Remember Copernicus? He was the guy who dared to suggest that the earth was a round moving ball when the Bible clearly said that it was flat and stationary (e.g. Isaiah 5:26, Psalm 104:5, Joshua 10:13). Proponents of his views were made to recant or were burned at the stake for their heresy. Today, we moderns chuckle, but I wonder if there are perhaps “biblical truths” that we cling to today that fall into the same category. I wonder if some of what we cling to so desperately is actually keeping us from hearing what the Spirit is saying to the church in the midst of the postmodern condition.
For the church to hear the Spirit and to truly engage postmodernism we will have to get beyond merely tinkering with the paint job (i.e. changing the evangelistic program or the style of music used in worship, etc.) and revision and re-core our theology. This is a frightening prospect that might land some people in “heretical hot water,” but the salvation and well being of emerging generations is at stake. War, terrorism and violence threaten our children locally and globally. It is primarily a theological issue, before it is a political or military issue. It is time to ask some difficult theological questions.
What does the Bible say to us in our world of tumult and unprecedented change? Many people have ventured opinions. To say that there has been a plethora of recent publications on the subject of postmodernism would be an understatement! “Postmodernism” seems to have become the catchword of “relevant” Christian writing in the last few years. Much of the writing has been perceptive and challenging, although sometimes the sheer volume of it is enough to make one nauseous! So why write more? Isn’t the Bible enough? What is the truth of the Bible that God wants us to hear in our time?
THE BIBLE AND THE CHURCH
The Bible is a book arising out of a “pre-modern” era. Does it have anything to say to a postmodern culture? We believe that the message the Bible proclaims is for all generations in all places, but since it comes out of a particular time and culture, it is a tricky thing to ask, “What does the Bible say?” for a very different time and place. We can likely make the Bible say just about anything we want it to say. And once we think we have a corner on the truth of it we have to confess that there’s always more to it than we might at first have thought. Presumptuous as any answers may seem, we must take the risk of asking the question and exploring some possible answers.
The truth of the Bible is embodied in an alternative community, not in a ruling society. This is evident throughout both testaments. Firstly, it is embodied in the Hebrew people of the Old Testament. The descendants of Abraham were nomadic people without a permanent city. As a fledgling nation, God’s people often lived in a land that was either occupied territory or a mere “buffer zone” between the larger superpowers of the day: Assyria, Egypt and Babylon. The laws and prophets of the Old Testament constantly call this people to act as an alternative community to the prevailing order of the day. Although Israel had a king for a time, it is clear that this was not God’s ideal for them.
Jesus, God in human form, wandered the dusty paths of Palestine as a homeless prophet and gathered around himself a motley crew of disciples. The book of Acts and numerous letters tell the story of the church, called to be an alternative witnessing community of God. A community open to all peoples but standing in stark and prophetic contrast to the Roman power structures. For the first few hundred years of church history, followers of Jesus were a political threat to the establishment and were fiercely persecuted and martyred because they refused to pledge allegiance to the political, military and economic gods of the day. Christians were a persecuted, but growing minority.
Then at the beginning of the fourth century, in a strange twist of history, Christianity became the ruling power in western society. To make a long story short, Constantine, the Roman emperor, received a vision to use the cross on his soldiers’ shields in battle. They won a decisive victory and as part of the “deal” with the divine, Constantine turned the tables and made Christianity the religion of the empire. Now all citizens were to be Christians and people who were something else were persecuted!
Dissident groups have always existed and we have had the Protestant Reformation since then, but the model of “Constantinian Christendom” has continued to be the prevailing model for the Christian church in the western world. It is a model that assumes that Christianity is, or at least should be, the prevailing order for society and that this order must be maintained and protected through the established structures and powers of the day. Hence, in part, the pseudo-Christian civil religion that is so prevalent and powerful in the United States.
The truth of the Bible is a dynamic living story of faith, not a static propositional statement of faith. From Genesis to Revelation the story unfolds. It is the story of the interaction between people and their Creator. The truth is in its theological authenticity and integrity not in its repeatable and observable scientific facts. The climax of the salvation drama is a person who brings together the divine and the human. Truth is a person, not a doctrine. Jesus says, “I am the truth.”
The ancient creeds and subsequent theological statements have been created in response to various theological, political and social controversies of a particular time in history. We dare not snuff our noses at the centuries of church history, but we must also be careful to build on the only sure foundation, which is Jesus Christ, for future generations. We must ask some hard questions of ourselves. Do our modern theological statements express the truth of Scripture or are they more a reflection of a particular time and culture? Do our “family values” and “moral imperatives” actually come from the Bible or from our modern western culture based on Constantinian Christendom? Are we not reducing the truth of the Bible to mere human constructs by creating doctrines, creeds and statements and absolutizing them? This is a form of idolatry that leads to separation, self-preservation and violence.
THEOLOGY AND MINISTRY
Now, in postmodern times the established structures and powers of modernity are crumbling all around us. Christianity is no longer the religion in power. Christians are once again becoming the persecuted minority, the radical alternative, just as they were in the early centuries of the church. Some people mourn these changes, this loss of influence, and fight, quite literally, to preserve the status quo, but Christianity was never meant to be the religion of the powerful. It is a faith for those on the margins, for the weak and despised. It sounds foolish to the modern progressive mind, but then again, the “gospel is foolishness.”
Today, when emerging generations are confronted by statements and doctrines backed up by logical arguments and proof texts they cry out, “So what!” Statements created by middle-aged men miles or centuries away will not impress them as truth. Young people are increasingly seeing themselves as a marginalized people, victims of the modern establishment. People want to experience truth, they want to see faith in action. As Kenda Creasy Dean has put it, “Truth happens!”
So what is the alternative for our time? What kind of theology will lead us to the biblical vision of SHALOM for all humanity? Christian theology in a postmodern time needs to be radical, dynamic and relational.
Radical theology is a theology that goes “to the root,” i.e. it is based on the Bible and the lived theology of the early church before Christianity became the religion of the powerful. Radical theology does not necessarily follow the mainstream, but listens to the voices from the margins, just as Jesus did. It is not afraid to be “heretical” in the sense that heresy is a religious opinion that differs from the accepted dogma of the religious and/or political establishment. Radical theology is a “voice crying in the wilderness” for peace and justice for the oppressed.
Dynamic theology is one that is forged in the crucible of the present time, in our case, in the midst of the postmodern milieu. The Bible does not claim to house an unchanging truth. It proclaims a truth that penetrates hearts and transforms lives and communities. The truth of the Bible is a living word that moves and takes shape as God’s people rely on the Holy Spirit to discern what God is saying to them for the present time.
Relational theology focuses on right relationship with God rather than right doctrine. The primary concern is the biblical vision of SHALOM: for people to be in right relationship with God, with each other and with creation. Whether all the doctrinal ducks are in a row is of secondary importance and not ultimately essential for right relationship. Relational theology is more about moving towards a centre and less about defining boundaries. Thus a relational theology will be forged in faith communities committed to nonviolence and peacemaking.
One of the things that we must do to begin to revision our theology for postmodern times is to ask some hard questions as has been attempted here. It is a frightening task and we are finite and fragile, but the fragmentation and violence of our world, the quest for God’s truth and the assurance of God’s love urge us on. So let the inquisition begin!
Gareth Brandt teaches theology and spirituality at Columbia Bible College.
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