Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Book Blogging: Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? - Chapter 1
We’ve decided to read and discuss as a staff Jamie Smith‘s provocative new book Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (part of the new Church and Postmodern Culture series), with the added bonus of having Jamie join us for our discussions. Some key thoughts from chapter 1:
Key Statements By the Author
- ‘postmodernism’ (as a school of thought) vs. ‘postmodernity’ (as a cultural phenomenon): “[M]uch that is associated with cultural postmodernity is, in fact, the fruit of modernity. ... The individualism and consumerism that characterize contemporary culture are fruit nourished by deeply modern roots” (p.20, fn#8) (When I asked for a clarification in our discussion, Jamie said he would go so far as to call ‘postmodernity’ [especially the triumph of individualism and technology] simply ’hypermodernity‘.)
- “I’m simply replaying a Hebrew strategy, later adopted by Augustine and utilized by the likes of John Calvin and Abraham Kuyper: making off with the Egyptian loot. As Augustine put it in his Teaching Christianity (De doctrina christiana), just as the Hebrews left Egypt with Egyptian gold to be put to use in the worship of Yahweh (even if they misdirected its use at times), so Christians can find resources in non-Christian thought--whether that of Plato or of Derrida--that can be put to work for the glory of God and the furtherance of the kingdom. This book is an attempt to make off with the postmodern loot for the sake of the kingdom.” (p.22-23)
- “Postmodernism can be a catalyst for the church to reclaim its faith not as a system of truth dictated by a neutral reason but rather as a story that requires ‘eyes to see and ears to hear.‘ ... To put it another way, unless our apologetic proclamation begins from revelation, we have conceded the game to modernism. ... The church doesn’t have an apologetic; it is an apologetic.” (p. 28-29)
Key Questions I Have After Reading This Chapter
- How did the church capitulate so readily to modernistic ways of knowing and proving?
- How did the thinking of these three relatively obscure philosophers so broadly permeate popular thinking that their statements could be so widely caricatured and misunderstood (especially if postmodernity, the cultural phenomenon, is not actually a true echo of postmodernism, the intellectual movement)?
- In “making off with the postmodern loot,” how do we keep from simply picking and choosing what we like best from an author to suit our own purposes?
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