One of the largest issues that Christians have within the idea of postmodernity stem from thoughts behind the idea of "absolute truth". Absolute truth is the idea that there is a governing truth in our world that isn't subjective, social or regional, but it exists within the extreme (and universal) scope of humanity. In some areas, the largest identifier of postmodernity is the absence of absolute truth. Conservatives (and others) have issues with Christian engagement into postmodernity because they feel that by recognizing and participating, they will be denying the basic tenets of Christian faith; primarily the absolute existence of God and salvation history.
Where the most confusion happens, is when practice departs from theoretical method, and outliers feel that fundamental parts of Christianity are being cast aside.
As I mentioned yesterday, postmodernity is moving past a philosophic reality and is become part of every day life. It is also a reaction to the modern ideas of individualism, and in some circumstances postmodernity actually functions as hyper-modernity (meaning that it has a very narcissistic view of the self). Immanuel Kant's ideas of the autonomous self, existing within isolation from community, makes alot of sense if you spend time around people in despair. The modern idea of absolute truth (and the rejection of it in postmodernity) has to do with the need for a rational explanation of a truth that is held over all of humankind.
The story of God (vital truths and all) is not rejected in Christian engagement of postmodernity because the engagement is drawing individuals out of a hyper-self and into an identification that is found within community and a shared story of God. In regards to eschatology, this journeys a person away from an individual approach to life after death and back into a more classic Christian eschatological approach of the re-creation of all things in Christ (Barry Harvey Can these Bones Live?). Classic Christian eschatology is nothing but truth, but the focus of the truth isn't on the individual, but on the Church. The original place of eschatology in the church wasn't a far off reality, nor was it impending doom, but it was a prayerful hope in the mind and hearts of the Church.
So how do we transmit a communal truth regarding eschaton? That I think is one of the greatest questions and movements of Christianity today.
Tomorrow:
Story telling and re-telling
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
The problem with truth in a post modern age is that it all depends on your experiences.
Posted by: JosephWinston | 12/09/2009 at 02:34 PM
The importance of truth in reference to experience is actually a heavy concept of modernity. Looking at the empiricism and pietism theologians (Kant, Locke, Schleiermacher etc...), of the 18th and 19th centuries shows an extreme focus on what the individual gains through personal experience, and how that is the main bearer of truth. This is what some folks call hypermodernity.
What we are dealing with now is the juncture where truth can only be trusted on an individual level. You are right in naming a really big problem and putting in the right category, ie-not landing it as just a generational issue.
Posted by: chad | 12/09/2009 at 05:25 PM
For me, Willard Van Orman Quine's paper "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" serves as a way of identifying the issue that faces us. Because of this paper, I believe we need to move away from trying to prove the facts of faith and instead try something old. We need to walk by faith and not by sight, trusting that the LORD our God will guide us. We need to believe God's Word that it will not come back empty and let people try something else. We must move from our intellect and into wholeness; trusting that the good taste in our mouths is the LORD.
Posted by: JosephWinston | 12/12/2009 at 05:17 PM