Preparing for audioconference on postmodernism

I've been thinking about how to structure our discussion on Monday night, and I want to give you a sense of how we'll engage in discussion so you can be thinking about the questions I'll be asking. We'll compare and contrast modernism and postmodernism by addressing four topics:

• the positive legacy of modernism
• modernism's darker side
• the positive aspects of postmodernism
• postmodernism's darker side

In each of the four categories we'll consider these positive and negative aspects in the wider culture and also in Christian congregations.

Martin Macaulay, the new mininster at East Taieri Presbyterian Church near Dunedin, recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree, and he graciously let me read the research essay he wrote for that degree. A lot of the essay focuses on the effect of postmodernism on the church in New Zealand. So you can imagine that it was very helpful for me.

Margin believes that Christians tend to respond in one of four ways to postmodernism:

• some view it as something to be resisted at all costs because it is an enemy to Christianity
• others affirm the objective truth of the Christian gospel while agreeing that modernism has some problems
• others study the postmodern culture and try to adopt strategies that speak into that culture, e.g. contextualize the gospel for its setting today
• and still others believe that a postmodern approach to Christianity is entirely appropriate and perhaps even more consistent with New Testament Christianity than modernism

In the audioconference on Monday we'll talk about what each of these responses look like in practice. And I would love it if each of you would do some thinking about where you stand with respect to these four responses and come to the audioconference prepared to talk a bit about your position.