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Guruzilla's /var/log/knowledge-junkie ["the chatter of a missionary sysadmin"] 2003-03-13 9:00 PM 'pomo' prefigured Previous Entry :: Next Entry |
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{ Now playing: various mp3s, "random 100.3" Recent movie: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (double-subbed laserdisc boot)*****; Godzilla 2000: Millenium (subbed boot)***** Current books: Genesis; A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations; Schlatter, The History of the Christ; S.K., The Point of View; S.K., The Present Age; Glen Cook, The Black Company } A long, long time ago, in a brewery not far away, there was a little think tank and a lot of clever people, plus me, talked about some interesting and important ideas, like the notion of postmodernity, and what it means in terms of evangelicalism's present and future. The major texts were reviews of The Younger Evangelicals. The following is a little ditty I wrote following reflection on the think-tank and related issues. Someday that little ditty might grow up to be a proper essay... "'pomo' prefigured", or, "inventing something just like a wheel only not round in quite the same way" Last week I had the immense privilege of participating in a quiet little gathering to discuss Robert Webber's notion of "The Younger Evangelicals", a la his book of the same name. The discussion was deep, funny, profound, witty and silly both, and touched on everything from a pop song I'm not hip enough to have heard to the deepest meaning of the Gospel. But I'm not going to talk about that right now. What I do want to talk about is "pomo", as in "nomo pomo", to quote blessed ranter Kevin Miller. The "post-modern" is usually described as the way of the world after the modern, or, it is hyper-modernity, depending on whom you consult, or, existence in such a world. In fact, post-modernism is simply the present-day permutation of the levelling process of the present age. The fact that no one has observed this, not even David F. Wells in his otherwise extraordinarily fine No Place for Truth?, tells me, at least, that reports of evangelical appreciation for history are greatly exaggerated. This may be a harsh sentence on Webber's "younger evangelicals", who are scarcely beginning to appreciate the length, let alone the breadth or depth, of even ecclesiastical history. Extenuating circumstances can be plead for those trained in the pragmatic and traditional traditions, of course. A remedial crash course on the character of the present age:
Sound familiar? Yet the description is a century and a half old! Old as punditry, perhaps, but as prophecy -- well, the blood was not quite shed between the temple and the altar, but nonetheless... The doing away with distinctions which is the peculiar characteristic of the present age will continue. The distinction between really talking and remaining silent is collapsed into talkativeness. The distinction between manifestation and concealment is done away with for superficiality, and flirtatiousness devours the tension of real debauchery and real love. Examples may be multiplied, of course. The point remains, however -- "The Present Age", dear reader, is not a phantom, but a living reality. In order that you and I should not be caught up in collapsing the difference between ourselves and our predecessors, I propose passionate, and serious, study of the past. Not to mine it, to sift it for valuable nuggets to be made into trinkets, superficially, but to build real inwardness. The quest for a personal conception of the Ekklesia, divorced from the authoritarian and hierarchical constructions inherited from the Papal domination of the Church? Herr Professor Emil Brunner will be more than glad to speak to your concerns. Concerned about understanding the relationship between the world's culture and the Gospel? Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria have taken some time to consider the matter, if you care to read. No, studying history, even ecclesiastical history, in itself does nothing to to make us turn inwardly and see ourselves alone, naked before God except for Jesus the Christ, who died and rose from the dead that I might no longer live of myself, but in him. But for those who know that they have died, and that their lives are hid with God in Christ, a little perspective cannot possibly hurt -- and even if only the Father sees you reading church history, huddled in your closet, you have your reward... |
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