50 Chapter 1 mobility and migration, and the simultaneous process of globalisation, will only cause an intensification and further deepening of this already existing problem. This brings us back to what was stated in the introduction to this dissertation: we live in an age of acceleration. Sin historically leads to fragmentation, yet the modern age is especially characterised by it because relative homogeneity is fading and being replaced with deep directional, religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. For this study, which is directed towards Christian teacher formation in the Netherlands, this fundamental statement could raise the question of whether the Dutch situation is really as challenging and complex as that identified above in the fragmentation thesis. Recent publications by Kinneging (2020) and van de Beek (2022) confirm that this is true (2). Earlier already, the Dutch philosopher Kuiper (2009) confirmed that hyper-individualism—as he related it to globalisation and the information revolution—in late modernity has led to a broad culture of detachment. Indeed, what should be connected does not bond anymore—and where detachment has taken place, it is difficult to reconnect. Kuiper (2009) attached relationality to both the creational order and fundamental human nature, stating that this ‘relation network’ cannot be ignored without affecting human wellbeing (p. 115). The ‘theology of embrace’ Kuiper (2009, p. 127) endorsed, based on the work of Volf (2019) and—in a philosophical sense—of Dooyeweerd (1967), exhibits traits of an approach that recognises the breadth of the fragmentation problem. To arrive at a well-connected society, Kuiper (2009) went a step further than Volf (2019) by arguing not only for reconciliation but also for a caring human being in a moral commonwealth (pp. 125–128). This sub-section can lead to the formation of a—for the moment still quite raw—conceptual scheme indicating how fragmentation is a layered problem, characterised by the separation of what organically belongs together: within and between persons (meant to flourish in relationships), in the society (meant for social cohesion) and in the world as a whole (meant to be part of cosmic order). This separation is originally a consequence of sin, although it intensifies in different manners as fundamental diversity sets in. The causes of this intensifying diversity are disintegration of the shared frameworks and an individualism as strong as to be referred at as atomisation and alienation from reality, including the meaning of the individual’s own life. 2 From his theological perspective, van de Beek (2022) criticised Western (and Dutch) culture in general for being too focused on the ego—that is, on the individual self. He also discovered in Dutch (Protestant) church history traces of this egocentrism, which renders him an interesting interlocutor for the following sub-section (1.1.3).
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