These famous words were asked of Jesus by Pilot during the last few hours before his crucifixion. I think Pilot was a postmodern.
I’ll be the first to admit that this post is not by any means the norm within the Christian Church at this moment in time. But I feel as though I need to get it out there: I am a postmodern Christian. And I’m not referring to the time period in which I’m living.
I am, for all practical purposes, a Christian who also holds to a postmodern worldview. Now of course, I cannot be a pure postmodern in every single sense of the term and still be a Christian…that would make me a walking contradiction (thank-you Greenday) which by my judgment is what postmodernism ultimately is anyways.
Let me explain myself:
My postmodernism shows itself primarily in two ways: (1) my cross-cultural sensitivity which prevents me from applying my cultural norms/expectations on, say, the bushmen of Africa. (2) I’m not convinced that we can know truth. And that’s where the fire storm begins…
Humanity is totally depraved – that is, we’re not perfect. In fact we have a natural inclination to hate God and distance ourselves from other people – we’re always thinking about ourselves. This is the inheritance we received as a result of the sins of Adam and Eve. Our whole being has become tainted with sin, created a sort of barrier between us and God. What this means to me is that whatever we observe or learn is not really the thing we are observing. It may be really close, but it’s not actually the thing itself (I believe one of the great philosophers said something like this, but I can’t remember which one).
Sure, you can appeal to God’s grace and talk about how that has redeemed humanity and therefore allows us know truth. I agree with that too, but I see the truth that we do know as being extremely limited…and still not a perfect picture of the truth. What truth do I hold to? I know that God is; I know the Jesus was His son yet also equally God; I know that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected making the salvation of those who believe possible; and I know that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works.
Christian theology – of any school – is much more expansive than what I just mentioned. I have my own preferred theology: Calvinism. But I will never say that I believe I know everything beyond a doubt.
How does this play out? I see this idea as placing a tremendous focus on the role of faith. On a certain level, I see faith as knowledge without completely proven facts. That shouldn’t cheapen what it is. Instead, what it does for me at least is it forces me realize that I don’t have all the answers. But something inside of me (the Holy Spirit?) convicts me that what I believe – what I have faith in – is what I need to believe. For me, this places the emphasis firmly on salvation by grace through faith…
Filed under: Christianity, Philosophy, Theology
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