Responses to PoMo at the popular level

Friends,

I receive the Federica Matthews-Greene email newsletter (you can too, check out her website). As many of you already know, I am a BIG fan of hers -- particularly for her incredibly potent voice in the fight over abortion. She is often one of the only pro-lifers that the pro-choice camp respects (even though many don't, of course). She is no theologian, and, perhaps for some of our tastes her language can be at times "imprecise" for our ears. Certainly, we need precise theological argumentation, reflection, and debate
(you know I'm all for that). Yet we also need teachers like Frederica in the Body of Christ to speak with eloquence yet simplicity. She provides a down-to-earth "realness" in her artful words while not sacrificing her knack for profundity. We need to remember that the great theologians of years past were also great rhetoricians and prose writers (for more on this important topic see an excellent article in the Opinion ection of this month's First Things {which is consistently some of the best Christian writing being published today, in my humble opinion}).

What I have below for you from her newsletter is a recent article she now has running in Today's Christian. She responds to a question from a Sudanese pastor on the difficulty of Postmodernism (notice he's from the Sudan!!). Perhaps if one of us were responding we would have been a little harder on PoMo, but I say she does pretty well -- for what it is. Although I would have attacked PoMo harder myself (and would have given a better explanation as to what it is), she gets across the basic idea that PoMo has an aversion to biblical truth (and truth in general). We, the Church, need Christian leaders (like Frederica) to engage the PoMo mov't in this way, with this type of writing, and in these types of publications if we are going to successfully halt the slippery slide into the wiles of PoMo. We need more simple, basic engagements of the PoMo question like this -- coupled with more academic (and more devastating) critiques at higher levels of engagement. It is encouraging to see the "fight" on such a front as this.
Enjoy.

-the Tornado.

>>>an excerpt from her newsletter follows:

Today's Topics:

1. Today's Christian: Postmodernism (Frederica@aol.com)
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Here's a column appearing in the current "Today's Christian". This is a publication in the Christianity Today family, a bimonthly with a Readers' Digest format. It recently got a makeover and changed its name from the previous "Christian Reader." My column appears in every issue and is called "Everyday Theology." Readers send questions to the editor and I pick two each time to answer. Its kind of like being a theological Dear Abby.

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The Postmodern Puzzle
Our world today is driven by post-modernism. We seem to tailor everything to best meets our needs including our perception of God. What can we do to battle this tendency? Please help me. -- Pastor Nicholas Lolik Lemi, Church of God in Southern Sudan


Pastor Nicholas, I think it was the "help me" at the end of your question that struck me the most. There are so many things Americans could do to help our brothers and sisters in lands where faith, and even life, is threatened. It's frustrating to think that instead we have added to your burden by exporting the controversial and difficult-to-grasp concept of post-modernism. Maybe some readers are vague on what "postmodernism" means, so let me take a minute for review -- though by the time a term has reached the southern Sudan, it's probably achieved what they call "market penetration." Pretty good work
for something so amorphous that it doesn't even have its own name but only claims to come after something that came before. What came before, of course, is "modernism," a period of rationalist, scientific triumphalism that began around 200 years ago. Modernism also challenged Christianity. Two centuries ago, Bible-believing pastors like you were likely concerned about the kind of modernist thinking that led many people to believe in a "watchmaker" God, who set the world in motion and then walked away to let it run on its own. Now post-modernism (also known as "pomo") claims that modernism is over and
something new is happening. One aspect of this vague new thing is an increased hunger for spirituality. What has been a persistent trickle of "new age" interest for a few decades has now broadened into a tream and includes people for whom the usual "new age" forms are too foreign. They want to be spiritual
in a way that is somewhat Christian, but they are allergic to the idea of biblical truth and don't want to be told God's views on sin and morality. How should we respond? It's good to adapt to the needs of the time, so far as it is possible. But isn't God eternal and unchangeable? This is the question that faces all missionaries: How much should you change your presentation of the gospel to reach a new culture?
There's nothing Christians can do to appear "cool" to the postmodern crowd, and trying to do so only makes us look foolish. Christianity has lost a lot of credibility in recent decades by tagging after the latest trends and begging to be liked. My advice is to concentrate on building up the life of Christ within the
community. Help each member to continually advance in restoring the image of God within that was damaged by the Fall. Don't dumb down the faith for the sake of attracting unbelievers, because dumbed-down faith is unattractive. Let it retain its mystery; a newcomer should not have the feeling that he "gets it" all on the first visit. Individuals who are personally living the life are the key to evangelism, now as in the first century. A community of transformed believers -- radiant, humble, and holy -- will have more impact than any smiley-face ad campaign, no matter what the culture.