"NO EXTRA CHARGE FOR FAST SERVICE"
That's one of the signs over the counter at the shop of my new cleaner. I smiled when I saw the sign. Half of the smile was due to the jovial way that this small-statured man of Asian ancestry went to find my suits from the rack. The other half of the smile was due to the reminder that people assume that service is an "add-on" and not the norm.
What is assumed at the cleaners is too often also assumed in the Church.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Premodern, Modern and Postmodern Thought: A General Comparison
PREMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
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