THREE SESSIONS

Judeo-Christian beliefs = apathy or contempt?

Opt for believing in things that seem incoherent or bizarre?

Popular culture nurtures aberrant beliefs or misinformed beliefs

MY GENERAL APPROACH

Data

Primary sources

Context

Coherence

Play fair

UNDERSTANDING THE

POST-MODERN,NEO-PAGAN, POST- CHRISTIAN

WORLD

Many contemporary worldviewsSecularist-modernist“Book” religionsSpirituality (no “book”)NRM’s / cults

They still compete for space, but …

OUR FOCUS TODAY

… a bigger idea argues that not only is there no clear winner, but that it’s wrong-headed to insist that one is better Pluralism

“Emergent” Christianity Good: Wants coherent thinking and

authenticity Bad: Christianity driven by looking inward,

social causes, but NOT insistence on truth.

OUR FOCUS TODAY

How did it come to this?

Postmodernism

Two TrajectoriesHistorical Forces/IdeasContemporary Spin

OUR FOCUS TODAY

“That postmodernism is indefinable is a truism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Better described …A reaction against: modernism

i.e., “the modern mind” and its certainties …

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

Certainties …

About scientific omniscienceAbout human progressAbout truth propositions About religious truth claims

“meaning” (“epistemic certainty”)These trends are NOT recent

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

Although “post-modernism” as term was coined in 1979, the intellectual/spiritual force has been around a long time.

Human discovery and science have been undermining religious certainties since 16th century.

“modern era” = post-Renaissance

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

Age of Exploration vs. entrenched Bible interpretations

Darwin vs. entrenched Bible interpretations

Einstein/relativity vs. Newton Fascism / nationalism (= World wars)

propelled in part by all the above

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

By the 20th century, western culture was already “post modern”

What most Christians think of today as postmodernism = “not the way it used to be” when it comes to Christian dominancepluralism, politics, political correctness, etc.

Valid perceptions, but it’s more complex

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

Today’s “modern” mind is actually post-modern. It ’s where historic post-modern paths led.

Thrown off old religious ideas Good thing if they were wrong

Embracing evolution in some formStill a heated debate; good if ideas are true

Embracing post-Newtonian scienceGood if it’s true (consensus)

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

The “new reaction” in 20th / 21st centuriesextreme skepticism about whether there is

any truth at all.

This is current “post-modernism” in the university classroom

DESCRIBING POST-MODERNISM

Science isn’t truth; it discovers reality and adds to our knowledge

(Many): “Truth = only what is discoverable”If it’s not discoverable, how can we know it? You

can’t call something truth that you can’t discover.Therefore, science = best option for knowing

what is real.

CONTEMPORARY

Religion / Faith can offer no certain / permanent truth claimsmakes claims undiscoverable via scienceWith respect to the Bible …

Goes beyond rejecting “Bible science”Rejecting Judeo-Christian ethicsRejecting Judeo-Christian dominance in

social/political/cultural spheres

CONTEMPORARY

Forces a decision for the “modern post-modern” …

CONTEMPORARY

Is there a reality beyond science?No Yes

This reality isn’t in a book or authority figure

Search for “Spirituality”

Focus instead on relative truth within each person’s culture and own experience

Find your own truth inside youEveryone is right – and wrongNot universal

Question: …

CONTEMPORARY

Why reject “book” religion? (Bible)

Biblical theology = truth propositionsThese propositions are subject to interpretationAll communication is inherently uncertain If certainty in interpretation is impossible, then:

No universal truthTruth propositions have no authority

Therefore ….

CONTEMPORARY

Truth is individual / internalAppeal to experience, intuitionembrace mystery vs. dogma

Reject authority (expertise or institutional)

Truth and morality are relativeHonor everyone’s idea / belief / experience /

intuitions / traditions / equally= pluralism

CONTEMPORARY

Wider Western Culture Post-Christian era

Doctrine-less religion Eastern religions “New Age” Paganism (divinize nature)

Christianity?

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Christianity Resist current modernity (where

postmodernism has led) Fundamentalism

Challenge the current modernity Re-articulate but maintain orthodoxy

Acquiescence Post-Christian Christianity

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Both Responses use term “emergent” Problematic = Adaptation / Acquiescence

Bad > core elements made unintelligible, defined out of existence

Post-Christian Christianity Evangelical paganism Internal, focused on this world Social causes, environment Resembles old variant of Christianity …

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES

Logical Flaws; Unlivable

Denial of certainty is self-defeating

Successful communication does not require perfection

Imperfect interpretation is livable; requiring omniscience (total certainty) is not

CHALLENGING POSTMODERNISM

The either-or fallacy on steroids

“Without omniscience we can’t know anything”

Just because we don’t know everything doesn’t mean we don’t know anything

CHALLENGING POSTMODERNISM

Religious claims and their alternatives can be tested for coherence (perfect understanding not required)

Theism and specific ideas that extend from it that define Christianity

All uncertainties are not equally coherent

CHALLENGING POSTMODERNISM