
Conrad Grebel University College, Great Hall

Reginald Bibby is probably Canada’s best known sociologist,

stated Conrad Grebel University College Academic Dean, Jim Pankratz.

His Canada-wide research projects and books have documented Canada’s youth culture and charted the changing face of Canada’s culture and religious scene over the past twenty-five years. His research about religious attitudes and participation is widely used by pastors, religious leaders, scholars and the public media. We are very fortunate to have him on our campus and in our community as this year’s Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar Lecturer.

Reginald Bibby
Entitled "The Elusiveness of Paradise: The Legacy of Canada’s Baby Boomers," Bibby’s lecture will specifically focus on his new book, The Boomer Factor. This book examines just what kind of country boomers will be leaving behind. Drawing on his well-known and unparalleled series of national surveys of adults and teenagers spanning the years 1975 to 2005, he identifies ten important trends, including significant changes pertaining to: the pervasiveness of diversity, the decline of community, the rise in the desire for input, the new basis for decision-making, the new sense of time, and the information explosion.

Bibby has published 10 books and over 70 journal articles. Five of his best known books focus on religion - Fragmented Gods (1987), Unknown Gods (1993), There's Got to Be More! (1995), Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada (2002), and Restless Churches: How Canada's Churches Can Contribute to the Emerging Religious Renaissance (2004).

Over the past three decades, Bibby has been monitoring social trends in Canada through a series of well known national surveys of adults and teenagers, and in the process, gathering pioneering and historic data on religion and youth. In addition, he has become familiar to Canadians through his extensive national and regional media appearances. In 2003, Alberta Venture Magazine named him one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He currently holds the Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology at the University of Lethbridge.

The Sawatsky Visiting Scholar is awarded to renowned scholars, practitioners and performers whose expertise in their field represents a wide range of interests to the Grebel community. In addition to this year’s public lecture, Bibby will be the guest speaker at Mennonite Church Eastern Canada’s School for Ministers (February 20-22), and he will address Grebel’s Faculty Fellows Forum on February 22.

Dr. Rodney Sawatsky joined the faculty of Conrad Grebel in 1974, teaching in the areas of History, Religious Studies, Mennonite Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies. This lectureship honours the leadership and contributions of Rod and his wife, Lorna, to Conrad Grebel, the University of Waterloo, the Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada, and the Kitchener-Waterloo community during his years as faculty, Academic Dean and President of Conrad Grebel University College. He died on November 27, 2004 of brain cancer.

For more information call the Academic Dean's Office at 519 885-0220 x24265

To read more on the background of the Sawatsky Visiting Scholar, vist our endowment webpage.