I just finished reading "Who's Afraid of Postmodernism: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church", by James K A Smith. This little book (only 146 pages) has so many tastey insights that it is hard to know which to highlight. The first part of the book is dedicated to giving the post-modern philosophers Derrida (there is nothing outside the text), Lyotard (incredulity toward metanarratives) and Foucault (power is knowledge) a fair hearing. Smith shows how each philosopher adds something positive that can help the church discover its rightful mission - hence Smith suspicions that post-moderism can help the church break out of the modern iron cage (rationalism, scientism, etc).
But the most fascinating part of the book is his attempt at the end to engage the emergent church and its attempt to reform the church. There is a real danger of letting the "postmodern culture" set the stage for the gospel; in other words, just trying to update the church in postmodern form instead of modern form. "Our understanding of what it means to be the church," Smith writes, "must be shaped by the priority of revelation and the Christian tradition, not what (even) a postmodern culture needs or is looking for" (p. 126). Instead, the church needs a recovery of new ways of thinking, living, practicing the faith, basically by going behind modernism and finding the rich resources of the pre-modern church.
Hence postmodernism provides a catalyst for the church to push back past Kant (rationalism)and past Descartes (a thinking mind) and back to a full engagement with the heart. Christians, Smith says, must become "proper materialists" - that is fully engaged with "flesh and blood" liturgy that engages the hearing, sight, sound, touch, smells, etc. New forms of liturgy and arts becomes important for a flesh and blood community to sustain its worship.
Too many insights to struggle with all at once. I simply pray that God gives us the insight, wisdom, and courage to see that the church has another window of opportunity to discover herself and bring good news to a world that desperately needs it.
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2 comments:
how amazing, i just finished reading that book as well. maybe we should start a book club???
What if God has given us us the insight, wisdom, and courage to see that the church has another window of opportunity to discover herself and bring good news to a world that desperately needs it...and it doesn't involve the things that the American dream is made of?
Is the up and coming trend only about offering another alternative to the consumers who are not buying our product? or is the next right thing to do... it's hard to tell sometimes. (I do know that financial feasibility often plays way to big of a role in the execution of that which seems to fit with a flesh and blood community.)
On another note..."Susie" makes a great suggestion. Can I suggest ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH ?
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