INTRODUCTION
1. GENESIS OF THE CONCEPT POSTMODERNISM
2. TOWARD THE DESCRIPTIVE DEFINITION OF THE POSTMODERNISM
1.1 Postmodern Era
1.2 Postmodernism
1.3 Postmodernity
3. MODERNISM VS POSTMODERNISM
4. A TABLE OF DISSIMILARITIES
5. THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE POSTMODERNISM
5.1 Pre-modern Epistemology
5.2 Modern Epistemology
5.3 Postmodern Epistemology
6. THE KEY INFLUENCES OF POSTMODERNISM ON THEOLOGY
7. MAJOR FIGURE OF POSTMODERN THEOLOGY
8. THE CORE CONCEPTS OF POSTMODERN THEOLOGY
8.1 Anti-Absolutism
8.2 Anti-Exclusivism (Accommodative Pluralism)
8.3 Anti-Objectivism
8.4 Anti-Rationalism
8.5 Anti-Objectivism (of Meaning)
8.6 Anti-Ecclesiaticism (Radical Individualism)
8.7 Acceptance of Immorality
9. THE PREDICAMENT OF EMERGENT CHURCH: A POSTMODERN ECCLESIA
10. THE POSTMODERN THEOLOGY AND MISSION
11. THE ANTIDOTE FOR POSTMODERNISM
12. THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A newfangled kind of language stalks the world, based on a prevalent contemporary ideology called postmodernism.The paramount characteristic of which is the dismissal of absolute objective truth. “What’s true for you may not be true for me,” this encapsulates the postmodern idiom legitimately well. Despite its postmodern origin, postmodernism already dominates the media, academia, politics and much of ‘the church’(Emergents). Statistics expose that a bulk of young people in the West embrace to the following ‘truth’. “There is no such thing as truth.” A thing may be cool, OK or workable, but to say it is ‘true’ implies something else is ‘false’, a judgment call that assumes a pyramid of correctness - perish the thought. Postmodernism is a term that is much in vogue these days in academic circles, and like all such terms and the movements associated with them, is exerting considerable influence upon contemporary theology.
Since the bearing of postmodernism is seen in every sphere of science, so religion or theology is not outside of its grip. Friedrich Schwitzer in his book Postmodern Life Cycle commented, “To the degree that the postmodern pluralization leads to religious individualism and privatism theology and the church must have a strong interest in overcoming such tendencies.”
So looking at this predicament, this paper work is steadily focused to encapsulate the concept and themes of postmodernism to an extent to be able to relate its control and manipulation on theology. Moreover, this work will also investigate the postmodern theology of religions with special reference to Emergent church and its impact on the central doctrines of Christianity.
1. GENESIS OF THE CONCEPT OF POSTMODERNISM
The post-modern drive finds its roots in Friedrich Nietzsche and the death of God movement he bred. The whole post-modern drive can be cast in this context. Nietzsche wrote: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers, comfort ourselves?”
The word first appeared in The Postmodern Condition by the philosopher JeanFrancois Lyotard. Lyotard takes this idea of culturallyshaped perspectives and insists that these perspectives are passed on through narratives. Two of the dominant figures in Post-modernism are Jacque Derrida (1930 – 2004 best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction) and Paul-Michel Foucault (1926 –1984 Radical critic of modernism). Both are major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy.
Hence, deconstructionism follows. So, the death of God by Nietzsche, leads to the death of every other area of thought and life as follows:
• Death of God—Atheism (No moral absolutes)
• Death of objective truth—Relativism
• Death of exclusive truth—Pluralism
• Death of objective meaning—Conventialism
• Death of thinking (logic) —Anti-Foundationalism
• Death of objective interpretation—Deconstructionism
• Death of objective values—Subjectivism
Once they pronounced that God is dead, then the rest of post-modernism follows reasonably. For if there is no absolute Moral Law Giver, there can be no absolute moral law (subjectivism).Likewise, if there is no absolute Mind, then there can be no absolute meaning (conventionalism) or absolute truth (relativism). Further, if there is no objective meaning, then there cannot be an objective interpretation of a text.
2. TOWARD THE DESCRIPTIVE DEFINITION OF THE POSTMODERNISM
“That postmodernism is indefinable is a truism” said in Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy.
However, it can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyperreality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning.
It is impossible to adequately give expression to the diverse and detailed characteristics of postmodernism as taught by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Michel Foucault (t986-1984), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), Jacques Derrida (1930- ) and Thomas Kuhn (1922- ). However, put as succinctly as possible, postmodernism is a reinterpretation of what knowledge is and what counts as knowledge. According to postmodernism there is no such thing as absolute truth. ‘Reality’, rather than being something that exists independent of the language or theories anyone may use to describe it, is something constructed or made-up by society. ‘Language’ creates reality, but since language changes and word meanings vary, what is ‘real’ for one group of people may be ‘unreal’ for another. Not only is all thought merely ‘socially and historically conditioned’, but even the very ‘laws of logic’ (identity, non-contradiction and the excluded middle) are ‘Western constructs’ which must not be taken as universally valid, and certainly cannot be imposed on people of other cultures.
Post-Modernism is the cultural matrix that possibilizes the unification of plurified, diversified humanity. Nothing is certain, nothing is absolute, nothing is right, nothing is wrong; everything is certain, everything is absolute, everything is right, everything is wrong.
There are various terms used to describe this phenomenon, and they each have technical and more popular definitions.
2.1 Postmodern Era
The Postmodern Era denotes to this modern milieu that we find ourselves in. Irrespective of whether one is a postmodernist, one does live in the time period of postmodernism and is affected by it on every level whether they give into its claims or not. Everyone living in the twenty-first century is living in the Postmodern Era.
In a general sense, "this new era has been characterised by a denial of absolute truths and grand narratives explaining the progressive evolution of society. At the same time it has brought to the surface a multitude of different perspectives on society and an appreciation of different cultures. It has highlighted globalisation on the one hand and localisation on the other, the celebration of difference and the search for commonality.
2.2 Postmodernism
Postmodernism is post because itdenies the existence of any ultimate principles, and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody - a characteristic of the so-called modern mind. The paradox of the postmodern position is that, in placing all principles under the scrutiny of its skepticism, it must realize that even its own principles are not beyond questioning. In other words its a movement undertaken by those who seek various means of escape from the classic criticisms of modernism; anantiphon against modernism.
2.3 Postmodernity
Although there is a technical difference between Postmodernity and Postmodernism, they are often used interchangeably. In other words, in modern epistemology we start with an adequate foundation, add methodological rigor, turn the crank, and out pops truth. But it's quite opposite in its approach to any truth claims, which is entirely based on deconstructional methodology.
3. MODERNISM VS POSTMODERNISM
Perhaps the easiest technique to start thinking about postmodernism is by thinking about modernism, the movement from which postmodernism seems to get materialized.
Modernism, as most of us probably know, is the movement in visual arts, music, literature, and drama which rejected the old Victorian standards of how art should be made, consumed, and what it should mean. Below is the chart to picture the dissimilarities between these two:
4. A TABLE OF DISSIMILARITIES
MODERNISM
POST-MODERNISM
Unity of thought Diversity of thought
Rational Social & psychological
Conceptual Visual and poetical
Truth is absolute Truth is relative
Exclusivism Pluralism
Foundationalism Anti-foundationalism
Epistemology Hermeneutics
Certainty Uncertainty
Author’s meaning Reader’s meaning
Structure of the text De-construction of the text
The goal of knowing The journey of knowing
5. THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE POSTMODERNISM
To encapsulate the postmodern epistemology let’s look at the history. The history of the last 2,000 years can be divided into three periods; first, the pre-modern world (up to the 17th century), second, the modern world (17th to late 20th century) and third, the postmodern world (late 20th century onwards).
With remarkable exceptions, those living in the pre-modern world (whether ‘Christian’ or ‘pagan’) generally accepted the mythological and the supernatural. Pre-modern society acknowledged a spiritual hierarchy. It was a ‘given’ that God (or the gods) ruled over creation, and from the King down, authority was to be obeyed without question. Status was defined by position (ruler, head of family etc.). Traditions reigned supreme. People did as they were told, just as their parents had before them. No one felt they were autonomous, all were ‘dependent on God’. Things were ‘true’ because tradition, holy books and those in authority said so.
5.1 Pre-modern Epistemology
Pre-modern, here refers to the period from the late Middle Ages through the Reformation to the dawn of the Enlightenment. For most people during that time an account of human knowing would go something like this: God exists and knows everything. We human beings, made in his image, know only a tiny part of what God knows. In fact, if we are to know anything, then we must come to know some part of what God already perfectly knows and so revelation is required. Revelation can come through sacred Scripture or the religious teaching or by the Spirit's illumination or through experience or by means of what we today call "science." On this general point, Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin agree: human knowing is a small subset of God's knowing and comes to us by revelation. Where they differ is on how much revelation is given through each means. Aquinas was convinced that enough was revealed through nature and experience that someone could, by paying proper attention to these sources of "natural revelation," gain some significant knowledge about God. By contrast, Calvin was convinced that "special" revelation that comes through Scripture, the Spirit, and the church-was necessary for us to know anything about God in the way that we should.
Pre-modern epistemology was very open to the supernatural. That means it held countless millions (at least on the popular level) to “beliefs” and "knowledge" that most of us today would dismiss as ridiculous: silly superstitions, the magical powers of relics, high confidence in omens and astrology. The Reformation significantly weakened some of these beliefs.
Yet it is worth noting that even this epistemology, which was substantially correct in recognizing that all human knowing is a subset of God's knowing and consequently a function of revelation, which could nevertheless be corrupted by sinful human beings and thus coupled with indefensible so called superstition.
5.2 Modern Epistemology
The Renaissance (14th-17th CE.) and the Enlightenment (Age of Reason) (17th-19th CE.) brought a drastic alteration in former state. The humanistic philosophy that flourished during this period changed the reigning paradigm from a world perceived to ‘centered around God’ to one ‘centered around man’. Reason altered dogma and tradition. ‘Human values’ replaced ‘religious values’. Individualism and free-thinking were encouraged. Mythological paganism and supernatural Christianity (religious ideas) were alike dismissed as relics of the past. God was dead - or, at least, if He existed at all, He was redundant. With superstition, miracles and a supernatural God removed from the public mind, all the world’s problems began to seem explainable and solvable by reason and science. After all, humanity was not sinful; just ignorant so the optimism filled the air. ‘Moderns’ rejected disciplines such as theology, metaphysics, morality and aesthetics.
The major figures in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and metaphysics during the 17th and 18th centuries are roughly divided into two main groups. The "Rationalists," mostly in France and Germany, argued all knowledge must begin from certain "innate ideas" in the mind. Major rationalists were Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Nicolas Malebranche. The "Empiricists," by contrast, held that knowledge must begin with sensory experience. Major figures in this line of thought are John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume (These are retrospective categories, for which Kant is largely responsible.) and the late eighteenth century Immanuel Kant set forth a groundbreaking philosophical system which claimed to bring unity to rationalism and empiricism.
In 19th century Existentialism arose (Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Martin Heidegger) is generally considered to be the philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.
Ninteenth century materialism believed only the observable and empirically verifiable were real. ‘God’, ‘love’ and ‘justice’ could not be tested in a laboratory and were therefore meaningless or beyond the epistemological approach.
5.3 Postmodern Epistemology
Later cracks began to appear in modernism with the dawning of the Romantic era (1775-1850) which encouraged subjectivity and personal experience. Building on David Hume’s ideas about the limitations of observation by sense alone, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) popularized the belief that knowledge is ultimately a matter of interpretation. After all, he reasoned, we cannot with any certainty know that our minds are correctly mirroring reality. Kant said, “You can’t know.” Agnosticism became fashionable. This laid the foundation for existentialism. If reality was a matter of subjective interpretation, truth and morality were relative not absolute. Existentialists choose their own way, in which life has no objective meaning.
Existential philosophers like Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and others, proposed that the most vital questions in life were not explainable by science. Science, contrary to public perception, is not a pure discipline where scientists with pure motives search for pure truth. These writers exposed what they felt were the false assumptions and presuppositions behind modernism.
By the 1960’s a whole generation of young people had begun to question the results of reason and science, with their cold technology, pollution, weapons of mass destruction and socially intrusive ‘control’. The optimism of the modernistic worldview had been shattered by two World Wars, the Holocaust and Vietnam. Despite all the material gains there was still a hunger for the spiritual. A desire to be free from any kind of intellectual demand or moral restraint led to experimentation with drugs, mysticism and the occult. Two centuries of ‘reason’ had blown away any persuasive foundation for ‘morals’. When Nietzsche pronounced the death of God in Thus Spake Zarathustra the inevitable happened. Society’s taboos simply gave way. All that remained taboo was taboo itself. In came the sexual revolution aided by medical ‘advances’. Homosexuality and abortion were legalized. The Press was uncensored, leading to an explosion in pornography. Divorce became easier. The gods of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll rushed in to fill the vacuum and the rest is history.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) claimed a person’s thinking was influenced and shaped by economic structures; Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) by the desire to exercise power (truth claims are mere power plays, magalomania) ; Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) by unconscious sexually-oriented drives(erotomania). With all of this psychological baggage in the mind, how could a person ever state with any certainty what ‘reality’ really is? The door to postmodernism had been opened. So what about postmodern epistemology? Of course, history is chaotic. Invariably, some forces prepare the way for a shift and others retard it. And even when there is a new paradigm, not everyone adopts it.
It is usefully analyzed with reference to its rejection or modification of all five of the elements of postmodern epistemology.
1. Postmodern epistemology continues to attach on the finite "I"or, more corporately, on the finite group, the "we." But it draws very diverse inferences from this axiom than modern epistemology did. Because all human knowers-or groups of knowers-are finite, they think and reason out of a specific and limited cultural framework, some specific "interpretive community."
2. Reflect deeply on the first point, postmodernism insists that absolute certainty will no longer be assumed to be possible. Moreover, absolute certainty is not even desirable. Surely it is better, postmoderns tell us, to encourage insights that flow from many different perspectives, including different religions and diverse moral codes.
3. Similarly, as finite human beings we invent our methods, which are themselves shaped by particular languages and cultures and social groupings. Consequently, no method has any deeper significance than the preference or convenience of some particular group.
4. Whatever "truth" we discover cannot possibly enjoy "ahistorical universality." It will be true for one culture, but not another; it will be true in one language, but not in another; it will be true for this social grouping, but not for that one. Even in the scientific domain, it is argued, we are learning that large theories are not infrequently overthrown by later theories. Any claim to have achieved "ahistorical universality" is just one more form of modernist hubris.
5. Many postmodern voices still speak out of the assumptions of philosophical naturalism that are common among late modernist thinkers. Yet substantial numbers of postmoderns are now convinced that there are many ways to "knowledge" and "truth" that are helpful to you or your "interpretive community."
6. THE KEY INFLUENCES OF POSTMODERNISM ON THEOLOGY
Postmodern theology is any type of theology that is influenced by postmodernism or postmodern philosophy. Examples of religions that may be interpreted using postmodern philosophy. A postmodern interpretation of religion emphasizes the key point that religious truth is highly individualistic, subjective and resides within the individual.
Post-modernism in theology that has been called Post-Protestant, Post-Orthodox, Post-Denominational, Post-Doctrinal, Post-Individual, Post-Foundational, Post-Creedal, Post-Rational, Post-Absolute. Actually, “Post” is equal to “Anti” since post-modernism is opposed to everything listed above which they see as part of the modern world.
The North American father of post-modernism, Brian McLaren in his evangelical theology, wrote: “But for me…opposing it (Postmodernism) is as futile as opposing the English language. It’s here. It’s reality. It’s the future… It’s the way my generation processes every other fact on the event horizon”. He added, “Postmodernism is the intellectual boundary between the old world and the other side. Why is it so important? Because when your view of truth is changed, when your confidence in the human ability to know truth in any objective way is revolutionized, then everything changes. That includes theology…” So its imperative to perceive that a postmodern theology is nothing but a product of postmodern analysis of religion. And a huge number of postmodern theologian have seen it as an irresistible phenomena in our time. In next section we shall look at the core concepts of postmodern theology.
7. MAJOR FIGURES OF POSTMODERN THEOLOGY
Some among the major figures of postmodern theology are, Brian McLaren wrote The Church on the Other Side, A Generous Orthodoxy, and A New Kind of Christian and Stanley Grenz, the grand-father of the movement wrote: A Primer on Post-Modernism, Beyond Foundationalism, Revisioning Evangelical Theology. Rob Bell hit the front page of Time magazine recently with his denial of Hell in his book, Love Wins. He also wrote Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Doug Pagitt & Tony Jones penned, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope and Tony Jones wrote, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. They all are leading figures of Emergent Church (Postmodern theology
8. THE CORE CONCEPTS OF ‘POSTMODERN THEOLOGY’
Here researcher will briefly scatch the core concepts of postmodern theology. However, there are many beliefs that post-modern theologians hold but the researcher will list the key concepts and show how they are self-destructive by their own arguments. This is what the apostle Paul urges us to do when he said “We destroy arguments and bring every thought captive to Christ”
8.1 Anti-Absolutism (Relativism)
Brian McLaren, a postmodern theologian wrote: “Arguments that pit absolutism verses relativism, and objectivism versus subjectivisim, prove meaningless or absurd to postmodern people” As we shall see, the root problem with post-modern thought is that it is self-defeating. It cannot even state its view without contradicting itself:
Anti-Absolutism stated: “We cannot know absolute truth.”
Anti-Absolutism self-Refuted: “We know that we cannot know absolute truth.”
A postmodern religion can be non-dogmatic, syncretic, and eclectic: in drawing from various faiths and traditions, it challenges the notion of absolute truths. This is quite contradictory to the absolute truth claims found in all major religious theologies of the world.
C.S. Lewis once pointed out that folk who deny the existence of an absolute moral law still become upset when you take their seat on a bus.
8.2 Anti-Exclusivism (Accommodative Pluralism)
Another characteristic of post-modern theology is pluralism or anti-exclusivism. McClaren wrote: “Missional Christian faith asserts that Jesus did not come to make some people saved and others condemned. Jesus did not come to help some people to be right while leaving everyone else to be wrong. Jesus did not come to create another exclusive religion” This tells us that postmodernism is pluralistic. It says that no one view is uniquely correct. But if no single view is correct, then is pluralism correct? Again, postmodernists claim to have a neutral perspective and be able to take a detached bird’s eye view of all other views, while condemning all other views as biased constructs.
“But Christianity’s idea that other religions cannot be God’s carriers of [redemptive] grace and truth casts a large shadow over our Christian experiences. “Christianity is a non-god, and every non-god can be and idol. God cannot be hijacked by Christianity. If a relationship with a specific person, namely Christ, is the whole substance of a relationship with the God of the Bible, then the vast majority of people in world history are excluded from the possibility of a relationship with the God of the Bible. To put it in different terms, there is no salvation outside of Christ, but there is salvation outside of Christianity. Would a God who gives enough revelation for people to be judged but not enough revelation to be saved be a God worthy of worshiping? Never!”
Hick bases his universalistic pluralism on the rejection of religious exclusivism. Hick proposed his “Copernican revolution” in theology by emphasizing the necessity of a paradigm shift from a Christianity-centered or Jesus-centered to a God-centered model of the universe of faiths. However, according to Griffin, Hick’s hypothesis is neither adequate nor self-consistent. Hick tries to make all religions equal, but only by making them equally erroneous.
Anti-exlusivism is just another term for pluralism. The predicament is clear. The claim that no view is exclusively true is an exclusivistic truth claim itself.
The Claim of Pluralism: “No view is exclusively true.”
The Self-Refutation: It claims that its view (that no view is exclusively true) is exclusively true. The Anti-exclusivism claim: “It is wrong to make a claim that one view is exclusive truth as opposed to opposing views.”
The Self-refutation: The anti-exclusivist claim is exclusively true as opposed to exclusivism.
It again violates the laws of logic and exclusive claims of religion (Islam, Christianity etc).
8.3 Anti-Objectivism
Another characteristic of post-modern theology is subjectivism. Another prominent postmodern theologian Stanely Grenz in his book Beyond Foundationalism wrote: “We ought to commend the postmodern questioning of the Enlightenment assumption that knowledge is objective and hence dispassionate” It simply means “There are no objectively true statements.” The Self-Refutation: It is an objectively true statement that there are no objectively true statements. In short, their anti-objectivism makes an objective truth claim. Hence, it is hanged on its own epistemological gallows. It self-destructs.
Furthermore, subjectivism has historically been condemned by Christian theologians, which opposed to it the objective authority of the church, the Christian dogma, and the revealed truth of the Bible. Christian theologians, and Karl Barth in particular, have also condemned anthropocentrism as a form of subjectivism.
8.4 Anti-Rationalism
“What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” This question of the relation between reason here represented by Athens and faith represented by Jerusalem was posed by the church father Tertullian (c.160–230 CE) It can be called fideism . Grenz chided “Twentieth-century evangelicals [who] have devoted much energy to the task of demonstrating the credibility of the Christian faith…he added, Following the intellect can sometimes lead us away from the truth” Of course, he seems blissfully unaware of the fact that not following basic rational thought will lead you there a lot faster!
McLaren, added: “Because knowledge is a luxury beyond our means, faith is the best we can hope for. What an opportunity! Faith hasn’t encountered openness like this in several hundred years” He urged: “Drop any affair you may have with certainty, proof, argument and replace it with dialogue, conversation, intrigue, and search”. But here again we are faced with a self-defeating claim:
The Claim of Anti-Rationalism: “There are no reasons for what we believe.”
The Self-Refutation: There are good reasons for believing there are no good reasons
for what we believe. And knowledge is a luxury beyond our means then how the knowledge of this truth came about. So ultimately it holds on to reason in order to disconfirm the reason and then it letch on to knowledge to get away from knowledge, again selfdestructive.
8.5 Anti-Objectivism (of Meaning)
The term that describes anti-objectivism in meaning is Conventionalism. It claims that all meaning is culturally relative. There is no fixed meaning. Meaning is not objective. But here again we are faced with self-destructive claims:
The Claim of Conventionalism: “There is no objective meaning.”
The Self-Refutation: It is objectively meaningful to assert that there is no objective meaning.
The post-modern dilemma is painful. It cannot even express its view without borrowing from its opposing view. It literally has no ground of its own on which to stand. It is living on rented resources.
This is not to say that there are no difficulties in the Bible. There are. But St. Augustine's dictum put it well: “If we are perplexed by any apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, The author of this book is mistaken; but either the manuscript is faulty, or the translation is wrong, or you have not understood.” (Augustine, Reply to Faustus 11.5)
8.6 Anti-Ecclesiaticism (Radical Individualism)
In the post-modern, Sacro-Egoistical, Emerging Church world, each interested individual determines the religious value of any activity or experience—not just the institution. This allows for greater options in meeting the religious and spiritual needs formerly restricted by community convention, more, or deontological ethos. Edward Hammett remarks, “There are many who are spiritually minded and many who are serious about their spiritual journey who cannot find their place in most of the existing institutional churches.”
They have been tempted to adopt an individualist, subjectivist piety, a mentality that reduces the life of prayer to “Jesus and me and no one else.”
"Escape from radical individualism." This could be the cry of the postmodern philosopher or theologian. The cultural values, religious faith today is coming to be shaped more by the personal preferences and values of the believers themselves and less by the social and ethnic characteristics of religious groups that served to sculpt denominational life in the past.
Both radical individualism (Sacro-Egoism) and the Emerging Church movement are growing and engulfing more and more of Christian culture in the Western World. This isn’t a failing all by itself, but it must be balanced by a call to community that is other-centered and not self-centered.
8.7 Acceptance of Immorality
Members of groups in society who face discrimination (LGBT) or who are marginalized, such as women, the gay community or other ethnic minority groups, may be drawn to postmodern religious thinking. For example, the interpretation of Christianity from a postmodern perspective offers the potential for groups in society, such as the Gay community or women, the ability to connect with a version of reality or truth that does not exclude or marginalize them. Which in effect, is against the word of God.
In postmodernism man senses no personal need to live a righteous life, after all, what is righteousness? He has no ‘sins’. He simply lives his life the way that ‘works for him’. If a person says he is ‘gay’, that’s his right. If he seeks therapy he must not be condemned but made to feel good about himself, accept his lifestyle and join a support group. Postmodern culture is omni-tolerant and anti-judgmental.
9. THE PREDICAMENT OF EMERGENT CHURCH: A POSTMODERN ECCLESIA
According to Mobsby the term "emerging church" was first used in 1970, when Larson and Osborne predicted a movement characterised by: contextual and experimental mission; new forms of church; the removal of barriers and division; a blend of evangelism and social action; attention to both experience and tradition; the breakdown of clergy/laity distinctions.
The term emergent church was also used in 1981 by Catholic political theologian, Johann Baptist Metz for use in a different context.
Emerging churches are fluid, hard to define, and varied; they contrast themselves with what has gone before by using the term "inherited church." Key themes of the emerging church are couched in the language of reform, Praxis-oriented lifestyles, Post-evangelical thought, and incorporation or acknowledgment of political and Postmodern elements.
Post-modern theology is self-defeating. It stands on the pinnacle of its own absolute and relativizes everything else. It is an unorthodox creedal attack on orthodox creeds. It attacks modernism in the culture but is an example of postmodernism in the church. In an attempt to reach the culture it capitulates to the culture. In trying to be geared to the times, it is no longer anchored to the Rock. It is not an emerging church; it is really a submerging church.
Since previously mentioned entire series of theological contrieties are found in the emergent church so one can call it “the Submergent Church.”
To put it poetically: The Emergent Church is built on sand, and it will not stand. Christ’s Church is built on stone, and it can not be overthrown (Matt. 16:16-18). Aside from the many blatant contradictions of the Emergent movement with the Word of God, the inconsistency within their own logic also serves as devastating wind and rains. They argue that we can’t know absolute truth, all the while claiming that they absolutely know this to be true. They’ll say there are no good reasons for what we believe while saying there are good reasons to believe this. They also profess that true knowledge is out of our reach while claiming they have the knowledge to know that true knowledge is out of our reach. This house is truly man’s flimsy attempt to construct a house without the Rock being the foundation.
Postmodernist Emergent Church is thus perfectly fits Paul's prophetic description, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires."
10. THE POSTMODERN THEOLOGY AND MISSION
As the apostasy in Christendom grows ever wider, 21st century evangelical Christianity increasingly resonates with postmodern concepts. The following trends are widespread –
• the minimization of absolutes.
• the rejection of didactic preaching.
• the belief that the unevangelized can be saved without the gospel.
• the tolerance of LGBT.
• the teaching that God loves us because we are worth it, that ‘sin’ is merely a loss of self-esteem etc.
Truly, in the frame of postmodernism Biblical evangelism is worthless and dead in the mire.
11. THE ANTIDOTE FOR POSTMODERNISM
In 2 Cor 10:5, Paul tells Christians to destroy arguments that rise up against the knowledge of God. This will be unfeasible unless, like Paul, they understand at least a little of ‘where the world is at’ and begin to intermingle with unbelievers in ways they can understand (Acts 17:22-31). Christians must realise that society has rejected the notion of truth. Its objections to the gospel have done a complete somersault in the last 20 years. Back in the ‘modern’ era (17th-20th C.) the secular world argued that Christianity was not true. They denied Christianity. However, in the postmodern era (post-1990) the secular world objects to Christianity not because it is wrong, but because it dares to claim it is the only truth.
The Christian must continue to press the exclusive claim of the gospel which has been revealed in the Bible in precise, meaningful language (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Tim 2:5). The changeable ideas of men cut no ice with the enduring and eternal word of God (Isa 40:6¬8,1 Pet 1:24-25). Biblical truth is absolute, objective, knowable and eternal.
Christian philosopher and apologist Ravi Zacharias says that Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault may well be the definitive bookends of this twentieth century. Both brilliant yet tragic figures...Michel Foucault...was a leading French intellectual who by virtue of a very promiscuous life, died of AIDS at the ageof 58. He was a lover of Nietzsche’s writings, who ironically had died at 54, in the wake of his pitiful bout with venereal disease and insanity.
Still less have I attempted to sketch an alternative Christian epistemology, although astute readers will detect the direction I would take. My point has been simpler. Informed Christians will neither idolize nor demonize either postmodernism or modernism. Both are founded on profoundly idolatrous assumptions. And both make some valuable observations that, when they are properly integrated into a more biblically faithful frame of reference, enable us to reflect fruitfully on the world in which we live.
12. THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
If such is the reality of our culture, where does that leave us? The challenge, as I see it, is this: How do you communicate to a generation that hears with its eyes and thinks with its feelings?
Firstly, in one sense, postmodernism may be one of the most opportune thought patterns presented to us for the propagation of the gospel because in a sense, it has cleared the playing field. All disciplines have lost their “final authority.” The hopes that modernity had brought, the triumph of “Reason” and “Science” which many thought would bring the utopia, have failed in almost every respect. With all of our material gains, there is still a hunger for the spiritual. In virtually every part of the world, students linger long after every session to talk and plead for answers to their barren lives. All the education one gets does not diminish that search for inner coherence and a story-line for one’s own life.
Since this deadly demonized deceptive philosophy is out here in aour midst, thus this is the time for the Jesus’ zealous disciples and believers to realize the desideratum of utilizing the mission of Christian apologetics to encroach the enemy’s wall with the absolute truth of the gospel and fill the empty and muddled hearts with the peace and hope of the kingdom of God.
CONCLUSION
There is nothing new under the sun. Neither postmodernism nor the emerging church movement is quite as revolutionary as is often claimed. Is it responsible to set our sails to catch the latest secular philosophical wind or should we navigate against the winds of postmodern epistemology that are hostile to Christian faith? Emergents believe that for the church to be relevant we must adopt the postmodern paradigm and think as postmoderns do. Bible, however, warns all generations of believers, commanding us, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." To fit the postmodern mold, theologians such as Mclaren, Stanley Grenz and John Franke have insisted that Christian theology be postfoundational and not be viewed as a bounded set. Post-modern tenets and beliefs should not be minimized or ignored. Post-modernism has affected not only our society’s norms, it has invaded the church to such a degree that the great orthodox truths and Christian doctrines passed down to us (from Genesis to Revelation, from the prophets of God, to Jesus and the apostles), are being challenged and, in some cases, rejected as untrue, or at best, debatable. Those outside of the church (unbelievers) will continue to “go with the flow,” that is, they will adapt and adjust to the culture as it changes based upon secular morals and values. But today, if the church, the community of truth and absolute, is not vigilant to guard itself against postmodern wind, as suggested by Apostle Paul, very soon we would see our churches as clubs for the postmodern believers who come there to do what is right in their own eyes, as seen in book of Judges.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Berry, Philippa and Andrew Wernic (eds.) Shadow of Spirit: Postmodernism and Religion (New York: British Library Publication, 2006
Frazier, Allie M. Issues In Religion (California: Wadsworth Inc, 1975), 209.
Fulbrook, Mary Piety and Politics: Religion and the Rise of Absolutism in England (New York: Cambridge University,1993.
Griffin, David Ray Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy: An Argument (New York: Newyork City Press, 2007), 57.
Grenz, Stanley J. and John R. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (Kentucky: John Knox Press, 2001), 48.
Honderich, Ted (ed), Oxford Companion to Philosophy, (New York, 1995), 259.
Hinnells, John (ed.) The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion (New York: Abingdon Press, 2005), 120.
Ho, David Couzens Critical Resistance: From Poststructuralism to Post-critique (Massachusset: MIT Press, 2005), 27.
Hroziencik, Randall L. The History & Philosophy of Fideism (USA: Apologetics Research Society, 2013), 78.
Kowalski, D., "Surrender is not an Option: An Evaluation of Emergent Epistemology." Apologetics Index. Retrieved on: August 28, 2011.
Lyotard, Jean-Francois The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1984), 19.
Macquarrie, John Existentialism, (New York, 1972), 14–15.
Nietzsche, Friedrich The Gay Science: With a Prelude in German Rhymes and an Appendix (Cambridge: University press, 2003), 32.
McGowan, John Postmodernism and Its Critics (USA: Cornell University Press, 1991), 57.
Osbourne, Larson, R The emerging church (London: Word Books, 1970), 9-11.
Pagitt, Doug and Tony Jones, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 191.
Schweitzer, Friedrich Postmodern Life Cycle (USA: Chalice Press, 2004), 34.
Sherman, Steven B. Revitalizing Theological Epistemology: Holistic Evangelical Approaches to the Knowledge of God (Origon: Pickwick Publisher, 2008), 64.
Smidt, Corwin Religious Individualism, Religious Relativism, and Reformed Identity among Christian Reformed Church Members (New Jersey: Princeton Press, 2006), 7.
Spengler, Oswald The Decline of the West (USA: Oxford University Press, 1991), 31.
Warren, Scott The Emergence of Dialectical Theory: Philosophy and Political Inquiry (Chicago: Chicago press, 1988), 105.
WEB RESOURCES
Bader, Michael J. Postmodern Epistemology: The Problem of Validation And the Retreat from Therapeuticsin Psychoanalysis http://michaelbader.com/articles_epistemology.html (accessed on 02/11/14)
Carson, D. A. The Dangers and Delights of Postmodernism http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=articledisplay&var2=281 (accessed on 02/11/14)
Docx, Edward Postmodernism is dead: A new exhibition signals the end of postmodernism. But what was it? And what comes next? http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/postmodernism-is-dead-va-exhibition- age-of-authenticism (accessed on 01/11/14)
Dromi, Gary Post-modernism: What Is It and Why Should We Be Concerned? http://scofieldprophecystudies.org/Columnists/GD/article2.htm (accessed on 04/11/14)
Geisler, Norman L. The Emergent Church:Theological Postmodernism http://www.normgeisler.com/articles/EmergentChurchMovement/2012- TheEmergentChurch-TheologicalPostmodernism.htm# (accessed on 04/11/14)
Geisler, Norman L. A Response to Philosophical Postmodernism http://www.normgeisler.com/articles/PostModernPhilosophy/ResponseToPostModern ism.htm (accessed on 03/11/14)
Hackett, Lewis The Case Against Absolutism http://history- world.org/Against%20Absolutism.htm (accessed on 03/11/14)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy “Existentialism” http://www.iep.utm.edu/existent/ (accessed on 02/11/14)
Klages, Mary Postmodernism http:www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klagespomo.html (accessed on 02/11/14)
Knox, John Religious Radical Individualism in the Modern World: Part II http://christandcascadia.com/religious-radical-individualism-in-the-modern-world- part-ii/ (accessed on 04/11/14)
Kwasniewski, Peter Rationalism and Individualism in Catholic Theology http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2013/09/rationalism-and-individualism- in.html (accessed on 04/11/14)
Marbaniang, Domenic Enlightenment, Postmodernism, And The Spirit Of Truth http://domenicm.blogspot.in/2010/04/enlightenment-postmodernism-and-spirit.html (accessed on 01/11/14)
Murphy, Michael D. Postmodernism and Its Critics http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=Postmodernism%20and%20 Its%20Critics (accessed on 01/11/14)
Penfold, Michael J. Postmodernism http://www.webtruth.org/articles/cultural-issues- 26/postmodernism-35.html (accessed on 04/11/14)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy “Postmodernism” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fideism/ (accessed on 04/11/14)
Wang, Zhihe Toward a Constructive Postmodern Pluralism http://www.ctr4process.org/publications/Biblio/Papers/Zhihe%20Wang,%20Toward %20a%20Constructive%20Postmodern%20Pluralism.html (accessed on 03/11/14)
Zacharias, Ravi “An Ancient Message, Through Modern Means, To A Postmodern Mind” http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking/an-ancient-message-through-modern-means-to-a- postmodern-mind/ (accessed on 04/11/14)
