What is My Postmodern Neighbor Thinking

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What is My Postmodern Neighbor Thinking?

• Jerram Barrs
• Lecture I

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Introduction 2Corinthians 104-5

• Taking every thought captive
• Destroying obstacles to the knowledge of God
• Called to see where the thinking patterns of the
  culture are in opposition to Gods Word Romans
  121-2
• A call to resistance
• A call to submit to the Lord and his true account
  of our life in this world

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Humility

• As long as you say you see, your sin remains.
  If only you would acknowledge you are blind, then
  you would be able to see (John 941)
• Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If any
  man imagines that he knows something, he does not
  yet know as he ought to know (1Corinthians
  81-2)
• Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will
  exalt you (James 410)
• Whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
  whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
  lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any
  excellence, if there is anything worthy of
  praise, think about these things (Philippians
  48)

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Humility

• 1. Before Gods Word
• Readiness to admit our personal pride, our sinful
  blind spots and the way cultural prejudices have
  shaped our thinking rather than the Lord
• 2. Before human cultures
• To see what light they shed for us on the
  unchanging wisdom and truth that God has revealed
  
• Remember that God gives his wisdom to the whole
  human race (Proverbs 8)
• Where does our postmodern culture remind us or
  teach us of some aspect of truth that we may have
  neglected or forgotten because we are so shaped
  by other patterns of thinking and life of the
  world in which we live?

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What is my postmodern neighbor thinking?

• Postmodern wisdom

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• 1. A renewed focus on the spiritual and a sense
  of need for the transcendent
• 2. The rejection of the modernist utopian idea
  that humans can make things right
• 3. Challenge of authority - tradition is not
  necessarily legitimate
• 4. Appreciation for beauty versus mere utility
• 5. Recognition of the personal nature of
  knowledge. Knowledge is not just something
  readily available out there rather there is
  always a person involved in knowing
• 6. Recognition that people are coming with
  different perspectives
• 7. Delight in the diversity of human cultures
  both past and present
• 8. Emphasis on community
• 9. Recognition of the significance of story
• 10. Desire for authenticity

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What is my postmodern neighbor thinking?

• Weaknesses of postmodern understanding

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1. Human reason is inadequate to lead us to truth

• This is postmodernisms fundamental reaction to
  modernism and its insistence that reason alone is
  sufficient to give us true knowledge about
  ourselves and about the world
• Modernism had said
• Reason appears in possession of the throne,
  prescribing laws and imposing maxims with an
  absolute sway and authority. (David Hume)
• Man's own reason and effort are man's best and
  indeed only hope. (Corliss Lamont)
• Man's reason will conquer the universe. (Julian
  Huxley)

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Gods gift of reason

• Christianity sees reason as the handmaid of
  revelation with humility before God and his
  revelation then our reason can help us find truth
• Modernism was a Christian heresy turning reason
  into an idol and asking reason to be a far
  greater authority than it can possibly be
• Postmodernism reacts to this and insists that
  reason is inadequate to lead us to truth
• Objective knowledge about the ultimate nature of
  reality and of the human condition is beyond our
  reach

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Only personal truth

• In place of objective truth there is simply my
  individual perspective
• You have your truth I have mine
• My truth is that I am .
• Because there is no acknowledgment of someone
  transcendent who knows all things there is no
  possibility of our knowing what is objectively
  real
• The Truman Show
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Memento

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In knowing I am not free

• I always come to every issue with prejudices,
  with beliefs, with a background
• These glasses determine what I see as an
  individual, or as a member of a community
• So I cannot truly know objectively or absolutely
• About 70 of all Americans doubt that there is
  absolute truth
• Among younger people the figure rises to over 80
• In Europe this conviction is almost universal
• Even among Christians most of us are shaped by
  this individual or community approach to
  truth
• About 60 or more of all evangelical believers in
  the United States do not believe in absolute
  truth
• They believe rather that sincerity in belief,
  whatever ones religion, will get one to heaven.

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Pluralism reinforces this

• All around us are people with differing religious
  convictions or no religious convictions at all
• Think of the diversity of religious practice in
  our cities
• United States today is considered to be the most
  religiously diverse nation the world has ever
  seen
• Christians ought not to be afraid of this
  diversity
• Rather pluralism brings within reach of the
  churches vast numbers of people who are displaced
  from their own cultures and roots and who are
  often open to considering the claims of Jesus
  Christ
• This diversity as an opportunity for evangelism
  and not something to lament

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• Consider our prayers for the beginnings of
  pluralism in a nation like Saudi Arabia
• So why do we find pluralism a problem?
• Postmodernism insists there is no one truth which
  describes reality
• Merely the belief systems of individuals or
  cultural groups
• None of these can claim either the status of
  TRUTH or being better than others
• This we are called to resist

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All individuals have the right to their own views
this is democracy

• Postmodern claim is the belief that everyone has
  the right to their own views
• Not simply in the sense that their views ought to
  be respected and that they should have the legal
  right to hold their convictions
• But in the sense that all beliefs are equally
  valid (or invalid)
• Invalid - for once one says all religious beliefs
  are equally true, one has acknowledged, in
  effect, that none of them are true
• Christians are commanded by Scripture to respect
  people, and to respect their religious beliefs,
  not to trash them or blaspheme their gods
• Francis Schaeffer I will disagree with you but
  I will die for your right to disagree with me

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Pragmatism truth is what will work for me

• Americans are very pragmatic people
• We do not ask What is true?
• We ask What will work for me and my family?
• What will improve our life and bring us
  happiness, comfort and security?
• The two great goals of Americans are personal
  success and vivid personal feelings (Robert
  Bellah)
• Think of the manner in which Christians move so
  readily today from one church, one theological
  tradition to another

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A generation of skeptics

• Many young people are deeply skeptical
• Suspicious of truth claims as power plays
• Consider the dwarves in Lewis Last Battle
• They are so reluctant to be taken in that they
  can no longer be taken out
• In UK and Europe in general this skepticism much
  more advanced
• British humor for a generation scours the soul,
  while being hilariously funny

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Pessimism

• Young people, in particular, are deeply
  pessimistic about what life holds for them
• True practically because so many grow up in
  families where there is such alienation
• True at a much deeper level in the whole culture
• Celebration of suicide on many college campuses
• If you doubt this claim listen to the music of
  young people
• It is deeply uncertain and pessimistic
• We live in a hopeless generation and the younger
  people are, the more hopeless they are

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2. Rejection of Authority

• If there is no truth, then there is no book (the
  Bible)
• No body of beliefs (Christian creeds or
  confessions)
• No person (the pastor)
• No social institutions (government, the church,
  the family)
• None can command respect or submission
• Example of Pope John Paul II in St. Louis

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Trust in myself

• I become the only authority for my own views and
  beliefs
• Consider the articles and programs in which
  famous individuals are asked to give their
  beliefs in God
• We learn nothing truly about who God is
• Privatization of religious experience

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Deconstruction of everything sacred

• Everything that anyone or any group has held to
  be sacred or precious can be scorned and held up
  for ridicule
• Delight in shocking the viewer or listener
• Watch music videos
• Listen to the words of so many songs
• Turn on your TV and watch talk shows or even soap
  operas
• Again, think of British humor
• We are called to resist the cynicism this creates

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No style or art is better than any other

• No 'canon' of great literature or art or
  architecture or music
• No culture, and no cultural artifacts, can be
  considered higher or more advanced than any other
• To claim that Shakespeare is the greatest
  dramatist writing in English is considered by a
  radical postmodern to be an imperialistic claim
• An attempt to impose Dead White European Male
  culture on other cultural and social groups,
  writings and artifacts
• This same criticism is leveled at any claim to
  truthfulness, wisdom or greatness for the Bible,
  or for Christianity, or for the preaching of the
  Gospel

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• There is also the denial that it is possible to
  know the authors intention and so anything can
  be done with a piece of literature
• This disrespect for authority sometimes has a
  playful element to it, a humorous mixing of
  styles, of past and present, of the serious and
  the comedic
• Commercials selling everything from food to
  deodorants by using a painting like the 'Mona
  Lisa
• 'Great' objects can be taken from their context
  and used in any way at all, especially to add a
  touch of spice and fun
• Despite the humor and creativity there is a
  serious statement underneath, a questioning of
  significant cultural icons and a relativism about
  meaning

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3. Moral relativism

• No transcendent moral commandments
• No one individual, no group, no authority, no
  religion, no sacred book, no god has the right to
  tell anyone how they ought to live
• What are the options?
• a). Personal autonomy
• The individual becomes the moral authority for
  himself or herself
• In fact morality is an inappropriate word for
  this implies standards - there is only my
  'values' or my 'lifestyle'

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b). Referenda on moral issues opinion polls

• Lets poll what people think about sex before
  marriage, or about homosexual practice, or about
  abortion, or about euthanasia
• When God is dead when man s the highest good
  and evil are decided by majority vote (William
  Golding)
• But majorities often do things to minorities
  which must be declared to be wicked
• No majority can make brutality and wickedness
  into ethical behavior
• But this is the consequence of our postmodern
  rejection of moral authority

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• c). The will of the experts
• The minority those in the know decide for
  everyone what is to be done embryo
  experimentation cloning ..
• The loss of persuasion and rational discussion in
  the public square
• d). Might is right
• Those with the power rule all others
• The Biblical understanding that there is a rule
  of law from above to govern those in power is the
  exception historically

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4. Breakdown of relationships

• With the moral breakdown comes a meltdown in
  social obligation
• a). Loss of trust and of respect for
  marriage and family
• b). Difficulty of making relationships
• c). Personal loneliness
• d). Loss of community in suburbia

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