understanding the postmodern transition. living in a post-christendom, post-modern, post-...

Understanding the postmodern transition

Living in a post-Christendom, post-modern, post-

Enlightenment, post-evangelical, post-liberal, post-colonial,

post-________ world.

In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...1 Peter 3:15-16

Why the prefix post-can be helpful...

… think about puberty …you start with a child

you end up with a young adultthe transition period is a bit of both

Why the prefix post-can be helpful...

REMEMBER: Post- is not Anti-!It means emerging from … being rooted in … with both continuity and newness.

So, what is modern?

2500+ BC

Prehistoric World

2500 BC - 500 AD

Ancient World

1 AD500 BC 500 AD

Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman empires

2500 BC - 500 AD

Ancient World

1 AD500 BC 500 AD

Medieval World

500 AD - 1500 AD

1500 AD

Caravel/ColumbusPrinting/GutenbergCopernicus/GalileoGuns/InfantryReformation/Luther

‘The new Philosophy calls all in doubt, The Element of fire is quite put out; The Sun is lost, and th’earth, and no man’s wit Can well direct him where to look for it.

Tis all in peeces, all cohaerance gone;All just supply, and all relation:Prince, Subject, Father, Sonne, are things forgot,For everyman alone thinkes he hath gotTo be a Phoenix, and there can beeNone of that kinde, of which he is, but hee.

John Donne, 1611 (1572-1631)

The great chain of being

“Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:

God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.”

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Epitaph Intended for Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

1500 AD - 2000 AD

Modern World

1750 AD1500 AD 2000 AD

Postmodern World

1950 AD - ???

Medieval World

Planes, trains automobilesPrint/Screen/InternetNew ScienceNew WeaponsNew SpiritualitySystems Thinking

Thomas Kuhn1922-1996

Old Paradigm/

model

Early Transition

Late TransitionNew Paradigm/

model

Three worlds1. Medieval world (Ptolemy, Augustine)2. Modern world (Newton, Calvin)3. Emerging world (???)

Newtonian (Modern) World:Knowledge is like a building or wall.

“Fundamental” Beliefs are established by research (doubt).

They must be “incorrigible.”Certainty is built from the bottom up. All is solid and at rest.

Post-Newtonian WorldKnowledge is like a web.Beliefs are flexible, in dynamic tension, and corrigible. All is dynamic and “alive.”

Paradigm Shifts

“It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere, upon which one could have built.”

Albert EinsteinOn his paradigm shift

Paradigm Shifts

“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

Max PlanckScientific Autobiography

… how do we honor the reformers?

-- by faithfully repeating their formulations?

-- by courageously following their example?

… an important question

Themes of Postmodernity1. Conquest, Control, Progress … Conservation

2. Mechanistic/reductionist … holistic/systemic

3. Analytical … post-analytical

4. Secular/scientific … spiritual/scientific

5. Objective … Intersubjective

6. Critical … Post-critical

7. Organization … alliance, network

Themes of Postmodernity8. Individualism … community, tradition, tribe

9. Protestant/polemical … Post-protestant

10. Consumerist … ???

11. Print literacy … layered fluency

12. National … global/migratory

Themes of Postmodernity

1. Conquestand

Control

Post-Conquest=

Conservation

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

2. MechanisticReductionistic

Post-Mechanistic=

EcosystemsOrganisms

Social Systems

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

3. Analytical Post-Analytical=

Systems ThinkingHolismPassion

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

4. Secular/Scientific

Post-Secular/Scientific

=Spiritual/Scientific

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

5. Objective Post-Objective=

Intersubjective

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

6. Critical Post- Critical=

ListeningCollaborative

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

7. Organization Post- Organizational

=NetworkAlliance

Movement

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

8. Individualism Post-Individualistic=

CommunityTribalismTradition

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

9. Protestantand

PolemicalReligion

Post-ProtestantPost-Polemical

=Spirituality

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

10.Consumerism Post-Consumerism???=

Stewardship

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

11. Print literacy Layered Multi-lane

LinkedDialogicalFluency

Modern Postmodern

Themes of Postmodernity

12. National Post-nationalGlobalLocal

“Glocal”Migratory

Modern Postmodern

A Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Upon this age that never speaks its mindThis furtive age, this age endowed with power to wake the moon with footsteps,To fit an oar into the rowlocks of the wind and find what swims before his prowAnd what swirls behind,

A Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Upon this gifted age in this dark hourRains from the sky a meteoric shower of facts.They lie unquestioned, uncombined.Wisdom enough to leach us of our ill is daily spunBut there exists no loom to weave it into fabric.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (from “Hunstman, What Quarry?”

A Preliminary Assessment

All of our systematic theologies are modern constructs.

A Preliminary Assessment

Our understanding of the gospel, the Bible, the church, and the

church’s mission are entwined with modernity.

A Preliminary Assessment

Postmodernity may appear to us a threat and a danger to be opposed (much as modernity, in its earliest expression via the Reformation, appeared to be a threat to the

Roman Catholic Church).

A Preliminary Assessment

To the degree that we succeed in preserving the modern perspective

in our churches, we will tend to make them ineffective in ministry

in the emerging postmodern culture.

A Preliminary Assessment

Many churches will choose to “circle the wagons” and defend our

modern institutions against postmodernity. But this will be a losing battle and an ill-advised

gospel strategy.

Some Preliminary Questions

• Should postmodern people be given the chance to practice Christian faith as postmoderns, or must they be converted into modern Christians?

• What if the gospel needs to be incarnated into the emerging postmodern culture, just as it was within ancient, medieval, and modern cultures?

• Wouldn’t a sound missiology predispose us to treat the emerging postmodern culture as we would any other culture – as part of God’s creation which needs to be encounter, be addressed by, engage with, and be redeemed by the gospel?

A Preliminary Proposal

For at least some of our churches and agencies to commit themselves to

loving, understanding, and embracing the emerging postmodern culture in

order to transform it. For at least some of us to become pioneers in incarnating the gospel in this new

world.

For people like you to lead the way.