Postmodernism and the
Christian Faith
Introduction
Personal Testimony at University of
Wisconsin
Beliefs
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God
Jesus lived, taught, and died on the cross
Bible had authority
Absolute Right and Wrong
Truth could be discovered
Apostles Creed and the 10 commandments
Heaven and Hell
What is Postmodernism?
We need to ask the expert, the
master, the preeminent scholar
and icon of postmodern
thought!
Bart Simpson
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
What is Postmodernism?
At first it seems that Bart did not
help us out that much but maybe
he did.
The Three Major Periods Related to
Modernity (General)
Pre-Modern: NT up to Enlightenment.
Questions concerning the truth were
addressed directly to Bible and/or Church.
An atmosphere of confidence governed
the expectation that agreement in
understanding could be reached. Belief in
the supernatural and that God was acting
in history.
.
The Three Major Periods Related to
Modernity (General)
Modernity: Enlightenment through most of 20th century.
Most begin it in 1641 A.D. by French Philosopher Rene
Descartes’ famous statement, cogito ergo sum = I think
therefore I am.
An atmosphere of trust remained in the individual’s
rational capacity, but everything else was submitted to
doubt especially matters related to church and church
belief. Truth and the greater good was to be pursued and
obtained intellectually through human reason and
science. The stories of the supernatural (Bible) was
relegated to purely naturalistic explanations. Since God
did not act in history man was responsible for his own
fate.
Modernity: The Triumph of Reason
The Tenets of Modernity
True knowledge is determined with certainty by reason
Two levels of knowledge: objective/scientific (open to debate) and
subjective/spiritual/moral (only personal conviction)
World exists in cause-effect relationship
Knowledge is good; facts are “value-free”
Progress and scientific discovery will lead to better world and
happiness
Humanity basically good and reason can solve all problems
Individuals are autonomous in society and have rights society must
honor
Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Post-Modern World, Baker, 2001, pp. 25-26
The Three Major Periods related to
modernity (General)
Post-Modern: 1980s to Present: There is a suspicion that any
understanding is achievable through rational methods. Questions
the objectivity of the modern method and assumes biases in any
modern method. It is a rejection a reaction against modernism.
Ideas were around after WWII but the theory gained some of its strongest
ground early on in French academia. In 1979 Jean-François Lyotard
wrote a short but influential work The Postmodern Condition : a report
on knowledge. Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, and Roland Barthes
are also strongly influential in postmodern theory.
The Three Major Periods related to
modernity (General)
Wikipedia formal definition: the condition of Western society after
modernity. . . .in the era of postmodern culture, people have rejected
the grand, supposedly universal stories and paradigms such as religion,
conventional philosophy, capitalism and gender that have defined
culture and behavior in the past, and have instead begun to organize
their cultural life around a variety of more local and subcultural
ideologies, myths and stories. Furthermore, it promotes the idea that all
. . . paradigms are stable only while they fit the available evidence, and
can potentially be overturned when phenomena occur that the
paradigm cannot account for, and a better explanatory model (itself
subject to the same fate) is found.
Welcome to Our
Post-Modern World
Pilate’s Question
Lives
ON!!
“What IS the truth?”
The Postmodern answers with:
“The Truth Is Out There”
Never “in here.” You will never know it even if it is
there.
Post-Modernity: The Triumph of Ignorance
The Tenets of Post-Modernity (Johnston, 26)
Reacting to the all the tenets of Modernity
Reject idea of objective truth
Suspicious and skeptical of authority (family, government and
society)
In search of identity apart from knowledge but through relationship
No morality, only expediency
In search of transcendence, to experience otherness
Post-Modernity: The Triumph of Ignorance
Material and media-driven girls and boys
In quest of meaningful community
The “knowing smirk” at anyone who says they know the truth
Modernism vs. Post-Modernism
Modernity’s
View of Life
Romantic view of life
Have a purpose
Design
Hierarchy
Word-oriented
A completed work
Analysis from a distance
Creation/synthesis
Metaphysics (philosophy that
deals with first principles to
explain the nature of reality)
“Father Knows Best”
Post-Modernity’s
View of Life
Absurd view of life
Play instead
Chance
Anarchy
Silence-oriented
Work in process
Analysis thru participating
Deconstruction/antithesis
Irony
“The Simpsons”
The modernist umpire says:
“There’s balls and there’s strikes,
and I call ‘em the way they are!”
The postmodernist umpire says:
“There’s balls and there’s strikes,
and I call ‘em the way I see ‘em!”
The radical postmodernist umpire says:
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and
they ain’t nothing until I call ‘em!”
Walter Truett Anderson, Reality is not what it used to be.
The Introduction to a “Simpsons”
(Quoted in Johnston, p. 30)
“Hello, I am Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien
encounters is true, and by true I mean false. It’s all lies,
but they are entertaining lies and, in the end, isn’t that
the real truth? The answer is . . . No.”
The Attacks of Post-Modernity
The attack on communication
The attack on objectivity
The attack on veracity
The attack on meaning and
understanding
The attack on the idea of “truth”
Modern and Postmodern
Approaches to the Bible
Things We Sometimes Hear
“Well, that’s just your interpretation.”
“The Bible can be made to say anything you want.”
“You can’t really understand the Bible. It is full of
contradictions.”
“People can justify anything from the Bible.”
“No one can understand the true meaning of anything
anyone says.”
This is what the Bible means to me.
What works for you is fine; what works for me is fine,
whatever.
Thought Questions
How can I effectively communicate the
gospel in a post-modern environment?
How can I communicate the gospel in a
pluralistic environment?
If I make a change in my approach or what I
say am I being faithful to God’s word?
Suggested General Method
Have to use different starting points in introducing spiritual
truth to people.
Have to start where they at and are ready to accept.
We have to get into their world; bridge the gap by
introducing spiritual truth into their world in a way they
can accept.
Thus friendship evangelism would seem to me to be the
best way to reach the postmodern generation.
Crusades, Church, Bible thumping, tract distribution are
for many with the postmodern mind just a turn off to be
rejected with all other forms premodernism and
modernism.
Suggested General Method
We still cannot compromise the basic
message of the gospel: Saved by faith alone
in Christ alone.
However, God is sovereign and he does
and is using many methods.
Not all people even young people are
postmodern.
Suggested General Method for
Postmodern Evangelism
Different starting
points\same ending point
The Example of Paul in Thessalonica
(Acts 17:1-6)
Starting Point
Synagogue OT Scriptures
Jewish people, Devout Greeks (worshipped the God of
Israel)
Finishing Point
Christ suffered and rose from the dead
Result
Some Jews many Greeks responded in faith: Church
planted
Opposition and persecution by Jewish leaders
The Example of Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-34)
Starting Point (Acts 17: 16-29)
Synagogue: Jewish people, Devout Greeks
Marketplace with Greek philosophers
• Epicureanism: Epicurus (341-270 BC) sensible pleasure and happiness (not
self indulging hedonism) is the beginning and end of living the good life.
• Stocism (Zeno of Cyprus, 336-263 BC) People should be self sufficient and
individualistic. Most dominant view of 1st century.
• Altar to the Unknown God
God as creator (24-25)
God has determined our times and where we live (e.g., he is sovereign,
(26)).
God as sustainer and provider (28)
He wants us to seek him (27)
Poet and Stoic Philosopher (We are God’s offspring, 28-29) (the Stoic
Cleanthes (331-232 BC, Hymn to Zeus).
Don’t think his nature is silver or gold or stone (29).
The Example of Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-34)
Finishing Point (Acts 17:30-31)
Repentance
An “Appointed Man” whom God raised from
the dead
Result (Acts 17:33-34)
Sneering, mocking
Some believed
Postmodern Starting Points
Getting into their world. What are their interests
and current life experiences?
Studies
Work
Music
Sports
Relationships
• Good
• Broken or Bad
• Deaths
Perceived needs that they have
Postmodern Starting Points
Johnston’s Suggestions
Use dialogue not one way conversation
Use the inductive method of teaching; do not get to the
main point until the end. Let them discover spiritual
truth with you.
Use story telling more
Use personal testimony how the truth affects you
Use Audiovisuals, drama, art
Use humor to greater degrees, irony, paradox
Speak in terms of spirituality not religion and church
Concluding Thoughts from J.I. Packer, Evangelism
and the Sovereignty of God.
Humanly speaking evangelism is a hopeless
task. The sovereignty of God in grace gives
us our only hope.
It is not right when we regard ourselves as
responsible for securing converts, and to
look to our own enterprise and techniques to
accomplish what only God can accomplish.
The terms of our calling are to be faithful
not successful.
Sowing and Reaping
Matt 13:3
Behold the sower went out to sow . .
...