POSTMODERNISM
When I was in seminary, logic, a respect for history and an utter commitment to Scripture as the authoritative, infallible Word of God, were the basis of all theology as well as the foundation for pastoral ministry. Throughout the modern period, from the enlightenment through the logical positivism of the 20th century, to scientism, there was an intellectual challenge to the Christian faith and theologians managed to fight back and give answers to intellectual objections.
We have a new situation on our hands. I have trouble getting a handle on postmodernism precisely because it is illogical. But the bottom line is this, the postmodern can believe whatever they choose to believe. The "believer" is the controlling authority of reality.
Several years ago, Robert Bellah, a sociologist, described in his book Habits of the heart, Sheilaism. It was a woman named Sheila who, in an interview, stated:
"I believe in God," Sheila says. "I am not a religious fanatic. [Notice at once that in our culture any strong statement of belief seems to imply fanaticism so you have to offset that.] I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice."
Bellah continued:
But the case of Sheila is not confined to people who haven’t been to church in a long time. On the basis of our interviews, and a great deal of other data, I think we can say that many people sitting in the pews of Protestant and even Catholic churches are Sheilaists who feel that religion is essentially a private matter and that there is no particular constraint on them placed by the historic church, or even by the Bible and the tradition. (See Robert Bellah)
It appears that in postmodernism, one is free to pick and choose ones beliefs. Scripture has no real authority, the person does. We choose our beliefs on the basis of what I like and don't like, what I think God should be, and what makes me comfortable and makes me feel good. Thus, recently we have been told it is my right to view Jesus in a certain way and to deny the full deity of Jesus and reject the doctrine of the Trinity simply because it is hard to understand or because it makes Jesus too uncomfortable. We have seen some reject much of the New Testament in favor of an Old Testament cult with a complete disregard for the character and nature of the Church and the Christian faith as found in the New Testament. At the same time, you will find a skewing of history and a rejection of education and training because it gets in the way. Classic and orthodox doctrines are cast aside. But what is most shocking is the utter rejection of the authority of Scripture.
It is impossible to do theology where logic is rejected, where study and intellectual pursuits are seen as an enemy and where Scriptural authority is subordinated to personal authority. It is a new kind of paganism which has produced a Parthenon of postmodern gods. The words God, Jesus, Father and even Holy Spirit no longer hold the same meaning for each person even though we all claim to be Christians. Old heresies like Arianism and modalism and even Gnosticism are a part of this emerging paganism ( appropriate for an emerging church). It is a powerful kind of paganism because when you try to confront it, you are attacked as being vicious and evil and trying to tear down someone's faith. It appears to be entrenched in certain individuals because they refused to be challenged and refuse to even put up a defense of their beliefs. Beliefs no longer have to be defended or proved. Irrational statements are made and we are all supposed to accept them.
If this is the state of Christianity in general and Evangelicalism in particular, we are in trouble. I am saddened by the situation. But I am also horrified because I fear for the future of the Church.
I fully expect to be flamed because classic thought, real theology and respect for Scripture are becoming vague memories for many who claim to be followers of Jesus, who was God in the flesh, the second person of the Trinity, who redeems those who place their faith in Him--and not in a lesser g-d.
posted by Randy Davis at 9:33 PM
2 Comments:
Greetings,
I think you've hit the nail on the head in applying the effects of postmodernism to what you are seeing in the Church today. The power of postmodern thought lies within the vagaries of the subconscious.
Postmodernism is everywhere today. Art, music, literature (loosely defined), television, etc. We are bombarded by it daily. We are asked to define for ourselves what it is. We are to view, hear, read incomprehensible rubbish and interpret it by impression. This is key as basically we are being taught to circumvent logic in favor of subconscious impression. Thus, the mind as a whole is being retrained and information enters apart from the filter of reason.
In my opinion, this has enabled all the above mentioned mediums to form a direct conduit to the subconscious mind.
If you read today's literature you find that the exact meaning of the text isn't even discernable many times. It's more about what they convey through impression. Sentence structure is thrown out in favor of creating a stream of impressions which are used to convey movement or emotion. The reason this method works and is accepted is that it is congruent, in form, to internal dialogues the reader may have within himself. But the result is that words lose their meanings and thought becomes ill-defined. So, is it any wonder that many of the congregation wander about with only vague notions which constitute their beliefs when that is what they are trained to do?
As I stated above, this is only my theory. One I've formulated trying to make sense of the appalling lethargy of the public in general. When you ask a congregation to comprehend by looking directly at individual words, their meaning within a context and coming to a conclusion, it's dissimilar to their normal thought processes. Inductive and deductive conclusions require conscious effort and logic but to a mind trained on the abstract, are beating against indelible impressions.
-Cf
_
Sadly the evangelical church has simply been "going with the flow" in these matters. You can purchase Bible studies for youth from Group Publishing where a Scripture is read and then the leader is instructed to ask the students what the character in the story was feeling. That, and the ever-popular Bible studies where everyone sits in a group, reads a text and the first question is, "what does that mean to you?"
Of course, even much of staunchly conservative evangelicalism has become warmed-over gnosticism.
I know that there is a lot of heat being generated in evangelical circles about the "emerging church" movement, but evangelicals should realize that emergents are their children and are simply doing what their evangelical parents in the faith have taught them to do.
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