Postmodernism and the Gospel

Our society is (and has been for some while) emerging from the era of modernity into that of postmodernity. Right now, we are in between this transition, with elements of both modernity and postmodernity penetrating our culture and thoughts. As with anything, there are many people who cling to the old, familiar thing as tightly as they can. I still remember back to 6 or so years ago when I heard a youth pastor give a sermon about the dangers of postmodernity and how we are called to stand firm in truth. On the other hand, there are always many people who cling to the newest thing just because it is new. Hence, there are many people who almost uncritically accept postmodernity in all of its aspects and claims. However, whether you love it or hate it, the fact is that postmodernity is here. In his book “A Primer on Postmodernism,” Stanley J. Grenz puts it this way: “Postmodernism poses certain dangers. Nevertheless, it would be ironic– indeed, it would be tragic– if evangelicals ended up as the last defenders of the now dying modernity. To reach people in the postmodern context, we must set ourselves to the task of deciphering the implications of postmodernism for the gospel.” (p. 10) And indeed, this is what Grenz does in the latter part of the book. I will summarize and share a few of the important points here.

Much Christian evangelicalism is characterized by a modern mindset. This is exemplified by the focus upon rational apologetics which seek to prove such things as the existence of God, the trustworthiness of the Bible, and the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection. While a rational understanding of these things are important, it is not exhaustive. In fact, I would say that if anything, the rational attempt to “prove” the above things (which incidentally can’t be accomplished anyway) turned me away from God in my own journey rather than leading me to faith. The point is, these methods don’t work anymore (if they ever did). To be fair, they were a good try for their own modern context, which revered reason, science, and empirical “facts” above all else; but we are largely operating off of a different mindset now.

The other thing is that Evangelical systematic theologies focus upon the propositional content of faith and try to present Christian doctrine in a logical, rational manner. Thus, people are told that they need to believe A, B, and C, and if they do, they are Christians. I don’t know, while this might have worked in it’s modern context, this appears as a very unimpressive approach to postmoderns. We ask if that is all there is to it…if there is not more? If not, many of us want nothing to do with Christianity because we can find a more penetrating meaning for our lives elsewhere.

Grenz first points out one area in which Christianity can not agree with Postmodernism. Postmodernism essentially abandons universal truth and instead settles for a reality comprised of competing interpretations. Here, no one interpretation is better than the others because they are all just that: interpretations, with no ultimate standard by which they can be judged. Grenz calls this the loss of a “center.” This cannot be accepted within Christian faith because Christians do claim a center: the appearance on earth of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God. I would add that the Christian faith must hold God as the horizon of the absolute– Truth, Beauty, Love, Security. However, to say that Christ is the center and God is the absolute is not to say that we as humans have an absolute understanding of them. This is where postmodernism becomes useful again. With this absolute and center in mind, all we can do are approximate interpretations. The postmodern Christian claim would be something like we as humans, can never know absolute truth (because it is always filtered through our human perspective) although such absolute Truth does exist in God.

Now, finally, on to the four things that Grenz lists which we MUST pay attention to regarding the Gospel in a Postmodern context.

1. A Post-Individualistic Gospel– Modernism elevated the individual. Thus this radical individualism is also at the heart of many modern presentations of the Gospel. Emphasis is placed upon the state of the Individual before God and upon the Individual getting “saved.”Postmodernism is recovering the importance of the community and society in our process of knowing. Individuals come to knowledge by participating in particular communities which provide cognitive frameworks. In the Bible, the covenant with Israel (which is the paradigm for the New Covenant offered in Jesus) is communal, rather than individualistic. Through the covenant, God is seeking to save God’s whole people, Israel, and eventually the world. When the people disobeyed, they were corporately punished– exile. It wasn’t as much about individual judgement and reward, although there was a place for that too. I wonder how this communal understanding would influence our approach to the Gospel today?
2. A Post-Rationalistic Gospel– Modernism elevated reason. Within Christianity, this often leads to the conclusion that we reason our way to God via logical propositions; as a result, there is little room left for Mystery or religious experience. Claiming Mystery is not claiming irrationality; rather, it is claiming that the Divine transcends human rationality. Furthermore, postmodernism claims that truth is more than an assertion or proposition. It is an experience that we participate in. In fact, interpretive concepts and experiences are related– our concepts allow us to understand the experiences that we have, and our experiences shape our concepts. This brings us to the question of Christian terminology, such as “sin,” “grace,” “being lost,” “salvation,” “reconciliation,” etc… all words that can become mushy and totally lose their meaning in our heads. Grenz claims that these doctrinal terms have their meanings not in and of themselves but rather in their role of making meaning out of a transformative religious experience. Experiencing God is both facilitated and understood by appeal to these propositional categories. In this light, the goal in proclaiming the gospel is not about getting someone to affirm a list of “correct” propositions, but rather is about using these propositions, if applicable, to help others experience God and enter into the journey of trying to understand and unite with this reality.
3. A Post-Dualistic Gospel– The secular/sacred split that pervades our society is a child of the Enlighenment (as is the related split between mind/matter, soul/body). These splits must be bridged. A postmodern Gospel will have to take seriously a whole human person, rather than just being interested in saving “souls” while ignoring the physical. This holistic approach will place humans back into the environmental and social contexts which create and sustain them; thus, culture, society, and history must matter. And so too do relationships– not only with God, but with people and with the environment. This also means that the Gospel can’t just be concerned with saving “souls” from Hell, but rather must be about renewing all of existence and bringing it into the presence and being of the New Reality in God.
4. A Post-Noeticentric Gospel– This kind of Gospel must affirm that the goal of our existence goes beyond just trying to accumulate more and more knowledge. It realizes that knowledge doesn’t do anything in and of itself but is only useful when it is fostering wisdom and spirituality in the knower. Knowlege is important because through it, lives are transformed. And then action follows. Beliefs shape actions. Thus, the purpose of knowledge resides within actions that come from belief  as well as the initiation of personal transformation and increased experiences of the Divine, all of which lead to a New Reality and way of being.

So what does all of this stuff mean? Given the presence of postmodernity in our culture, many people are recognizing the need to make the gospel relevant for a postmodern culture. But how to do this? It is not unusual to see a church try to reach postmoderns by putting on a snazzy touch (by usuing tech savy videos, cool guitar music, different terminology, etc…) and giving contemporary examples for how people can live out the message of Christianity today. But the problem is that all too often these attempts to be “postmodern” are just a colorful veneer that is covering the same old modern theology underneath. Thus these attempts are not postmodern. A postmodern gospel involves not just the means by which the message is offered (i.e. church) but more importantly the content of that message. Thus a church does not have to become a so-called “seeker church” with a rock band and contemporary clothing to engage a postmodern culture. In fact, many postmoderns appreciate ritual, tradition, hymns, and especially an intimate community. And the great thing about seeking, worshipping, and experiencing God is that there is not just one way to do it– there are many, and they are all right in different ways. Churches need not be contemporary to engage a postmodern culture, although contemporary is OK too. In fact, I have noticed that many “contemporary” churches are actually rather conservative in their theology…whereas many more traditional, liturgical type churches are not so much.

So the question about what to do with postmodernism and the gospel is not so simple as to require a new style of church and then be done with thinking about these things. Actually, I would say that such a way of dealing with the issue is a rather cheap approach that in effect, completely avoids the heart of the matter. Rather, it requires a new orientation, one that does not rid itself of tradition, the Scriptures, and the creeds, but instead takes these things seriously by engaging them and rethinking what their message could mean for humanity today. If people do this rethinking  and searching with an authenticity and transparency, postmoderns will come back to church. Postmoderns are looking for answers, often very passionately. It’s just that sometimes, its easier to find answers outside of churches (whether that be from professors, friends, books, culture, science, classes, Hollywood, personal spirituality, nature) than it is in churches, where so many people seem to think they have figured out all the answers with certainty. However, much of this is changing. And I think that postmodernity offers a good reason for this much-needed change to come.

For much more on this subject, see Stanley J. Grenz’s “A Primer on Postmodernism.” It’s very accessible, yet well researched and documented.