5.04.2004
My Pilgrimage So Far
I was immersed in pomoxianity through NKOC and TSWFOI by McLaren but have been exposed to it far longer. Like you, I have found that it has failed to deliver on its promises and I am curious to see where Brian takes Dan & Neo in his third installment. Like he & Tony Campolo say in Adventures in Missing the Point on Postmodernity that it isn't about "being postmodern." I fear that if we view Postmodernity as something to which we belong or to which we owe allegiance or even a cause for which we stand, then we are still carrying the very same bags with different labels.
I think there are some things by which people in and out of Postmodernity identify postmodernism but to say, "that's it, right there" is misguided. Sure we may have candles, rituals, dim lights, quiet music, liturgical services. But those are trappings, window dressing. Can we have bright lights, loud music, clapping in church and some hearty Amens! and Praise the Lords! and still be postmodern? If we can't then I think someone has missed the point.
And this is where I think I can very comfortably say I am a postmodern fundamentalist. And if that sounds contradictory to some, then they either have a narrow definition of postmodern or fundamentalist or both. I assent to the propositions that have come to be called the Fundamentals. But to say that is all I do and to define me as one who gives propositional assent as the be-all and end-all of Christian experience is woefully short of the mark. To say I am postmodern and an incurable skeptic and deconstructionist as all that I am is just as woefully short. Just because one can deconstruct fundamentalism, does not mean that one must abandon it. There is a great deal of baggage associated with being a fundy and I don't have any trouble dropping that. But of one thing I am certain and that is my relationship with the risen Christ. Of that I have no doubt. But it isn't propositional logic that convinces me, it is the Holy Spirit that bears witness with my spirit that convinces me.
I was immersed in pomoxianity through NKOC and TSWFOI by McLaren but have been exposed to it far longer. Like you, I have found that it has failed to deliver on its promises and I am curious to see where Brian takes Dan & Neo in his third installment. Like he & Tony Campolo say in Adventures in Missing the Point on Postmodernity that it isn't about "being postmodern." I fear that if we view Postmodernity as something to which we belong or to which we owe allegiance or even a cause for which we stand, then we are still carrying the very same bags with different labels.
I think there are some things by which people in and out of Postmodernity identify postmodernism but to say, "that's it, right there" is misguided. Sure we may have candles, rituals, dim lights, quiet music, liturgical services. But those are trappings, window dressing. Can we have bright lights, loud music, clapping in church and some hearty Amens! and Praise the Lords! and still be postmodern? If we can't then I think someone has missed the point.
And this is where I think I can very comfortably say I am a postmodern fundamentalist. And if that sounds contradictory to some, then they either have a narrow definition of postmodern or fundamentalist or both. I assent to the propositions that have come to be called the Fundamentals. But to say that is all I do and to define me as one who gives propositional assent as the be-all and end-all of Christian experience is woefully short of the mark. To say I am postmodern and an incurable skeptic and deconstructionist as all that I am is just as woefully short. Just because one can deconstruct fundamentalism, does not mean that one must abandon it. There is a great deal of baggage associated with being a fundy and I don't have any trouble dropping that. But of one thing I am certain and that is my relationship with the risen Christ. Of that I have no doubt. But it isn't propositional logic that convinces me, it is the Holy Spirit that bears witness with my spirit that convinces me.
