Words

Cliche? Buzzword? Reality?

What is this postmodernity? Brian Mclaren declares that there are three levels of postmodernity out there and this can lead to confusion. He accuses some Christians, including Chuck Colsen, of misunderstanding true postmodernity and equating it with the understanding that there is no truth, only competing truths. McLaren labels this as the 1st postmodernity that is really not believed by any serious intellectuals, only by drunk college freshmen. He goes on to espouse his three levels of postmodernity and what in fact is the real state of postmodernity.

My question is this, are we as Christians to befriend Postmodernity? Or are we, for that matter, to try and bolster a flailing (as some would say) Modernity? Is the call of the Christian to help direct world philosophy? I’m not sure that’s what Christians are called to do. The question is will Christianity and world philosophy ever be the same? Probably not until Christ returns (but then will the new world he brings have something called a world philosophy?). I believe that as Christians we should endeavor to understand the culture around us accurately. (I don’t know that I can agree with McLaren in his estimation of the culture. While he may accurately be describing postmodernity, our culture is not like the postmodern McLaren describes. The average person in our society does not think like this, in fact they may be more prone to think like drunk college freshmen.) The reason for understanding world philosophy is that we must speak from a Theistic perspective into the culture in which we find ourselves (postmodern, modern, modern becoming postmodern, 2nd level postmodern, etc.). Does that mean we are helping to direct world philosophical direction? Indirectly I suppose, but that is not the over-arching reason.

Another question I wonder is how will Postmodernity undermine the Scriptures? The liberal movement that sprung out of Modernity years ago did in fact do that very thing. With the current trends (death of the author, etc.) of Postmodernity, won’t Scriptures become propoganda to serve the interests of the “others” in society? Is that not already happening (de-genderizing the Scriptures, etc.)?

So how do Christians respond to Postmodernity? Do we stick our heads in the sand and pretend culture isn’t really moving this direction? Do we run away and hide in our church groups and hope that the culture doesn’t come knocking at our door? Do we jump in with Postmodernity and attempt to perpetuate it in society? Can Richard Neiburh’s classic Christ and Culture provide the model from which Christians approach culture? Can I even hope to answer this question (or is that postmodernity, at some level, creeping into my thoughts even to form this question)?

Let us endeavor to know Christ and him crucified, preaching the foolishness of the cross, living in such a way that the pagan may see our good deads and glorify our God in heaven and may God grant his grace as we attempt to reach a culture that says they know him, but really does not.

So does that adequately answer my questions? Probably not, but it is a starting point. It is where I am at, openly seeking how God would have Christians approach culture with his truth. What do you think?