This was a great book and valuable in thinking through how to present the gospel in a post-modern context, but I think it works better as a resource to dip into rather than a book to be read cover to cover. That isn’t a criticism, rather a reflection on the nature of the book, which is a collection of conference papers.
Postmodernism is helpfully summarised as making reality subject dependent, and several shifts in Western culture are identified that have made post-modernism plausible:
- The popularisation of the death of God movement, the bequest of Nietzsche
- The disorienting blow of religious pluralism
- The power to inform through the visual and the blurring of reality and imagination; we are intended by God to see through the eye, but with the conscience. Now we see with the eye, devoid of a conscience
- The lost centre of cultural moulding; there is a vacuum at the heart of our culture. The pursuit of knowledge without knowing who we are or why we exist, combined with a war on our imaginations by the entertainment industry, leaves us at the mercy of power with no morality
The results of these shifts have been:
- Philosophy’s move to the existential
- The artist’s move to the sensual
- Religion’s move to the mystical
- Education’s move to the sceptical
- The individual’s move to the transcendental; he is his own divine being. The reader is sovereign over the author
The challenge we have as Christians is to "communicate the gospel to a generation that hears with its eyes and thinks with its feelings"
A couple of entry points are highlighted, one of which is the meaninglessness that comes from being weary of pleasure. Another is righteousness or morality, which is still a powerful referent in our culture.
On the exclusive claims that Christianity makes, it is contended that "there is no reason to suppose that particularists cannot be culturally sensitive and appropriately tolerant of people from other religious traditions…particularism does not imply that all the beliefs of the non-Christian religions are false or that there is nothing of value in other religions… it is important to point out that although truth is sometimes narrow, this does not make it intolerant."
Pluralism is examined in some detail: "The ethos of pluralism presents a twofold challenge to the Christian faith. First, the idea that one particular religious figure and one religious perspective can be universally valid and normative for all peoples in all cultures is widely rejected today as arrogant and intellectually untenable…Closely related to this is the contemporary tendency to regard religion in highly pragmatic, consumerist terms. One does not expect religion to provide “objectively true” answers to basic questions about the cosmos and human destiny. Rather, religions are assessed pragmatically simply on the basis of how well they meet the desires and felt needs of their adherents."
Another important clarifying observation is the identification of the "tendency in the modern world to distinguish between the public world of facts—most clearly demonstrated in the physical sciences—and the private realm of opinions, values, and preferences with religion being relegated to the latter category…The important question to ask the informal pluralist is, ‘Into which category do these religious claims fit? Are they merely matters of taste, or are they matters of truth?’ It is important to help the pluralist understand that there are many statements regarding the Christian faith that cannot be labelled matters of taste and must therefore be evaluated for their truthfulness. This discussion of the nature of religious truth enables us to answer three of the common assumptions of pluralists: that religion exists merely to meet psychological needs, that sincerity is more important than truth, and that religious beliefs should be interpreted metaphorically."
A particularly interesting and stimulating chapter is "Epistemology at the core of Postmodernism: Rorty, Foucault and the Gospel." It is valuable, indeed essential, to engage with these important non-Christian thinkers.
Another stimulating chapter is on the uniqueness of Christ: "As we seek to evangelise postmoderns today, one of the key issues that calls for discussion is the Christian affirmation of the uniqueness of Christ. This affirmation seems to be out of step with the way that many people are thinking. There are three challenges to this affirmation: first, the tendency to devalue objective truth; second, the charge that those who hold to this affirmation are intolerant and arrogant; and third, the new interest in non-Christian spirituality."
In speaking of tolerance, the author makes an insightful link to humility, with an implication for apologetics: "Whereas humility was earlier judged on the basis of one’s opinion of oneself, now it is being judged on the basis of one’s understanding of truth. Those who claim to have the truth are regarded as arrogant…A direct result of such thinking is that apologetics—defending the truthfulness of one’s beliefs against opposing views—is considered undesirable and in need of replacement by dialogue."
An antidote to this problem is also identified: "If our attitude to non-Christians is one of friendship, our lifestyle among them is one of servanthood. I believe that such a lifestyle is one of the most powerful answers to the charge of arrogance and intolerance…Just as Jesus showed by his life and ministry that lordship and servanthood are compatible, we must by our lives and ministries show that it is possible for those who have the humility of a servant to believe in and to proclaim the message of Christ’s absolute lordship."
In the chapter on communicating sin, the author reminds us that "postmodern unbelievers have consciences even if they don’t think they do. Because they’re made in God’s image, they do, and Christians should be confident of this fact…People need to grasp not only the theoretical concept of evil and wrong, but also the fact that they are evil and wrong…the real reason people don’t acknowledge the legitimate moral claims of God is not because of any philosophy; it is simply because it is not in their self-interest to do so."
He also contends that "there is a major danger in our contemporary evangelical culture in viewing conversion as a decision rather than as a change of life and perspective. And that danger is growing steadily in our postmodern culture as more and more people have less and less understanding of a biblical worldview…in order for evangelism to result in true conversion in our present culture (this has probably always been true, but especially today) it must include at least the following three factors: (1) it must be content-specific; (2) it must include the notion that Christ is the exclusive way of salvation; and (3) it must result in a radical change of belief and conduct in the convert."
Another memorable chapter is on the Christian as ambassador: "An ambassador whose main interest is in advancing his own position is unlikely to be an effective advocate for his government. This is of great importance in speaking to a culture that is sensitive to the use of truth-claims as a means of exercising power…Two things will be required of us if we are to fulfil this responsibility: to listen as one who is under authority, and to speak as one given authority."
Yet another helpful chapter is "Faithfully relating to unbelievers in a relational age", where the author concludes that "The Christian community is often guilty of simplifying life issues so dramatically that we reduce complex problems to something that is easy to resolve. We need to be willing to admit that we don’t have all the answers. At the same time, we should be able to articulate why we are compelled to believe what we believe. There are crucial issues that the Bible is clear about, and those are the issues we can address with confidence and persuasiveness."
In closing, we are reminded that "A mere quarter of a century ago, if we were dealing with an atheist, he or she was not a generic atheist but a Christian atheist—that is, the God he or she did not believe in was more or less a god of discernibly Judeo-Christian provenance."
The fact that this is no longer the case means that:
- The people we wish to evangelise hold some fundamental positions that they are going to have to abandon to become Christians.
- Under these conditions, evangelism means starting farther back. The good news of Jesus Christ—who he is and what he accomplished by his death, resurrection, and exaltation—is simply incoherent unless certain structures are already in place.
- Worldview evangelism is important and is not a restrictively propositional exercise.
- The evangelist must find ways into the values, heart, thought patterns - in short, the worldview of - those who are being evangelised, but must not let that non-Christian worldview domesticate the biblical message.
In unpacking the idea of worldview evangelism, the author identified some challenges: "First, the challenge of worldview evangelism is not to make simple things complicated but to make clear to others some fairly complicated things that we simply assume…Second, the challenge of worldview evangelism is not primarily to think in philosophical categories, but it is to make it clear that closing with Jesus has content…Third, the challenge of worldview evangelism is not primarily a matter of how to get back into the discussion with biblically illiterate people whose perspectives may be very dissimilar to our own. Rather, worldview evangelism focuses primarily on where the discussion goes."
An appropriate place to close is with this observation on the apostle Paul, who "does not trim the gospel to make it acceptable to the worldview of his listeners. For Paul, then, there is some irreducible and nonnegotiable content to the gospel, content that must not be abandoned, no matter how unacceptable it is to some other worldview."