November 3, 2008

An Interesting Article on Postmodernity

Here is an excellent essay, written by Dr. Steven Mizrach, posted by Dr. Ben Witherington III, regarding postmodernism. For those who don't know, postmodernism is a... collection of various attempts to figure out where we are. They believe that modernity has failed, and that we are moving out of that paradigm to a new one naturally. None of them are trying to force it. Instead, they are merely commenting on, acknowledging its existance and guessing where it is going to go. In various subjects of study, they act as sports commentators, making guesses about who's going to win, what's going to happen, and what the key elements are that are going to determine things.

I find the conversation quite interesting. I, too, have a postmodern mindset, but I don't support post-modernism. By that, I mean that I believe modernism has failed, and like to discuss where we currently are in society. The difference, is that I don't particularly care who wins, because I believe in the eschatological promises of Jesus Christ, and the eventual culmination of history. I have accepted Christianity as the way and truth. However, there doesn't mean I'm not interested in see what the world tries to do next. Whatever happens in the world, Christians need to be aware of it to speak the gospel into it, and let the light of Christ shine.

I feel that this movement is liberating Christianity from the confines of modernism, but if we are not careful, we may become trapped again into whatever this new world is that postmodernism is predicting. We are called to be something other than the world, not to conform ourselves to it.

Please enjoy: The Architechure of the Postmodern Mind, Part IV

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