Be in the (Postmodern) world, but not of the (Postmodern) world.
Trying to define "postmodernism" is a bit like asking a fish the temperature of the water in his bowl. You must get outside postmodern thought to be able to define and quantify it. We're so much a part of the culture around us that we have cultural blind spots. Postmodern means literally "after the modern.", and that seems to be the best way to understand it. Postmodernism is defined against it's predecessor, Modernism.
Since I'm one of the older ones, someone who was raised in the 50's, squarely in the Modern Age, I have my own observations of Postmodern Thought. I've seen it reflected in those around me- my wife and I served as youth workers from the day we left college in 1974 until 2007. We have been closely connected to the column of progress culturally. Here's what we have observed...
Postmoderns seem to be reacting to and attempting to correct problems they see in the modern world. There are four areas where they have made improvements:
1. Personal Honesty
2. Social Compassion
3. Self Actualization
4. Tolerance of Others
When I observe Postmoderns, I'm frankly impressed with much of what I see, but I have concerns also:
1. Personal Honesty. This generation is ruthlessly honest- defiantly so. They like to "tell it like it is", whatever the consequences might be. They are the "Brave Heart Generation". With that honesty comes personal vulnerability. They enjoy sharing their deepest darkest secrets and despise and distrust those who take a more guarded approach to self-revelation. Their vulnerability is often cathartic. They experience great release and freedom when others know their secrets.
James 5:16: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Caution: We should be careful to share the most vulnerable aspects of our personhood with those who really know us and we trust. The release of self disclosure can crash to the ground in the light of day. When the high wears off we still may need to deal with the gossip and the shame and self-recrimination that often follows. Confession should be done with others that are spiritually mature and prayerful.
2. Social Compassion.
James 2:
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
Postmoderns have taken seriously the biblical command to "love thy neighbor" with action and not in word only. Volunteerism among U.S. College Freshmen is at an all-time high, says the Higher Education Reserch Institute (http://www.heri.ucla.edu/pr-display.php?prQry=24) Even churches have jumped on board. Inner city projects and youth programs are flourishing. The Postmoderns are genuinely trying to make a difference in the world around them.
Caution: I'm hesitant to even remotely sound like I have a criticism of social compassion, but I do, in one regard. Community service and social action will produce no lasting change without the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only He has the power to permanently change lives. During times past when the gospel has gone out in power, society has been permanently changed. The abolition of slavery, women's sufferage and child labor laws all came from a spiritual renewal that started with the gospel and worked it's way out into societal change. "Good News/Good Deeds" is how it's expressed.
3. Self-Actualization. Older generations have developed a warped view of Christian maturity. "I am a worm", "I have no rights", "I am a humble servant", etc. I don't know where this started, but I the Postmoderns put an end to it. The "me" generation has come of age. "I have my rights!" Maslow taught the hierarchy of needs and the postmoderns wanted it all. Personal peace and affluence, at any cost. So marriages are disintegrating, moral failures on all levels, shady financial dealings which steal from the middle class and feed the rich.
Caution: Christ showed us the way. He didn't teach us to be "a worm" or let people walk all over you, but that you are created with dignity and worth. All are in a fallen state-warped and scarred by sin. God loves you and Christ died for you. He taught and modeled true servanthood. The selfless life is the only one worth living. We must be freed with our own preoccupation with self. The only way to do that is to become preoccupied with Christ, living for Him, and serving others. Self actualization is fine to a point, but not neglecting biblical servanthood.
4. Tolerance of others. Modernism was incredibly intolerant. Most of what we know of Modernism was really "Western European Modernism". The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruled the day. Postmodernism has fixed that. Postmodern thought is incredibly "open-minded". Anyones' views or way of life must be respected, no matter how rediculous they may be. Tolerance at any price.
Caution: All ideas and values are not created equal. In an effort to tolerate one person's views we are often tromping on someone elses. And God's Word, the Bible, should remain as the ultimate standard for truth.
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
BE IN THE (Postmodern) WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE (Postmodern) WORLD
If you are living squarely in the middle of Postmodernity, you will invariably take on many of the characteristics of the world around you, for good and bad, just as those before you have done. But just like those before you, you must strive to identify the weaknesses of your philosophy and avoid the pitfalls. As a Christian you have a mandate to resist this world's system and all it's ways.
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)
Since I'm one of the older ones, someone who was raised in the 50's, squarely in the Modern Age, I have my own observations of Postmodern Thought. I've seen it reflected in those around me- my wife and I served as youth workers from the day we left college in 1974 until 2007. We have been closely connected to the column of progress culturally. Here's what we have observed...
Postmoderns seem to be reacting to and attempting to correct problems they see in the modern world. There are four areas where they have made improvements:
1. Personal Honesty
2. Social Compassion
3. Self Actualization
4. Tolerance of Others
When I observe Postmoderns, I'm frankly impressed with much of what I see, but I have concerns also:
1. Personal Honesty. This generation is ruthlessly honest- defiantly so. They like to "tell it like it is", whatever the consequences might be. They are the "Brave Heart Generation". With that honesty comes personal vulnerability. They enjoy sharing their deepest darkest secrets and despise and distrust those who take a more guarded approach to self-revelation. Their vulnerability is often cathartic. They experience great release and freedom when others know their secrets.
James 5:16: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Caution: We should be careful to share the most vulnerable aspects of our personhood with those who really know us and we trust. The release of self disclosure can crash to the ground in the light of day. When the high wears off we still may need to deal with the gossip and the shame and self-recrimination that often follows. Confession should be done with others that are spiritually mature and prayerful.
2. Social Compassion.
James 2:
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
Postmoderns have taken seriously the biblical command to "love thy neighbor" with action and not in word only. Volunteerism among U.S. College Freshmen is at an all-time high, says the Higher Education Reserch Institute (http://www.heri.ucla.edu/pr-display.php?prQry=24) Even churches have jumped on board. Inner city projects and youth programs are flourishing. The Postmoderns are genuinely trying to make a difference in the world around them.
Caution: I'm hesitant to even remotely sound like I have a criticism of social compassion, but I do, in one regard. Community service and social action will produce no lasting change without the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only He has the power to permanently change lives. During times past when the gospel has gone out in power, society has been permanently changed. The abolition of slavery, women's sufferage and child labor laws all came from a spiritual renewal that started with the gospel and worked it's way out into societal change. "Good News/Good Deeds" is how it's expressed.
3. Self-Actualization. Older generations have developed a warped view of Christian maturity. "I am a worm", "I have no rights", "I am a humble servant", etc. I don't know where this started, but I the Postmoderns put an end to it. The "me" generation has come of age. "I have my rights!" Maslow taught the hierarchy of needs and the postmoderns wanted it all. Personal peace and affluence, at any cost. So marriages are disintegrating, moral failures on all levels, shady financial dealings which steal from the middle class and feed the rich.
Caution: Christ showed us the way. He didn't teach us to be "a worm" or let people walk all over you, but that you are created with dignity and worth. All are in a fallen state-warped and scarred by sin. God loves you and Christ died for you. He taught and modeled true servanthood. The selfless life is the only one worth living. We must be freed with our own preoccupation with self. The only way to do that is to become preoccupied with Christ, living for Him, and serving others. Self actualization is fine to a point, but not neglecting biblical servanthood.
4. Tolerance of others. Modernism was incredibly intolerant. Most of what we know of Modernism was really "Western European Modernism". The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruled the day. Postmodernism has fixed that. Postmodern thought is incredibly "open-minded". Anyones' views or way of life must be respected, no matter how rediculous they may be. Tolerance at any price.
Caution: All ideas and values are not created equal. In an effort to tolerate one person's views we are often tromping on someone elses. And God's Word, the Bible, should remain as the ultimate standard for truth.
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
BE IN THE (Postmodern) WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE (Postmodern) WORLD
If you are living squarely in the middle of Postmodernity, you will invariably take on many of the characteristics of the world around you, for good and bad, just as those before you have done. But just like those before you, you must strive to identify the weaknesses of your philosophy and avoid the pitfalls. As a Christian you have a mandate to resist this world's system and all it's ways.
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)
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