Transcript Document

Challenges to Evangelism In A PostModern World
www.MeeknessAndTruth.org
The Challenges of Evangelism Today
Problems Doing Evangelism in the World
We Live in
“It is hard to proclaim the forgiveness of
sins to people who believe that, since
morality is relative, they have no sins to
forgive.”
Gene Veith, Postmodern Times, p.16
Obstacles to Evangelism Today
The World we Live In
• Rejection of moral absolutes
• The skepticism of our society
• An indifference towards
truth or rejection of truth
Signs of Trouble Have
Surfaced Even In The
East
Signs of Trouble Have
Surfaced Even In The East
“ Many students don't think that there is a
standard of right and wrong. Rather, they
believe that this is up to the individual. This
means they do hold a standard of right and
wrong themselves, but they feel that each
person's standard of right and wrong differs
from the other.”
“Personally, I feel stuck as to how to proceed
on with the conversation. It's like saying that
this food is nice for me but may not be nice for
you. They relegate the standard of right and
wrong to personal preference.”
Signs of Trouble Have Surfaced
Even In The East
“I find that I'm shaken. Not in terms of my faith
but in terms of how to answer such questions.”
- Former Student, East Asia School of Theology
There is an intolerance towards
those who say there is a bridge
they must cross!
Our Problems In Evangelism
Are Just the Tip Of the Iceberg
Our Problems in Evangelism Are
Symptoms…Of An Even Greater Problem!
“As we approach the twenty-first century, It
doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize
that our entire culture is in trouble. We are
staring down the barrel of a loaded gun and
we can no longer afford to act like it is
loaded with blanks.”
J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your
Mind, p.21
A.
1.
Evidence of the World’s
Impact On Christians
Some Christians are losing their moral compass and
embracing moral relativism
“53% of those who call themselves evangelical
Christians believe that there are no absolutes.”
Yet 88% of evangelicals believe that “The Bible is the
written word of God and it totally accurate in all it
teaches.”
George Barna, The Barna Report: What Americans
Believe (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), pp. 83-85
Evidence of the World’s
Impact On Christians
1.
Some Christians are losing their moral compass and embracing moral
relativism.
2.
Some of our leaders struggle with establishing a
biblical worldview framework in their teaching
–
Just half of all Protestant Senior Pastors (51%) meet the criteria for
having a biblical worldview (2004).
“The
criteria are believing that God is the all-knowing and allpowerful creator of the universe who still rules it today; that Jesus
Christ never sinned; that Satan is real; that salvation is received
through faith in Christ, not by good deeds; that every follower of
Christ has a responsibility to share their faith with non-believers;
that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; that absolute moral
truth exists; and that absolute moral truth is described in the Bible.”
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=1
77
Evidence of the World’s
Impact On Christians
1.
2.
Christian lay people are losing their moral compass.
Some Christian leaders themselves struggle with establishing a biblical
Worldview.
3.
For some the content of their Christian faith is losing
its structure
•
72% of born again Christians believe they “personally have a
responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs”
Born Again Christians, 2000, George Barna, Barna Web-site
Yet only 2 out of every 10 born again Christians (19 percent) knew
the meaning of the Great Commission.
Half correctly described the content of John 3:16, and 6 out of 10
knew the meaning of the term “the gospel.”
George Barna, Evangelism that Works, 1995, p.37
A Misunderstanding Of
What is Involved in Biblical Faith
“About one out of four (26%)
born again Christians believe
that it doesn’t matter what
faith you follow because they
all teach the same lessons.”
Born Again Christians, 2000, George
Barna, Barna Web-site
Student, University of
Texas at Austin
What is her
misunderstanding
concerning Biblical
Faith?
Christianity is Based on a Historical Event
“And if Christ has not been raised, our
preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
I Corinthians 15:14 (NIV)
* Biblical faith must have an object to
be valid.
Evidence of the World’s
Impact On Christians
1.
2.
3.
4.
Christian lay people are losing their moral compass.
Some Christian leaders themselves struggle with
establishing a biblical Worldview.
For some the content of their Christian faith is losing its
structure
Some Christians are becoming less certain of their
beliefs and more reluctant to share the good news.
B. Negative repercussions on church
growth
B.
Negative repercussions on
church growth
“How is it possible for a person to be an
active member of an evangelical church for
twenty or thirty years and still know next to
nothing about the history and theology of the
Christian religion, the methods and tools
required for serious Bible study, and the skills
and information necessary to preach and
defend Christianity in a post-Christian,
neopagan culture?”
J.P. Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind, p.188
Implications For The Church
"When a majority of Christian adults…as well as
three out of four born again teens proudly cast their
vote for moral relativism, the Church is in trouble.
Continuing to preach more sermons, teach more
Sunday school classes and enroll more people in
Bible study groups won't solve the problem since
most of these people don't accept the basis of the
principles being taught in those venues. The failure
to address this issue at its root, and to do so quickly
and persuasively, will undermine the strength of the
church for at least another generation, and probably
longer."
George Barna, The Barna Update: "Americans Are Most Likely to
Base Truth on Feelings" from Feb 12, 2002
II. Understanding Post-Modern Influences
and Why Our Christian Foundations
Are Being Eroded Away
How Did the Church Fall Into This Crisis?
“When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do.”
Psalm 11:3
A World View Shift
“…a major cause of our current crisis
consists of a world view shift from a
Judeo-Christian
understanding
of
reality to a post-Christian one.”
- J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind,
p.21
The Tsunami of Post-Modernism
II. Understanding Post-Modern Influences…and
Why Our Christian Foundations Are Being
Eroded Away.
A. Understanding the three main periods of
the history of western thought (PreModern, Modern, and Post-Modern)
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs Concerning God
1st Century
17th Century
Pre-modern
19th Century
19th-20th Century
20th Century
Modern
Late 21st Century
Postmodern
Thomas Oden first suggested
that the modern age lasted 200
years < 1789- 1989 >
To understand
the modern
period we need
to understand the
pre-modern
period.
To understand
the post-modern
period we need
to understand the
modern period.
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Theism
1st Century
17th Century
Pre-modern
THEISM
THEISM
GOD
COSMOS
19th Century
19th-20th Century
Modern
20th Century
Late 21st Century
Postmodern
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Deism
1st Century
17th Century
Pre-modern
THEISM
THEISM
GOD
Deism
GOD
COSMOS
COSMOS
19th Century
19th-20th Century
Modern
20th Century
Late 21st Century
Postmodern
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Atheism
1st Century
17th Century
19th Century
Pre-modern
Modern
THEISM
THEISM
GOD
19th-20th Century
NATURALISM
GOD
COSMOS
COSMOS
GOD
COSMOS
.
SOCIETY
Late 21st Century
Postmodern
ATHEISM
Deism
20th Century
Changing Beliefs - Atheism
1st Century
17th Century
19th Century
Pre-modern
Modern
THEISM
THEISM
GOD
19th-20th Century
NATURALISM
Nihilism
GOD
GOD
COSMOS
COSMOS
COSMOS
SOCIETY
Late 21st Century
Postmodern
ATHEISM
Deism
20th Century
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Atheism
1st Century
17th Century
19th Century
Pre-modern
GOD
20th Century
Modern
THEISM
THEISM
19th-20th Century
Postmodern
ATHEISM
Deism
NATURALISM
Nihilism
GOD
COSMOS
COSMOS
EXISTENTIALISM
GOD
COSMOS
SOCIETY
Late 21st Century
1).
Philosophical ideas from Europe (Hume
and Kant)
• If what we can know comes only from our
sense, and God is outside our senses, we
cannot know God.
• The Bible became merely a guide for
ethical and spiritual growth
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Pluralism
1st Century
17th Century
19th Century
Pre-modern
THEISM
Theism
GOD
Deism
GOD
Naturalism
19th-20th Century
20th Century
Late 21st Century
Modern
Postmodern
ATHEISM
PLURALISM
Nihilism
GOD
Existentialism
Fill in the blank
Postmodernism
Weak Theism
New Age:
Pantheism,
Monism
COSMOS
COSMOS
COSMOS
SOCIETY
Bottom line: “What
works for you.”
II. Understanding Post-Modern Influences…
A.
Understanding the three main periods of the history of western
thought (Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern)
B. Understanding the Post-Modern Period
* Two Main Characteristics
1.
Pluralism
2.
Post-Modernism
Religious Pluralism
Is the belief that all religions are true.
(They all have a part of the truth)
II. Understanding Post-Modern Influences…
A.
B.
Understanding the three main periods of the history of western
thought (Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern)
Understanding the Post-Modern Period
C. Understanding Post-Modernism and
its impact
C. Understanding Post-Modernism and
its impact
*
What is Postmodernism?
A.
Main Characteristics
1.
In general it is a rejection of
anything modern
Historical Development of Western World Views
Changing Beliefs - Pluralism
1st Century
17th Century
19th Century
Pre-modern
THEISM
THEISM
GOD
Deism
GOD
COSMOS
COSMOS
NATURALISM
19th-20th Century
20th Century
Late 21st Century
Modern
Postmodern
ATHEISM
PLURALISM
Nihilism
A key belief in a
modernistic
framework is that
science and reason
could solve all of
man’s problems
EXISTENTIALISM
Fill in the blank
•Postmodernism
GOD
(influenced by the
philosophy of
Nietzsche)
•Weak Theism (of
COSMOS
various stripes)
•New Age: Pantheism,
Monism
(Ps. 19:1) The heavens are
telling the glory of God;
and the firmament
proclaims his handiwork.
(Psalm 53:1) The fool says in his
heart, “There is no God.”
(Judges 17:6) In those days
there was no king in Israel;
every man did what was
right in his own eyes.
A.
Main Characteristics
2.
It is a belief in the Incredulity
of meta-narratives
Postmodernism
“I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives,”
Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
1984, xxiv
What is Postmodernism?
A. Main Characteristics
3. It’s a total rejection of the idea of absolute
truth…in favor of mere cultural relativism
*
What are the characteristics of
relativism from a postmodern
perspective?
*
Characteristics of Post-Postmodern
Relativism
–
–
–
No universal moral rules or standards exist
No single standard or set of standards has been
(or is) universally accepted as binding on
everyone.
Moral norms vary from culture to culture and are
determined by social setting or environment.
What is Postmodernism?
1.
In general it is a rejection of anything modern
2.
3.
It is a belief in the Incredulity of meta-narratives
It’s a total rejection of the idea of absolute truth…in favor or
cultural relativism
4. In its most extreme form, it is a belief that
our thoughts, attitudes, as well as our
very existence is just a social construct
and not real.
Beliefs are merely social
constructs!
“But postmodernist go beyond
observing the influence of
culture to declaring that all
beliefs and knowledge claims
are ‘arbitrary social constructs,’
fabrications of culture.”
Dennis McCallum, ed., The Death of Truth.
(Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1996). p.13.”
C. Understanding Post-Modernism and
its impact
*
What is Postmodernism?
“Postmodernism is thus an eclectic construct, shrouded in
deconstructionalistic and post-structuralistic verbiage, based on the
hermeneutics of suspicion and an epistemology of uncertainty that
leads to the three defining features of postmodernity as a cultural
mood--ie. The incredulity of meta-narratives, the propagation of
reality as a social construct and the emergence of hyper-reality as a
postmodern phenomenon.”
As such, postmodernism is a sad commentary of man’s desperate
search for meaning; a vain championing of an ideological abstraction
which promotes an ideological arbitrariness – a reasoning without
reason in the face of human arrogance and absurdity, which
ultimately ushers one towards fideism at best and nihilism at worst.”
(Rev. Edmund Chan )
C. Understanding Post-Modernism and
its impact
*
What is Postmodernism?
A. Main Characteristics
B. A Biblical response to its more
extreme form
*
Remember that Biblical truth is not a
matter of your own perspective!
“Above all you must understand that no
prophecy of Scripture came about by the
prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never
had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke
from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit.”
2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV
*
Remember that Biblical truth can not
be contradictory
The Apostle Paul said, “But as surely as God is
faithful, our message to you is not yes and no.”
(2 Cor. 1:18 NIV)
III. The Implications of Post-Modern
Thought On Our Witness to Others
A.
How it impacts others:
 They feel free to create or construct
“knowledge's” and “realities.”
This Explains Why
Many Are Questioning The
Biblical Story of Jesus
The Da Vinci Code
The Lost Gospel of Judas
The Lost Tomb of Christ
The Implications of Post-Modern
Thought On Our Witness to Others
*
How it impacts others:
 They believe that our belief that Jesus is the
way, the truth, and the life is just one of the
narratives among other narratives in the world
that are equally as valid.
 Their pluralistic mindset gives them no
internal motivation to hear about Jesus.
Challenges to Evangelism In a
Post-Modern World
I.
Our Changing World and Its Impact on Christians
II.
Understanding Post-Modern Influences and Why Our Christian
Foundations Are Being Eroded Away.
III.
The Implications of Post-Modern Thought On Our Witness to Others
IV. Things To Keep In Mind In Our Witness To
Post-Moderns?
IV.
Things To Keep In Mind In Our Witness
To Post-Moderns
Some Important Keys?
We need to better understand the
times or culture in which we live.
(1 Chron 12:32).
IV.
Things To Keep In Mind In Our Witness
To Post-Moderns
Some Important Key?
Remember that…
A. Our convictions about Christ can
come across as arrogant to some.
*
Speak to them like one beggar to
another…
Remember that…
B. Our belief in truth and absolutes goes against
the post-modern grain.
*
Work out issues with people on their
own time table.
*
Don’t be afraid to admit when you
don’t know the answer to question your
friends raise.
Remember that…
C.
In order to speak to this
postmodern generation we need
to intentionally communicate by
the appropriate use of questions,
illustrations, and stories.
The Importance of Questions and Stories
“Two major characteristics of postmodernism are
of particular importance to us in evangelism: (1)
the emphasis on questioning and (2) the
displacement of propositional truth in favor of
stories. If we are to be effective within this
postmodern culture, then, our evangelism must
involve the appropriate use of questions and
stories.”
Nick Pollard’s book, Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult,
p. 70
Remember that…
D.
Helping people to think through their beliefs
critically has limitations in the culture in
which we live.
*
We must be careful not give an
overdose of argumentation in
explaining the Christian faith.
We Are To Love God With All Of Our Mind
“Love The Lord Your God With
All Your Heart and With All Your
Soul and With All Your Mind.”
Matt. 22:37
A Caution In Using Reason And Evidence
“…there is just enough of the modern
worldview left so that reason still has a point
of entry. But we have to use this knowledge
wisely. We cannot give an overdose of
argumentation.”
Ravi Zacharias, “An Ancient Message, Through Modern Means To the
Postmodern Mind” in Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, p.
27
Remember that…
D.
Helping people to think through their beliefs
critically has limitations in the culture in
which we live.
*
Therefore we need to be careful how
we build head bridges with others.
Head Bridge Questions
That Are Apologetic Lite!
If you were coming to the end of your
life, and you met Jesus and other great
religious leaders, and each suggested a
different path, who’s advice should you
take.
Wouldn’t you take the advice of
someone who’s been to the other side
and come back to tell us about it?
Head Bridge Questions
That Are Apologetic Lite!
Has anyone ever explained to you the difference
between Christianity and all other religions? I can explain
the difference using two words, Do versus Done!
All the religions in the world say you have to
do something (Do)
Christianity says, there is nothing you can do to
earn your salvation, it has already been done.
All you have to do is accept the gift that God
has proved and invite Christ to some into your
life, forgive you of your sins, and change you
from the inside out (Phil. 2:13)
Remember that…
E.
Because of post-modern influences, people
today tend to pick and mix worldviews.
*
We must be careful to
listen to what they really believe
rather than a particular religious label
they give themselves.
Remember That People Today
Tend to Pick-and-mixWorldviews
“…this pragmatism necessarily leads to a
pick-and-mix adoption of worldviews. As
people face different situations, they wish to
behave in different ways. Consequently, they
have to believe different things. So, instead
of adopting one complete worldview, they
pick bits of different ones and mix them
together.”
Nick Pollard, Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult, p.39
Some Important Key?
Remember that…
E.
Because of post-modern influences, people
today tend to pick and mix worldviews.
*
We can use this tendency to help
people to more carefully think through
their beliefs.
Some Important Key?
Remember that…
F.
To more effectively reach those influenced
by postmodern thinking we need to speak
to their heart concerns most of all.
Remember that…
“People are more
heart
creatures than
head
creatures.”
Dave Montoya, Dealing With Both Minds and Hearts: Answering the Questions Behind the
Questions, located on Meekness web-site
Remember that…
“People care how little you know until they know
how much you care.”
* Example: - Heart Bridges
Former Hindu now staff worker for Campus
Crusade.
Remember that…
Remember that:
G. To have a greater impact on others don’t
underestimate the witness of the Christian
community and the emphasis on the
spiritual.
Remember that…
Remember that:
H. Don’t forget to witness to others in the
power of the of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8;
Jn. 6:65) .
Remember we are just the instrument!
“God chose the weak things of the world
to shame the strong.”
1Corinthians 1:27b (NIV)
IV.
Specific Tips In Speaking The Truth of
Christ To Our Post-Modern Generation
A.
Use thought
provoking questions to
create interest in others
in hearing about Jesus
Why Can’t We Always Just Proclaim
the Truth?
“We live in a world where
people are reluctant to be told
what is true, but may be willing in
some cases to see for themselves
(as in a mirror) the inconsistencies
in what they believe by asking
them probing questions.”
Dave Geisler
The joy of self-discovery
*
Conversation with our former nanny
“How do you fit Jesus into your Buddhist beliefs?”
Why Asking Questions Is So Helpful?
“A person can close his ears to facts he
does not want to hear, but if a pointed
question causes him to form the answer
in his own mind, he cannot escape the
conclusion—because it’s a conclusion
that he reached himself.”
David Reed Baker, Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse
by Verse, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986) p. 113
B.
Learn the art of
asking questions with
the three D’s in mind
How do I know if I am
asking the right kind of
questions in the right way?
Ask…Am I Asking Questions
In A Way That… surfaces
their Doubt (uncertainty)
about their own perspective,
while at the same time
minimizes their
Defensiveness, and yet
creates a Desire (curiosity) to
want to hear more!
C.
Determine if there is
any possible question
and or issues behind
the questions that are
raised (Mark 12:18-27).
Go Below The Surface
“Proverbs 20:5 says, ‘The purpose in a man's mind
is like deep water, but a man of understanding will
draw it out.’ Good apologetics requires people of
understanding who have the patience and insight
to not only deal with people’s stated questions
but to go below the surface and speak to their
true objections…”
Rev. Dave Montoya, Dealing With Both Minds and Hearts:
Answering the Questions Behind the Questions, Unpublished
materials
Jesus was a Mastered In Getting Below The
Surface
In Mark 12:18-27 when the Sadducees asks Jesus a hypothetical
question about who will be the wife’s husband at the resurrection,
(since all seven brothers were at one time married to her but all
died but didn’t leave any children), :
Jesus knew that their real question or concerned had to deal with
the issue of the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus was a Mastered In Getting Below
The Surface
Jesus’ response:
“Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the
book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God
said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the
dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”
Mark 12:26-27 (N.I.V.)
Jesus points to a passage in the Pentateuch (which
they did accept) Ex. 3:6 which supports the position
that there is a resurrection.
Example:
“How can you claim that there is only
one way to God?
“How can you claim that there is
only one way to God?
What might be the belief behind the question?
They may believe that Christians are arrogant
to think that they have the truth and are
therefore better than others.
They may believe that Christians are not very
“open” to other faiths by being so exclusive.
D. Learn how to more
effectively communicate
the truth of the Christian
message by the appropriate
use of illustrations and or
stories.
l
Example 1 (Student with Hindu background)
“Why aren’t my good works good enough to
get into heaven?”
*
What is the truth we want him to grasp
concerning the question or issue raised?
Theological Truth:
We tend to overestimate our own righteousness
and underestimate God’s holiness.
A Story to illustrate this truth…
Suppose you were drinking some water out
of a paper cup. Would it be acceptable for
me to put a little sewage* in your water?
If not do you see how something can seem
so small but in reality still have a huge
impact?
So is it possible our “sins” could cause a
bigger barrier between us and God than we
think?
* Concept adapted from Glenn McGorty (Mirror Model)
Common Barrier
(2 of 3)
Wedding Dress Analogy
Picture a young women getting out of the car in her
beautiful white wedding dress.* Then imagine
another car pulling up right next to her and a man
with grease all over him getting out. As he gets out
and passes by her, he smears grease all over her
beautiful white wedding dress.
Now, do you think that wedding dress is going to
acceptable to her?
Of course not, because the dress has to be
spotless!
* Concept adapted from Glenn McGorty (Mirror Model)
E. Find common agreement
even in your disagreement
with those you are trying to
reach (Acts 17:22).
For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made so they are without excuse.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do
instinctively the things of the Law, these, not
having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that
they show the work of the Law written in their
hearts…”
Romans 1:20; 2:14-15
Find Common Agreement…
“And Paul stood in the midst of the
Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I
observe that you are very religious in all
respects.” (Acts 17:22)
Learn the Art of Positive
Deconstruction!
“The process of positive deconstructionism
recognizes and affirms the elements of truth to
which individuals already hold, but it also helps
them discover for themselves the inadequacies
of the underlying worldviews they have
absorbed. The aim is to awaken a heart
response that says, “I am not so sure that what I
believe is right after all. I want to find out more
about Jesus.”
Nick Pollard, Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult, p.
44
E. Find common agreement
even in your disagreement
with those you are trying to
reach (Acts 17:22).
I believe that all religions
are true!
F.
Build your bridge with
others using planks of
common
understanding, even
those they may not be
totally aware of.
Build Your Bridge Using Planks Of Common
Understanding
F.
Build your bridge with
others on planks of
common
understanding, even
those they may not be
totally aware of.
*
The problem with pluralism
Dr. Norman Geisler
F.
Build your bridge with
others on planks of
common
understanding, even
those they may not be
totally aware of.
*
Even radical postmodernist
cannot deny a belief in some
truth
Helping Others to Understand The Truth About
Postmodernism?
* Postmodernism is self-defeating
The statement that all beliefs and
knowledge claims are merely social
constructs and therefore not real, is a
statement about reality and therefore it
is self-defeating.
G.
Ask the Holy Spirit for
wisdom in our witness
with others (James
1:5).
The challenge that lies ahead for us…
“…the challenge lies before us to reach
a generation that hears with its eyes and
thinks with its feelings.”
Paul Copan, True for You But Not For Me, p. 155
Challenges to Evangelism In a
Post-Modern World
(An Overview)
Intro: Witnessing today is more difficult…
I.
Our Changing World and Its Impact on Christians
II.
Understanding Post-Modern Influences and Why Our Christian
Foundations Are Being Eroded Away.
III.
The Implications of Post-Modern Thought On Our Witness to PostModerns
IV.
Things to keep in mind in our witness to post-moderns
V.
Specific Tips In Speaking The Truth of Christ To Our PostModern Generation
Challenges to Evangelism In
A Post-Modern World
www.MeeknessAndTruth.org
Implications of Postmodern Thought in their own words
• Jacques Derrida
• Jean-Francois
Lyotard
• Michel Foucault
• Richard Rorty
Postmodernism
Postmodernism- a world in which truth is socially
constructed. In the postmodern view, there is no longer
a single story, a metanarrative (i.e., worldview) that
holds Western culture together. With postmodernism,
no metanarrative can have more credibility than any
other. All stories are equally valid.
“I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives,”
Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge,
1984, xxiv
•
History is fiction. History is written
from the bias of the writer’s culture,
race or gender. What is called
“historic” is wholly subjective.
(Michel Foucault)
Art22/07/2015
Lindsley, C.S. Lewis’s Case forwww.meeknessandtruth.org
Christ (Illinois; InterVarsity Press, 2005)
107
•
Knowledge is power. We must be
suspicious of anyone who claims to
give us truth. They are only out to
further their own (and their
group’s) vested interests.
(Michel Foucault)
Art22/07/2015
Lindsley, C.S. Lewis’s Case forwww.meeknessandtruth.org
Christ (Illinois; InterVarsity Press, 2005)
108
•
Ethical claims are mere sentiments.
We cannot call anything right or
wrong. For example, there are no
neutral grounds on which to
condemn the Holocaust.
(Richard Rorty)
Art Lindsley, C.S. Lewis’s Case for Christ (Illinois; InterVarsity Press, 2005)
•
Deconstruction is justice. We must
ferret out the contradictions in
every piece of literature so that we
can uphold justice and avoid
injustice. (Jacques Derrida)
Art22/07/2015
Lindsley, C.S. Lewis’s Case forwww.meeknessandtruth.org
Christ (Illinois; InterVarsity Press, 2005)
110
•
Postmodernism is really
better referred to as a “mood”
as opposed to a worldview as
worldview is the one thing
that Postmodernism denies