The challenge western churches are facing today concerning the emergence of Post-Modernism is much deeper than weighing the two world views and selecting the best of both. It is being able to grasp the big picture that is still unfolding before our eyes which is one of the greatest opportunities in the last two thousand years. The waning of modernism as the most influential world view of the western world and church, and the advent of Post-modernism is signaling not only the death of Christendom, but the dawning of new opportunities, something that should be celebrated. Post-Modernism is not a monster and it is not a savior, but rather new opportunity from God to re-shape the church by making it relevant to not-yet-believers. Those being awakened to this unique window of opportunity in the history of Christianity and the challenges it brings are similar to the characters in the film Matrix who wake up and escape from a programmed false reality only to find that their minds have been completely controlled, similar to one living in the pseudo reality of Plato’s Cave who finds a way to venture out in the real world, only to be blinded terribly until his/her eyes adjust to see the real world around them. Am I saying that Post-Modernism is a way of seeing reality that is clearer than modernism? No. I am saying that it has provided us with a reason for re-thinking our prevalent modern world view, its influence on the church, and the way we have been doing church since the time of Constantine. Post-Modernism in many ways is an intensification of modernism in areas of autonomy and freedom and dovetails with modernism in valuing self-sufficiency, and a commitment to naturalism, but there are many overlaps with the Christian faith which cannot and should not be ignored (and should be encouraged) especially in the area of epistemology.
The often irrelevant western institutional expression of church today is the result of a double whammy; a church informed by modernism, built on the premise that church and state should be yoked together as the two pillars of society. Now marginalized by society, the church is working hard to reverse this gift from God. Modernism has negatively influenced the church in two specific areas; the ways in which we (know things-Epistemology) interpret the Bible and (Ecclesiology) the way we see ourselves as the people of God- a collection of individuals as opposed to a body. Ironically, Modernism’s initial roots grew out of scientific discoveries of scientists who were Christian (i.e., Galileo, etc) in world view. Scientific method soon became subject to rationalism and naturalism that was promoted by the Enlightenment thinkers. In other words, the only way to know things was through objective knowledge and reason. An attitude prevailed that scientific knowledge and reason could tame and harness the world and eventually usher in a new age of Utopia. Effects of modernism on Christianity caused Bible scholars to treat the text like an object outside of its unique context. Reason ripped the text out of its narrative and cultural/historical context. Many Bible scholars began to dissect the text (using principles of scientific method) and re-interpret it as a sum of its parts rather than a whole in the context of a meta-narrative. Enlightenment notions of objective knowledge, reason and an individual’s autonomy (freedom) permeated western Christian thought, scholarship, and material produced by them. The gospel became a deal for the individual, and Jesus became your personal savior. Our western gospel sometimes seems more informed by Immanuel Kant (stoicism) than the parables of Jesus, and the church more by corporate America with its cut-throat hierarchies organized around notions of greed and consumerism, than the New Testament.
After two world wars people began to lose their trust in science as the savior and scientific knowledge as the way to know things. People began to validate different ways of knowing like revelation, narrative, myth, intuition, feelings, etc, and began to distrust the institutions (formed of modernism) of society that promote and use these institutions as mechanisms of power to control people and create them in their own image. A new generation of people is growing up today who are wearing different lenses in which to interpret the world. Their lenses differ from ours in ways largely concerned with ways of knowing, and experience is a key factor. If we (‘Boomer’ or older generation) western Christians think our lenses are clearer or that our presuppositions are not contaminated by Enlightenment thinking, I would suggest we think again.
My point is that God has given us a special gift through the advent of Post-modernism that hopefully encourages us to re-examine just how biblical our presuppositions really are. Secondly, we might realize that attempts to reach post-moderns on their terms might allow us to deconstruct a church built on modern ideas and help her become a more aligned with a truly biblical expression. Post-modernism affords us the opportunity to return to many biblical themes, including a radical orthodoxy, such as the gospels truly present. Post-modernism in and of itself, of course, is not monster nor savior, but with its arrival comes host of great opportunities for the church that we should take advantage of.
Brian
