Living Under the Reign of God: Gospel, Church

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Living Under the Reign of God Gospel,
Church Culture in a Postmodern Context
Baptist Bible College December 2004
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The London Eye
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Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster
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The Enlightenment 17th to the Middle of the 20th
Century

• Immanence takes precedence over
  transcendence...
• Light of reason dethroned the church as the
  source of authority
• Revolution in philosophy - Bacon, Descartes,
  Kant
• Revolution in science - Aristotle overturned,
  Copernicus, Galileo, Newton...

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Modernity/Enlightenment

• 1. Era of conquest and control
• 2. Age of the machine
• 3. Age of reason/analysis
• 4. Age of secular science process and progress
• Aspired for absolute of objectivity

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Modernity/Enlightenment

• 6. Age of critical evaluation
• 7. Modern nation-state organization
• Age of individualism/autonomy
• Age of Protestantism institutional religion
• 10. Age of capitalism/consumerism

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Postmodernity Early Nineteen
Sixties to the Present

• 1. Universe Not Self-Contained
• 2. No Basis for Morality and Values
• 3. Progress Not Inevitable
• 4. No Basis for Truth
• 5. Language of Public Debate Lost
• 6. Meaning of Written Texts Lost
• 7. Limited Autonomy/Process

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Multiculturalism - Pluralism

• 1. Diversity - Tower of Babel to the final
  rebellion under the lawless man...
• 2. Tolerance - aspect of common grace that
  renders community/society possible
• 3. Postmodern - rejection of standards to make
  truth judgments about culture, religion, values...

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Crisis in Americas Worldview

• The Death of Modernity the death of the
  positive dynamic of the Enlightenment has been in
  process since the mid 1960ies
• The Rise of Postmodernity the impact of the new
  worldview taking over the soul of America
• The Present Crisis of Terrorism Moral
  Disintegration

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Impact of Terrorism Multiculturalism

• September 11 optimism lost
• War in Iraq circa 1,271 dead
• San Francisco circa 4,000 same sex marriages
• Debate in Massachusetts, New York, Oregon same
  sex marriage
• Mayor Daily of Chicago, Mayor Bloomberg of New
  York
• Gay Episcopal Bishop

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Postmodernity

• Multiculturalism - new agenda, social
  pragmatism...
• Globalization - every culture has its storyno
  overarching story to bind all the cultural
  stories together
• Mass Media - agenda of the media elites
• University - ensconced at all levels...
• Political Arena - agenda for education...

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Living Under the Reign of God Gospel,
Church Culture in a Postmodern Context
The End Session One