Postmodernism and a HP update
My dad commented recently that I had defined myself as a "postmodern christian" on my blog here, and asked me to list 5 things for him that defined what a postmodern christian is.
I thought about it for a while. Jason reminded me that "postmodernism" is a movement unto itself, quite apart from religion, but that some christians have adopted some of the postmodern philosophy into their view of religion. Good point. So I looked it up. Dictionary.com defines "postmodern" as Of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles.
So, you ask, what is a modernist principle? I don't know. But it occured to me that someone asking me to List 5 Things about anything was a very modernist thing to say.
Here is the crux of it in my mind (all you M.Div's out there, feel free to add to, or refute, my line of thinking):
To me, being postmodern means that I seek to question, but do not necessarily seek an answer.
I think that those of a "modern" mindset are very caught up in answers. That's why their pastors preach things like "5 Steps to a Better Prayer Life" and "Finding God's Will for Your Life." Modernists want to be told what to think. They will then agree or disagree, but they want the facts to be laid out for them upfront.
If you ask a modernist christian a question about religion, any question, you will get one of three answers: Yes, No, or It depends on the situation.
If I ask God for forgiveness and live by faith, will I go to heaven? Yes.
Is it ok to have sex before marriage? No.
Is it ok to tell a lie? It depends on the situation.
I think that postmoderns are not looking for answers. They're looking for well-thought-out discussion and the freedom to question and doubt without being met by a disapproving frown.
When I was growing up in a very conservative Nazarene church, I never believed all that "freedom in Christ" stuff. From where I was sitting, Christ was a hall monitor waiting to catch me in the act. He had a "Yes", "No", or "It depends" for every situation. Easy burden? Light yoke? I don't think so. Felt pretty heavy to me, thanks.
The Nazarenes have their own version of the Laws of Moses. It's called the Nazarene Manual. If it's not in the Manual, you don't do it. If you choose to do something that the Manual forbids, you do it in secrecy and you don't tell anyone about it. Unless, of course, someone else is doing it too, in which case you can commiserate secretly together. Every four years, the Manual gets revised, and the teens in my youth group were always very anxious to hear the verdict as to whether we would finally be "allowed" to go to movies or dances.
That's not freedom in Christ.
Here's the two rules that Christ laid down. "Love God above all others" and "Love your neighbor as yourself". Now, that's freedom.
Once I was able to allow myself to accept this freedom, I started questioning all kinds of things. Some publicly, some very privately. But never, in all my questioning, do I believe that God wrinkled his eyebrows or frowned disapprovingly at me. To the contrary, he embraced me and opened up new avenues of spirituality to me that I had once thought were out-of-bounds. Meditation, trance music, yoga, dream interpretation, "non-Christian" art and literature, to name a few.
A few weeks ago, my friend Scott, one of the pastors at Artisan Church, gave a great sermon on Using Scripture. The summary was "How do we approach scripture? Is it for information or formation, do we bend it to our will or allow it to shape our life in Christ?" You can listen to the mp3 audio here. I thought it was the epitomy of how postmoderns seek to question and discern for themselves the way of God, rather than being told what to do. (Great job, Scott.)
So, I guess that's all my thoughts on that.
___________________________________________
Jaron and I are up to Chapter 15 in Harry Potter 6. Half-way! I know all my friends wish I would just read it already so that we can discuss it. But I have to say, I'm really enjoying this leisurely pace of 1-2 chapters a day. It lasts longer and I can savor it. I think it's really great so far, but I'll reserve final judgment till I get to the end. Though I will say that I am very surprised by the sheer amount of shippiness in it (romantic relationships, for you non-Potterphiles). It seems like JKR is trying to make as many fandom shippers happy as she possibly can with all the various pairings and hinting at pairings that she's throwing in there. Not that I'm complaining, I live for shippiness. I was just surprised at the volume of it in this book.
. . . .
I thought about it for a while. Jason reminded me that "postmodernism" is a movement unto itself, quite apart from religion, but that some christians have adopted some of the postmodern philosophy into their view of religion. Good point. So I looked it up. Dictionary.com defines "postmodern" as Of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles.
So, you ask, what is a modernist principle? I don't know. But it occured to me that someone asking me to List 5 Things about anything was a very modernist thing to say.
Here is the crux of it in my mind (all you M.Div's out there, feel free to add to, or refute, my line of thinking):
To me, being postmodern means that I seek to question, but do not necessarily seek an answer.
I think that those of a "modern" mindset are very caught up in answers. That's why their pastors preach things like "5 Steps to a Better Prayer Life" and "Finding God's Will for Your Life." Modernists want to be told what to think. They will then agree or disagree, but they want the facts to be laid out for them upfront.
If you ask a modernist christian a question about religion, any question, you will get one of three answers: Yes, No, or It depends on the situation.
If I ask God for forgiveness and live by faith, will I go to heaven? Yes.
Is it ok to have sex before marriage? No.
Is it ok to tell a lie? It depends on the situation.
I think that postmoderns are not looking for answers. They're looking for well-thought-out discussion and the freedom to question and doubt without being met by a disapproving frown.
When I was growing up in a very conservative Nazarene church, I never believed all that "freedom in Christ" stuff. From where I was sitting, Christ was a hall monitor waiting to catch me in the act. He had a "Yes", "No", or "It depends" for every situation. Easy burden? Light yoke? I don't think so. Felt pretty heavy to me, thanks.
The Nazarenes have their own version of the Laws of Moses. It's called the Nazarene Manual. If it's not in the Manual, you don't do it. If you choose to do something that the Manual forbids, you do it in secrecy and you don't tell anyone about it. Unless, of course, someone else is doing it too, in which case you can commiserate secretly together. Every four years, the Manual gets revised, and the teens in my youth group were always very anxious to hear the verdict as to whether we would finally be "allowed" to go to movies or dances.
That's not freedom in Christ.
Here's the two rules that Christ laid down. "Love God above all others" and "Love your neighbor as yourself". Now, that's freedom.
Once I was able to allow myself to accept this freedom, I started questioning all kinds of things. Some publicly, some very privately. But never, in all my questioning, do I believe that God wrinkled his eyebrows or frowned disapprovingly at me. To the contrary, he embraced me and opened up new avenues of spirituality to me that I had once thought were out-of-bounds. Meditation, trance music, yoga, dream interpretation, "non-Christian" art and literature, to name a few.
A few weeks ago, my friend Scott, one of the pastors at Artisan Church, gave a great sermon on Using Scripture. The summary was "How do we approach scripture? Is it for information or formation, do we bend it to our will or allow it to shape our life in Christ?" You can listen to the mp3 audio here. I thought it was the epitomy of how postmoderns seek to question and discern for themselves the way of God, rather than being told what to do. (Great job, Scott.)
So, I guess that's all my thoughts on that.
___________________________________________
Jaron and I are up to Chapter 15 in Harry Potter 6. Half-way! I know all my friends wish I would just read it already so that we can discuss it. But I have to say, I'm really enjoying this leisurely pace of 1-2 chapters a day. It lasts longer and I can savor it. I think it's really great so far, but I'll reserve final judgment till I get to the end. Though I will say that I am very surprised by the sheer amount of shippiness in it (romantic relationships, for you non-Potterphiles). It seems like JKR is trying to make as many fandom shippers happy as she possibly can with all the various pairings and hinting at pairings that she's throwing in there. Not that I'm complaining, I live for shippiness. I was just surprised at the volume of it in this book.
. . . .