{"id":35924,"date":"2024-03-04T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T20:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35924"},"modified":"2024-02-17T02:29:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T10:29:39","slug":"35924-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/35924-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Incarnation and Postmodernism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cConflict and contradiction are the deepest truths of reality.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

I certainly grappled with inner conflict and contradiction as I read Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em> by Stephen Hicks. Plowing through chapter after chapter was laborious, but (to my own great surprise) when I closed the book, I actually felt like I understood (albeit at an amateur level) the journey from pre-modernism through modern philosophy to our current postmodernist society. The inner conflict arose as I read certain aspects of each philosophy that I agreed with or disagreed with. For example, the pre-modernist aspects of tradition, faith and mysticism are all important to me. I also agree with modernist ideas that the individual is important and valuable and has a certain responsibility for his or her own character and who he or she becomes. In addition, I resonate with postmodernists concern for minorities and oppressed people groups.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

That said, there is a lot in postmodern philosophy that is problematic for Christ-followers. As we learned from Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott, postmodernism and its offspring, cancel culture, has brought about the weaponization of identity, the normalization of attacking the person instead of the argument and the erosion of civil discourse, none of which seem particularly honoring to God.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 At the same time, postmodernism is the reality that we live in, so as responsible Christian leaders how do we best incarnate the gospel in a postmodern world?<\/p>\n

Firstly, we can rest on the Biblical truth that we do know. Ironically, this was Immanuel Kant\u2019s approach that led him away from modernism via the counter-enlightenment[4]<\/a> and now I\u2019m applying the same principle to counter post-modernist extremes. But here we are. One theological truth that is not open to negotiation is that \u201cGod has endowed us with the ability to know him and to know his world through our relationship with him.\u201d[5]<\/a> Thus, some certainty is possible.<\/p>\n

Secondly, we can flip the postmodern idea of metanarrative as a tool of oppression. Here I defer to Andy Crouch\u2019s analysis: \u201cThe Cross is what guarantees the Christian gospel against the critiques of postmodernism, specifically the one that says all metanarratives oppress. The gospel is a metanarrative: it is “the greatest story ever told”; it claims to tell the truth about the world. The problem with most such stories is that they tell the truth in a way that benefits someone. But the Cross is a story in which the other is met by the non-other; God becomes the other and endures the full experience of marginalization\u2026what it means to be excluded, what it means to be crucified on the garbage heap\u2014this is what the central figure in the story, indeed, the Author, the Person with all the power in the story, embraced. And once you have met God at the Cross in the crucified Jesus, then you’ll never again imagine that this God is out to wield his power like a white male, because the Cross is where we discover that love is real and that power and love can go together without coercion.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, we can lean into post-modernism\u2019s value of each person\u2019s identity and lived experience. Scripture tells us that God knows and values each individual. We see this in such passages as:<\/p>\n

Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.<\/p>\n

Luke 12:7: Why,\u00a0even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not;\u00a0you are of more value than many sparrows.<\/p>\n

In addition, we know that God became incarnate in an individual person, Jesus, who was a Jewish, Aramaic-speaking, male born into a certain time and culture. In fact, if we consider what evangelism and discipleship look like in terms of the incarnation we have to ask ourselves the question, \u201cWhat would the divine look like if he\/she\/it were incarnated today in my context?\u201d What would Jesus look like as a minority middle class woman? As a working-class parent trying to make ends meet? As a liberal academic? The more we understand the lived experiences of those around us, the better we can reach them with the gospel.<\/p>\n

While Hicks says that postmodernism as a movement is failing[7]<\/a>, it is our current reality. It has become the proverbial water we swim in. We would do well to be aware of it and not only that. Let\u2019s utilize its strengths for the glory of God all while being wary of its excesses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Heidegger, Martin. \u201cWhat is Metaphysics?\u201d Lecture presented at the University of Freiburg on July 24, 1929.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Hicks, Stephen Ronald Craig.\u00a0Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em>. Expanded edition. Redland Bay, QLD: Connor Court Publishing Pty, 2019. 7.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Lukianoff, Greg & Rikki Schlott.\u00a0The Canceling of the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All.<\/em>\u00a0NY: Simon and Schuster,\u00a02023. <\/em>Ch 6.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Hicks, Stephen Ronald Craig.\u00a0Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em>. Expanded edition. Redland Bay, QLD: Connor Court Publishing Pty, 2019. 29.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> A forum with Carlos Aguilar Simmons Vincent Bacote, Andy Crouch, Catherine Crouch, Sherri King, and Chris, \u201cThe Antimoderns,\u201d ChristianityToday.com, November 13, 2000, https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/ct\/2000\/november13\/7.74.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Hicks, Stephen Ronald Craig.\u00a0Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em>. Expanded edition. Redland Bay, QLD: Connor Court Publishing Pty, 2019. 201.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cConflict and contradiction are the deepest truths of reality.\u201d[1] I certainly grappled with inner conflict and contradiction as I read Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault by Stephen Hicks. Plowing through chapter after chapter was laborious, but (to my own great surprise) when I closed the book, I actually felt like I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,1764],"class_list":["post-35924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-hicks","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35924"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35928,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions\/35928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}