Post-modernity

I have been discussing the topic of post-modernity with colleagues from many religious backgrounds.

You might be aware of the cultural phenomenon of post-modernity if not its philosophical underpinnings.

Trying to describe or approximate post-modernity as a philosophy or culture is no easy task. Just type it into wikipedia and you will see what I mean.

But as everything else we know little about , it creates fear or distance.

For many of those I speak with, the arrival of post-modernity is a portent of all that is evil and dangerous about our world.

I would offer a more modest assessment : It is simply the context of the world in which we live, thus filled with possibilities and dangers like any other context. ( taken from the thoughts of Tim Keel. Read more in his book “Intuitive Leadership”)

Modernity

Modernity was a time of grand narratives about the nature and destiny of humans freed from the constraints of ignorance and superstition. Under such themes, Western civilization sought to colonize both the natural and intellectual world, unifying it into classifiable systems by reducing material existence into distinct, separate and easily identifiable categories.

Knowledge was broken down into disciplines or fields of inquiry.

People and populations were likewise identified, reduced, and categorized, whether by race or class or the combination of both.  The occupation and exploitation of foreign lands and native populations, called “colonialism” emerged in modernity as most European countries sought to expand boundaries and secure resources.

Theology + modernity = true

In the wake of the protestant reformation, religious authority and structures became tied to emerging nation states.

State sponsored churches were in many cases the forerunners of  what we now know as denominations.

Theologians systematized theology(Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, ecclesiology etc) in much the same ways scientists systematized the natural world. Intelligence was given a measurable quotient.

Merchants produced and distributed goods and resources mechanistically, that is, by assembly lines in factories and via efficient, modern transportation systems. It goes without saying that those in control of the systems and structures that framed and supported modernity wielded enormous power.

What did modernity cost ?

And how are we now to live, engage and relate to a postmodern world and reality?

Read part 2 here ; Modernity, the cost?

“Children do not first and foremost think of a dad or mum as lawgiver and judge.

Children are interested in ensuring that dad is a dad, that mum is mum”

Irenaeus understanding is that we are in a family relationship. We are in a close relationship with God that exists around us and in us.

Read more about Ireneus here

I recently finished reading 3 books on biblical authority ( Bibelsyn och Bibelbruk by biskopsmötet 1964, Bibeltolkningens problematik by Sven Ingebrand and Texter och tolkningar by tryggve Kronholm, all in swedish).

I have since then been exploring the topic also in other spheres of our world like here on the web. I came over a fantastic article by N T Wright, called ; How Can the Bible be Authoritative? I found it through Rob Bells “Velvit Elvis” If you have 16 minutes today and you want to read a short and brilliant piece about the bible, about why and how it has Authority this is what you should read.

Rob Bell writes the following about it:

“The best thing I have ever read about the Bible is a transcript of a lecture given by the British Scholar N. T. Wright called….”( the above article)

Here is a sample;

Todd Hunter took over the leadership of Vineyard after John Wimber passed away. He has now founded a new organisation called “3hreeisenough.” He is also working with the Emerging Church in different ways.

In an interview with Next-wave was asked about Vineyard and John Wimber;

What was the most important thing you learned from John Wimber (one of the key founders of the Vineyard movement)?

That the Kingdom of God was the main message of Jesus and the main reality in which Christians are to walk and invite others. Christian life is “eternal life” and that life starts now.

I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: “real life…life, life and more life to come”. It is life derived from and lived in the Kingdom God by the power of the Holy Spirit—in a way that others experience as for their good, especially the least, the last and missing. And…that pursuing this kingdom life necessitates risk and learning—especially on the part of leaders. There is a reason the disciples sometimes came off as nerds or dummies in the New Testament—they took the risk of walking a totally unknown road—life in the kingdom.

Being a Pastor in a Vineyard church, I often get the questions; what is Vineyard? What are your values? And what is unique about you, or what is Vineyards emphasis? What is makes Vineyard different?

As an answer to these questions,I will for the next couple of weeks write a few thoughts about Vineyard as a worldwide denomination, but I will also narrow it down to Gothenburg Vineyard. I will look at the values, the doctrines and give a presentation and comment on them.

In Alexander Venters book; “doing Church” he tells some of the thoughts behind the early beginnings of Vineyard as a movement. When John Wimber first started the Vineyard movement one of the factors that strongly influenced John Wimber, was his commitment to be relevant to the generation of his day. They included the postwar generation born between 1945 and 1965.