OK, so I'm going to continue my rant from last week...

The shortcomings of post-modernity are pretty much self-evident and have been highly publicized by modern Christian apologists for quite some time now. I am not going to deny them, I just would like to make note of the fact that every worldview has its own strengths and weaknesses. The moment you critique a perspective you need to realize that you are doing so from your own perspective along with its strengths and weaknesses.

Objectivity is Impossible.

This is something that the modern worldview completely missed the boat on. Modernity focused so much on calm, cool, collected logic and "objectivity" but didn't stop long enough to realize that, logically, that doesn't make any sense.

One of the strengths of post-modernity is that it recognizes "Social Location." Your social location is made up of the social aspects of your life that define the way you view the world.

For example, what is your:

Gender – Race – Age – Religion – Education – Nationality – Economic Status – etc?

So, I am a Caucasian male, 27, Christian, with post secondary education, Canadian, middle class, ...

Compare this with, for an extreme example, an Asian female, 72, Buddhist, completely uneducated, Chinese (Tibetan), unbelievably poor, ...

Now, this old woman and I live in the same world. However, if we were to reflect on the world around us and about events that we were both aware of do you think that we would be able to reach a common, 'objective' perspective? NOT A CHANCE!

Our racial, generational, religious, educational, ... differences have shaped us so much that it is virtually impossible that we would view things from the same 'objective' perspective.

Objectivity is a modern ideal, not a reality.

Even if our old Tibetan woman were converted to Christianity do you think that we would interpret the scriptures in the same way? I doubt it.

This is what Daniel Taylor has to say: "... in the broil of wider human enterprise, in deciding what is good and true and beautiful and worth living for in this world, there is so much sheer humanness at work (and their should be), that the claim of cool, rational objectivity is almost laughable. Only objects are truly objective." [The Myth of Certainty, pg. 51]

What do you have to say?

What are the weaknesses in this idea of 'Social Location?'
What are its strengths?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of modern 'objectivity?'

How might people of differing social locations view Christ and scripture differently?

"I do believe... help my unbelief"

As a postmodern Christian I take great comfort in Mark 9:24. In this passage a desperate father comes to Jesus with his son asking for healing. He asks Jesus "if" He can heal his son. Jesus replies that "all things are possible to him who believes" (9:23). The father, desperate to believe but unsure if he does cries out, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

Often this is the way I am in my Christian life. I know what I believe (or should believe) but when I actually deconstruct my own actions or motives my own belief/faith (same greek word; 'pistis') is questionable. I am left with the reality of my own unbelief ('apistis'). This is why Jesus' response is so comforting; he heals the man's son. Jesus accepts this man's desire to believe as belief. This is what the postmodern Christian needs to grasp. Our salvation does not solely rest on our belief/faith but on Christ's faithfulness.

In my third year at Bethany College I read a textbook in my "Contemporary Thought" class. This book was "The Myth of Certainty" by Daniel Taylor. The book wrestles with what it means to be an intellectually honest Christian in the church. At a surface level, the contemporary church has a lot for a postmodern critic to deconstruct. When some of these critiques are justified how do we as Christians respond? How do we live when we are split between in the intellectual and Christian worlds? Why are these two worlds supposedly exclusive from each other? If you've ever wrestled with these questions this is a book that you should read. I found it very helpful.

Here's where you can respond:

Have you ever gone through times of doubt? What was/is of help for you?
How can we as thoughtful, reflective Christians live in a postmodern world?
If intellectual honesty requires that we admit the possibility that we may be wrong how do we reconcile this with a life of belief/faith?