My fairly concise ideas about postmodernity...
I just wrote all this in response to a comment on Jason Clark's blog and decided that it's mine and I should really be putting at least this much effort into my own blog. Duh. I love Jase, he brings out the best in me.
Postmodernity is not in competition with Christianity. Even if they say they are, they're not. Lemme 'splain.
Jesus came during a premodern world system. What that was exactly is debatable since there couldn't be enough cohesion in the world for it to have one single system anyway - and histories don't deal with world epistemologies. But the system in place in the Jewish world at the time was a glom of several world systems, all corrupt and all oppressive. Once Jesus did His thing, something changed. His strange pov really threatened Worldly hierarchy systems because it was not rude, condescending and oppressive, so they were very suspicious of Him and His followers.
Then came Constantine. He turned The Gospel into another World system - Authoritative Direct Revelation. Once again people were oppressed and harmed (we were just as rude and condescending as the corrupted Jewish Leaders of Jesus' day.) NOT BECAUSE OF THE GOSPEL but because of the worldly system that grew around it.
The oppressed people fought back (as academia) and challenged Christianity at the point of entry. Epistemology. How could we know that we know anything about God and His plan? They devised a new system of knowing - Reason and Scientific Inquiry - and told us that ours - Direct Revelation - was invalid.
We fought back by ADOPTING THEIR SYSTEM OF KNOWING and then using it to prove that Christianity was true. We thought we had them. But in reality they had us. Again, we used this system to oppress and harm people!
So they (academia) fought back again! They did it the same way, though this time they went in the opposite direction. Once again they invalidated all our systems of knowing - Reason and Direct Revelation - and told us that there is now NO reliable system of knowing. At all.
YOU ARE HERE ---> there is no valid system of knowing <---YOU ARE HERE
When I say "academia", I am referring to those who speak for the people we - the church - have been rude to for a very long time. Unfortunately, since we never really listened very carefully to what they were saying, that's where their voice has been heard.
Now!
SINCE we DO know that our Gospel is valid and it CAN be known, we have to figure out a way to stop being rude to those who we have been rude to and fulfill the Great Commission without once again earning the title of "oppressor" - and we did earn it.
At this point, anti-oppression or anti-rudeness is indeed GOOD NEWS! And that's how we can overcome this problem! By not using ANY system of knowing to oppress people. None! By delivering the Good News in the way Jesus intended it, instead of using some system which was devised to undermine and oppress the oppressor and which will only ensnare us in further polemic wars and prolong the problem.
Our task is to "let go" of the worldly systems of knowing that we have been using to hide our vulnerable and sensitive underbelly of Spirit. We can know Jesus and His work without using ANY worldly system of knowing. We can talk about it without being rude, condescending, arrogant or oppressive. We don't need to throw our weight around or argue or trade rhetoric or polemic or any of that other crap that they no longer listen to anyway! Jesus didn't do it that way. There is no need WHATSOEVER to "hang on" to that way of doing it.
The next "thing" I'm referring to cannot be grasped until we "let go" of our arrogant ways of talking about Jesus. The next "thing" is not another Gospel or another religion. It is another way of knowing that will leave less room for hiding arrogance and will make more room for expressing the sensitive and vulnerable movement of Spirit and will therefore be a better field for growing truly transformed human beings.
One last thing.
The reason that academia is ahead of us is because it takes The Church so long to remember how she adopted the present epistemology to begin with. We always think that this is the way Jesus did it. It takes 50-100 years to figure out that we have been had and that the current challenge must be answered.
Ironically, the reason that postmodernity dragged on so long is because it has also taken academia this long to figure out that they've backed themselves into a corner. Indeed some of them are still unwilling to admit it. I'm convinced that they are unwilling because of how hurt and angry they are at all the harm that's been done to them by oppressive systems of knowing and they are unwilling to submit to another form for knowledge. They are afraid. Afraid of us.
What will we do? What will we do when we take up the next form of knowing? Will we again figure out a way to use it to be rude jackasses? Hiding our vulnerability? Covering our sad, naked lack of transformation?
Postmodernity is not in competition with Christianity. Even if they say they are, they're not. Lemme 'splain.
Jesus came during a premodern world system. What that was exactly is debatable since there couldn't be enough cohesion in the world for it to have one single system anyway - and histories don't deal with world epistemologies. But the system in place in the Jewish world at the time was a glom of several world systems, all corrupt and all oppressive. Once Jesus did His thing, something changed. His strange pov really threatened Worldly hierarchy systems because it was not rude, condescending and oppressive, so they were very suspicious of Him and His followers.
Then came Constantine. He turned The Gospel into another World system - Authoritative Direct Revelation. Once again people were oppressed and harmed (we were just as rude and condescending as the corrupted Jewish Leaders of Jesus' day.) NOT BECAUSE OF THE GOSPEL but because of the worldly system that grew around it.
The oppressed people fought back (as academia) and challenged Christianity at the point of entry. Epistemology. How could we know that we know anything about God and His plan? They devised a new system of knowing - Reason and Scientific Inquiry - and told us that ours - Direct Revelation - was invalid.
We fought back by ADOPTING THEIR SYSTEM OF KNOWING and then using it to prove that Christianity was true. We thought we had them. But in reality they had us. Again, we used this system to oppress and harm people!
So they (academia) fought back again! They did it the same way, though this time they went in the opposite direction. Once again they invalidated all our systems of knowing - Reason and Direct Revelation - and told us that there is now NO reliable system of knowing. At all.
YOU ARE HERE ---> there is no valid system of knowing <---YOU ARE HERE
When I say "academia", I am referring to those who speak for the people we - the church - have been rude to for a very long time. Unfortunately, since we never really listened very carefully to what they were saying, that's where their voice has been heard.
Now!
SINCE we DO know that our Gospel is valid and it CAN be known, we have to figure out a way to stop being rude to those who we have been rude to and fulfill the Great Commission without once again earning the title of "oppressor" - and we did earn it.
At this point, anti-oppression or anti-rudeness is indeed GOOD NEWS! And that's how we can overcome this problem! By not using ANY system of knowing to oppress people. None! By delivering the Good News in the way Jesus intended it, instead of using some system which was devised to undermine and oppress the oppressor and which will only ensnare us in further polemic wars and prolong the problem.
Our task is to "let go" of the worldly systems of knowing that we have been using to hide our vulnerable and sensitive underbelly of Spirit. We can know Jesus and His work without using ANY worldly system of knowing. We can talk about it without being rude, condescending, arrogant or oppressive. We don't need to throw our weight around or argue or trade rhetoric or polemic or any of that other crap that they no longer listen to anyway! Jesus didn't do it that way. There is no need WHATSOEVER to "hang on" to that way of doing it.
The next "thing" I'm referring to cannot be grasped until we "let go" of our arrogant ways of talking about Jesus. The next "thing" is not another Gospel or another religion. It is another way of knowing that will leave less room for hiding arrogance and will make more room for expressing the sensitive and vulnerable movement of Spirit and will therefore be a better field for growing truly transformed human beings.
One last thing.
The reason that academia is ahead of us is because it takes The Church so long to remember how she adopted the present epistemology to begin with. We always think that this is the way Jesus did it. It takes 50-100 years to figure out that we have been had and that the current challenge must be answered.
Ironically, the reason that postmodernity dragged on so long is because it has also taken academia this long to figure out that they've backed themselves into a corner. Indeed some of them are still unwilling to admit it. I'm convinced that they are unwilling because of how hurt and angry they are at all the harm that's been done to them by oppressive systems of knowing and they are unwilling to submit to another form for knowledge. They are afraid. Afraid of us.
What will we do? What will we do when we take up the next form of knowing? Will we again figure out a way to use it to be rude jackasses? Hiding our vulnerability? Covering our sad, naked lack of transformation?
1 Comments:
so, i am finally getting back to this...conversation started by jason's post on the book hermenuetics of charity...enjoyed reading your 'concise version of postmodernity' and thanks for the comment about feeling my pain. what book by ken wilbur are you waiding through? i am often looking for fellow readers and wondered if you were interested in reading the hermenutics of charity and discussion it on line...email me and let me know...
thanks,susie
Post a Comment
<< Home