What is Postmodernism?
by Brian McLaren
The first thing to say about postmodernism is that the term is highly contested. For some people, it means compromise, nihilism (which means a belief in nothing), an abandonment of truth, atheism, relativism, and just about every other bad thing possible. Others, I imagine, are equally naive about its dangers.
My best understanding of the term is embedded in the story of Europe after World War II. European intellectuals were stunned at the way the most advanced, "Enlightened," and scientific nations of the world could descend into two world wars, not to mention the holocaust. They became disillusioned with the dream of secularism and rationalism, the dream that reason alone could lead us beyond war and violence.
In the decades after the war, they looked back on the history of colonialism (these were the years England let go of its last colonies) and began to realize how much damage had been caused. Something similar happened with the civil rights movement in the US - Americans looked back on our history of racism and slavery and genocide of Native Peoples. Meanwhile, the environmental movement was being born, and we all looked back on how much we had destroyed the planet in the pursuit of wealth, and the women's movement looked at how badly women had been treated.
Put all of these together, and I think Western Civilization was struck with a kind of crisis of conscience, and a crisis of confidence. It was as if we lost our naive modern belief that reason, science, government, economics, and other societal institutions could solve all our problems.
So I would define postmodern as living in the aftermath of modern confidence. That shift in consciousness has huge implications for the way we who are committed Christians see and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[Brian McLaren is the author of the recent book, Everything Must Change, and will be a main session speaker at Shift 2008. He discusses this and other related topics in our November 2007 podcast.]
The first thing to say about postmodernism is that the term is highly contested. For some people, it means compromise, nihilism (which means a belief in nothing), an abandonment of truth, atheism, relativism, and just about every other bad thing possible. Others, I imagine, are equally naive about its dangers.
My best understanding of the term is embedded in the story of Europe after World War II. European intellectuals were stunned at the way the most advanced, "Enlightened," and scientific nations of the world could descend into two world wars, not to mention the holocaust. They became disillusioned with the dream of secularism and rationalism, the dream that reason alone could lead us beyond war and violence.
In the decades after the war, they looked back on the history of colonialism (these were the years England let go of its last colonies) and began to realize how much damage had been caused. Something similar happened with the civil rights movement in the US - Americans looked back on our history of racism and slavery and genocide of Native Peoples. Meanwhile, the environmental movement was being born, and we all looked back on how much we had destroyed the planet in the pursuit of wealth, and the women's movement looked at how badly women had been treated.
Put all of these together, and I think Western Civilization was struck with a kind of crisis of conscience, and a crisis of confidence. It was as if we lost our naive modern belief that reason, science, government, economics, and other societal institutions could solve all our problems.
So I would define postmodern as living in the aftermath of modern confidence. That shift in consciousness has huge implications for the way we who are committed Christians see and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[Brian McLaren is the author of the recent book, Everything Must Change, and will be a main session speaker at Shift 2008. He discusses this and other related topics in our November 2007 podcast.]
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posted by Brian McLaren at 4:13 PM
1 Comments:
Everything except doctrine can change. Doctrine is not a spring. It's the very foundation that allows other things to change. Doctrines (including the doctrine of Christ) are what bind us to the first Christians.
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