Christianity And Postmodernism

Postmodernism. It's a buzz-word that we are hearing more and more these days, particularly in Christian circles. On the one hand, some Christians see postmodernism as the newest manifestation of evil sweeping through Western society with the potential of dragging orthodox Christianity into the cesspool of heresy.

On the other hand, some Christians see postmodernism as a cultural shift which opens new doors of opportunity for the Biblical message to reclaim it's place as the voice of the culture. What is this thing called "postmodernism" and how should we as missional disciples of Christ respond?

Since this debate is raging all throughout Western Christianity, I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in, fully acknowledging that it's entirely possible that the sum total of my thoughts on the subject may be worth far less than 2 cents.

For Christians to know how to properly respond to the culture around them, we must first make an effort to understand that culture. And to clearly understand the culture requires that we take off our religious battle gear for a moment and listen; reconnaissance if you will. To understand postmodernism, we need to back up and look at it from a sociological perspective.

Since the time of Christ there have been two primary sociological eras - two primary worldviews in secular Western culture. The first, from about the time of Christ until the 17th century was the Medieval Era. For the first 1600 years or so, in the West, people viewed the world through the lens of religion and superstition. The Church was the voice of the culture. Sometimes that voice sounded like the voice of Christ, and sometimes that voice sounded quite heretical. But religion and superstition were the primary lens through which people viewed the universe, their world, their existence.

Then something happened. A cultural shift of seismic proportion began. Astronomers figured out how to peer into space and discover that earth wasn't the center of the universe. Sir Isaac Newton began to discover that the universe was governed by mathmatically calculated physical laws, therefore maybe "the gods" weren't in charge after all. Suddenly science was beginning to overtake religion as the voice of culture.

So Western society gradually began to leave the Medieval worldview behind and entered into a transitional period called the "Age of Reason" which further blossomed into the "Enlightenment." This transitional period could have been called "post-medievalism." This was a time of flux, uncertainty, grasping, turmoil, as everything that was believed for 1600 years was now coming into question.

This transition finally carried Western society into the second primary era: Modernity. For the next 200 years of so Modernity was the voice of the culture. God was no longer needed; in fact more and more people began to see religion as synonymous with superstition. Scienct and technology provided the answers we needed for the universe, the world, our existence. Modernity helped us decide that we weren't created by some celestial God, instead life emerged accidentally by random chance and we are nothing more than the product of generations of adaptation and genetic mutation.

This has been our worldview for the past 300 years. However, early in the 20th century - mostly after the horrors of WWI and WWII - the "Modern" worldview began to come into question. Science and technology weren't providing all of the anwers for us. In fact, our "enlightenment" was allowing us to create more ways to destroy ourselves than ways to save ourselves.

Another transition period began - with the same magnitude as the transition from the Medieval age into the Modern age. We are calling it "Postmodernism" which simply means After Modernity.

And here is where we find ourselves today. The idea of "absolutes" is being challenged since so many of the "absolutes" we held to in modernity have proven to be not so absolute. The idea of a mystical, supernatural world is being rekindled since there is so much remaining that science cannot explain. Today, those whom we label postmodern are in a time of flux, uncertainty, grasping, and turmoil as everything we've been taught and believed for the past 200 years or so is being challenged.

And here is where the church comes in. My next statement will clench the fists and grind the teeth of every "modernity-rooted" Christian. I believe God is the architect of postmodernism. I believe that God is now pulling back the veil and showing Western culture the truth about modernity. That it was simply another human attempt to become "god" and create our own utopia. I believe He is neutering "Modernity" as the voice of our culture. I believe He is laughing in mockery at our "enlightened" attempts to explain him away with laboratory instruments.

I believe He is now deliberately bringing Western society to this place of flux, uncertainty, grasping, and turmoil so that maybe we will take off our lab coats and once again begin searching for His truth.

So how will the church respond? What worries Christians so much about postmodernism is the tendency for postmoderns to become nihilistic in their thinking. Or to abandon truth all-together since there are obviously no absolutes. I would suggest that the things that worry us so much about postmodernism are simply the results of humanist backwash filling the void of dissipating modernity...because the church isn't effectively filling that void with the one and only enduring, ageless worldview; the Biblical worldview. And for us to be effective in filling that void, we have to be willing and able to speak the changeless truth of God in the language of the culture; following Paul's example of being all things to all people so that we may save some. Remember Paul on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece? He didn't communicate the truth of Christ to the philosophers at the Areopagus through Hebrew "language." He communicated the truth of Christ to them through the words of their own poets. We are not going to be effective in communicating the truth of Christ to postmodern secular society through our Sunday morning church "language." We have to step into their world and learn their language. And in this postmodern transition, the language of the culture is muli-sensory, interactive, participatory, and conversational.

As Modernity fades, something must fill that void. The human tendency is toward Godlessness. If the church doesn't take this opportunity to enter into the world of postmoderns and fill that void with Biblical truth, there is nothing left for them to do than create their own.

Postmodernism is a transition period. I believe we are between eras. And the next era of humanity will be the product of how well the church responds to this transition. We can shape the next era with Biblical truth by radically engaging this generation with the love and truth of God. Or we can shape the next era into one even more humanistic and godless through our neglect of the world around us today.