Halloween versus Guy Fawkes Night

As part of my current focus on Sabbaths and holidays as set out in Old Testament law, I have been thinking about the holidays and festivals celebrated by Christians here in the UK today.

PM: A tentative exercise in application

Here's some thoughts I've had about applying postmodern insights to our interaction with the Bible. These comments relate particularly to the antifoundational and demystifying attributes of PM as I've described them.

Postmodernism is... continued

Thanks Stephen. I think your examples really help get a handle on those aspects of Postmodernism. (See Stephen's comment on my previous post).

The demystifying attribute is a bit trickier. The enlightenment project is one of modernity's key characteristics - shining the light of rational deduction from observation on those parts of life previously shrouded in mystery and 'explained' by non-scientific means. To this extent it is modernity that is demystifying.

Claiming that postmodernism is demystifying involves turning the enlightenment spotlight on the very tools and institutions of modernity - for instance the scientific community, the academy, anyone or thing who claims to be the primary school teacher in Stephen's example. These institutions are deconstructed, revealing a more complicated (contradictory?) set of aims/values/assumptions than simply the neutral application of the pure light of reason.

This process raises questions about the limits of modernity's ability to explain/enlighten. But it also raises important questions about how we interact with explanation and the institutions from which explanation emanates. That links to the fourth attribute, that PM helps us to consciously (re)consider the sources we use, and the assumptions we make, without discarding the obvious benefits of the enlightenment project.

Postmodernism is...

Picking up my thread on postmodern culture and Christianity, here are some brief thoughts to stretch the grey matter. In an effort to keep my posts manageably short (for reader and writer) I'm offering a very short summary of the key attributes of a postmodern stance in order to then consider what the implications of these may be for the Bible, our ideas, our world etc...

1. PM is antifoundational - it denies any privileged unassailable starting point for the establishment of truth.

2. PM is antitotalising - it is critical of theories that seek to explain the totality of reality.

3. PM is demystifying - it strives to show that ideals are characteristically grounded in ideology, economics, or political self-interest.

4. PM does not attempt to overcome modernity (which would be a distinctly modern aim - linear progress). Rather, PM offers the opportunity to live and think in non-modern ways within the continuing cultural dominion of modernity.

As someone who self-consciously advocates a postmodern posture, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and discussing how such attributes might transform us.

Response to the comment 'Aren't we already postmodern?'

This is a response to Stephen’s comment. I intended it to be another comment, but it got too long!...

Postmodernity and Christianity

This post introduces a new topic for discussion – Postmodernity and Christianity. I have tried to explain why I believe that engaging with a critique of our culture (whether late-modern or post-modern – or any other label you want to give it) is essential to gaining an understanding of our own views of the world as it is, and how it could be. I’m aware that it is a Herculean (perhaps Sisyphusian) labour to try to meaningfully think and write about a topic that is so nebulous, contentious and in flux. Also I know that even the vocabulary of post-modernism is (mis)heard very differently, particularly within the church – understood at once as something of a dirty word, and/or a shortcut for being ‘relevant’. Despite these pitfalls, I think the importance of informed, open discourse on this subject outweighs the dangers.

So below is a brief intro (as brief as I can manage) to situate this topic, and kick off some debate. If you’re up for wrestling this through, I look forward to your thoughts: