I have been in two minor earthquakes that left me safe but scared. Both were strong enough to shake the house, rattle pictures off walls, and break dinnerware. Once they were over, while they did cause momentary anxiety, life continued as normal. Neither was even close to being as life-altering as the big earthquakes that devastated Haiti or Mexico City.<\/p>\n
In Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, <\/em>Stephen Hicks is not describing a minor tremor, but the kind of quake that is crumbling the foundations of civilization in the West. Hicks sees postmodernism as an ideological movement meant to destroy Western Civilization. The author writes, \u201cMany deconstruct reason, truth, and reality because they believe that in the name of reason, truth, and reality Western civilization has wrought dominance, oppression, and destruction.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n In simple terms, the primary ideas of modernism, or Enlightenment Philosophy, are naturalism, individualism, reason, science, and liberalism.[2]<\/a> Consequently, these gave birth to liberal democracy, capitalism, science, and technology. The benefits of modernism were tangible. The author notes, \u201cAs a result, individuals were becoming freer, wealthier, living longer, and enjoying more material comfort than at any point before in history.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n However, not everyone was happy with modernism. Postmodernism attacks all the main philosophical underpinnings of modernism and, therefore, attacks the way of life in the West that we\u2019ve come to accept as normal. He writes:<\/p>\n Postmodernism\u2019s essentials are the opposite of modernism\u2019s. Instead of natural reality\u2014anti-realism. Instead of experience and reason\u2014linguistic social subjectivism. Instead of individual identity and autonomy\u2014various race, sex, and class groupisms. Instead of human interests as fundamentally harmonious and tending toward mutually-beneficial interaction\u2014conflict and oppression. Instead of valuing individualism in values, markets, and politics\u2014calls for communalism, solidarity, and egalitarian restraints. Instead of prizing the achievements of science and technology\u2014suspicion tending toward outright hostility.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While these certainly threaten modernity, I would like to explore how the church might capitalize on the force of postmodernism. I realize that I\u2019m shifting metaphors here, but conceptually, I ruminated on the technique behind the sport of judo as I read this book. The idea is that a combatant should seek to turn an opponent’s force to one’s advantage rather than oppose it directly. Perhaps there are some ways in which the church can use the force of postmodernism as an advantage for the gospel rather than attempting to oppose it directly. Instead of trying to meet postmodernism with equal force, perhaps we can use the force of postmodernism to advance the gospel. For the remainder of this blog, I\u2019d like to explore postmodernism\u2019s attack on naturalism and how this might be used to advance the gospel in a postmodern world.<\/p>\n Reason and Revelation<\/strong><\/p>\n The author notes, \u201cEpistemologically, having rejected the notion of an independently existing reality, postmodernism denies that reason or any other method is a means of acquiring objective knowledge of that reality.\u201d[5]<\/a> While reason plays an important role in our faith, it is not the primary means to knowing God. In the biblical tradition, knowing God is not purely an intellectual pursuit.<\/p>\n Throughout the Scripture, God\u2019s special revelation plays an important role in knowing Him. Jesus says to the Father, \u201c<\/sup><\/strong>Now this is eternal life: that they know you,\u00a0the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.\u201d[6]<\/a> Knowing God is not gained through reason, primarily, but through special revelation. Earlier, Jesus said to his disciples, \u201cBut the Advocate,\u00a0the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,\u00a0will teach you all things\u00a0and will remind you of everything I have said to you.\u201d[7]<\/a> Further, the apostle Paul tells us, \u201cWhat we have received is not the spirit\u00a0of the world,\u00a0but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n Teaching people to become aware of the presence and work of God, and to embrace his supernatural work, is not contradictory to a rational approach but rather opens the doorway to God for those who are suspicious of rationalism. In Discernment<\/em>, Henri Nouwen writes, \u201cDiscernment is a spiritual understanding and an experiential knowledge of how God is active in daily life that is acquired through disciplined spiritual practice. Discernment is faithful living and listening to God\u2019s love and direction so that we can fulfill our individual calling and shared mission.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n The Christian faith’s experiential and supernatural nature could be emphasized more in a world hungry for experience. Shaila Visser, director of Alpha Canada, spoke at the General Assembly for The Alliance Canada last summer. She said that author Tom Holland noted that he expected Christians to preach “the weird stuff”. To Holland\u2019s disappointment the church didn\u2019t preach enough of the supernatural.[10]<\/a> She then asked us, \u201cWhy do we not see more of the weird stuff?\u201d It seems that the world is looking for Christians to offer them the ability to encounter God.<\/p>\n When Wendy and I walked the Camino last summer we decided that we wanted to become more aware of the opportunities to pray for people and with people. We encountered people from all over the world who were willing to talk about faith and were willing to receive prayer. Wendy and I took opportunities to pray for healing for those who were sick or hurting a few times on our journey. We offered and no one refused. One young woman texted us a day later and reported that her hip was healed the day Wendy prayed for her. All of the people we prayed for are open and hungry for more.<\/p>\n So while a postmodern world has rejected absolute truth, the Christian tradition invites people to an encounter with the one who says, I AM THE TRUTH.[11]<\/a> \u00a0Could it be that Christianity is not threatened at all by postmodernism\u2019s rejection of rationalism but is perfectly positioned to help people experience the Truth? While a Western worldview may be crumbling, Christianity is not.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Stephen Ronald Craig Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em>, 1. ed, expanded ed (Roscoe, Ill.: Ockham\u2019s Razor, 2011), 12\u201313.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism, <\/em>22.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Hicks, 22\u201323.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Hicks, 24.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Hicks, 16.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> The Holy Bible: New International Version<\/em> (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1979), John 17.3.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> The Holy Bible, John 14.26<\/em>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> The Holy Bible 1 Corinthians 2:12<\/em>.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Henri J. M. Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life<\/em>, 1st ed (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2013), 3.<\/p>\n