Transcript Slide 1
Living Under the Reign of God: Gospel, Church & Culture in a Postmodern Context Baptist Bible College December 2004 The London Eye Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster The Enlightenment: 17th to the Middle of the 20th Century 1. Immanence takes precedence over transcendence... 2. Light of reason dethroned the church as the source of authority… 3. Revolution in philosophy - Bacon, Descartes, Kant… 4. Revolution in science - Aristotle overturned, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton... Modernity/Enlightenment 1. Era of conquest and control 2. Age of the machine 3. Age of reason/analysis 4. Age of secular science – process and progress 5. Aspired for absolute of objectivity Modernity/Enlightenment 6. 7. 8. 9. Age of critical evaluation Modern nation-state organization Age of individualism/autonomy Age of Protestantism institutional religion 10. Age of capitalism/consumerism Postmodernity Early Nineteen Sixties to the Present 1. Universe Not Self-Contained * 2. No Basis for Morality and Values 3. Progress Not Inevitable * 4. No Basis for Truth * 5. Language of Public Debate Lost * 6. Meaning of Written Texts Lost 7. Limited Autonomy/Process Multiculturalism - Pluralism 1. Diversity - Tower of Babel to the final rebellion under the lawless man... 2. Tolerance - aspect of common grace that renders community/society possible… 3. Postmodern - rejection of standards to make truth judgments about culture, religion, values... Crisis in America’s Worldview 1. The Death of Modernity – the death of the positive dynamic of the Enlightenment has been in process since the mid 1960ies 2. The Rise of Postmodernity – the impact of the new worldview taking over the soul of America 3. The Present Crisis of Terrorism & Moral Disintegration Impact of Terrorism & Multiculturalism 1. September 11 – optimism lost 2. War in Iraq – circa 1,271 dead 3. San Francisco – circa 4,000 same sex marriages 4. Debate in Massachusetts, New York, Oregon –same sex marriage 5. Mayor Daily of Chicago, Mayor Bloomberg of New York 6. Gay Episcopal Bishop Postmodernity 1. Multiculturalism - new agenda, social pragmatism... 2. Globalization - every culture has its story…no overarching story to bind all the cultural stories together… 3. Mass Media - agenda of the media elites… 4. University - ensconced at all levels... 5. Political Arena - agenda for education... Living Under the Reign of God: Gospel, Church & Culture in a Postmodern Context The End Session One