Telling the Story of Redemption in Today's Unchurched, Postmodern World

[James Nored]

In 1979, Francois Lyotard wrote The Postmodern Condition, in which he recognized this seismic change that was sweeping across culture and philosophy. The postmodern condition “pertains to one’s awareness of the deconstructibility of all systems of meaning and truth.”[1] Postmodernism is a condition rather than a singular definition, for every system of meaning and truth is deconstructed, resulting in many different postmodernisms. This postmodern condition is at times called “postmodernity.” Postmodernity is the “the condition of being so exposed to plurality and otherness that one becomes conscious of the contingency of one’s own language, culture, and way of life.” [2] The pluralism of postmodernism leads to resistance of any overarching system of truth or meaning, which Lyotard famously calls the “death of the metanarrative.”[3]
 

The death of the metanarrative would seem to present a major challenge to Christianity, for the Christian story is a story which makes claims for all peoples at all times; however, James A. K. Smith correctly points out that Lyotard defines metanarratives not as grand stories, but as specifically modern stories that seek to legitimate themselves through the appeal to universal reason. For modernism, think here about the scientific worldview that seeks to eliminate God and anything that is spiritual as an explanation for any part of life and that replaces God/spirituality with physical explanations and reason. While most Christians would not see their faith as unreasonable or illogical, the Christian story “does not—at least within a broadly conceived ‘Augustinian’ tradition—claim to be legitimated by Reason, but rather trusted in faith.”[4] Some have, unfortunately, demonized postmodernism and equated modernism (which tends toward atheism and rejects faith as an explanation) with the Christian worldview. Neither postmodernism nor modernism is wholly good or bad. They are simply different expressions of culture. We have now, however, most definitely moved into postmodern culture as the predominant culture in the US, particularly amongst younger generations.

Thus, not only is a modern presentation of the gospel passé (and most evangelistic studies that are out there in our fellowship are thoroughly modern), but it potentially distorts the Christian story. Furthermore, the biblical story is made up of many local narratives which resist the totalizing tendency of modernism, giving voice in these local narratives to those with whom postmoderns are usually concerned—the oppressed, the poor, slaves, women, the marginalized, and minorities.[5]

 

Postmoderns actually love story (not logical syllogisms), and if there is one thing that a person today has the right to do is to tell his or her own story.A thoroughly postmodern version of the Christian story, however, would reduce the gospel to but one story among many, “violating” its universal claims Robert Webber rightly advocates a middle position that the Christian faith should be an expression of historic Christianity for the current era.[6] This presentation should emphasize postmodern concerns, questions, and values, while addressing modern issues that are still pertinent for today.

Though the Christian story is not entirely modern or postmodern, it is indeed a metanarrative, or grand story, albeit of a different kind—a metanarrative of faith.[7] I have called this grand story The Story of Redemption, which is also the title of an eight-week evangelistic Bible study that I have written.[8] The Story of Redemption is particularly well suited to tell the Christian story (or overall story of the Bible) to today's unchurched, postmodern world. Hundreds of people have gone through this study and been brought to faith. Why? Because when we actually tell this story to those who have not heard it, rather than just summarize it or give a few bullet points, it is powerful.

Of the evangelistic Bible studies that you have seen, have they been primarily modern or postmodern in their presentation?

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                [1] Kevin J. Vanhoozer, The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology (Cambridge: Campridge University Press, 2003).

 

[2] Ibid., 77. Alternatively, some authors define postmodernism as a world view, and postmodernity as a historical era. Heath White, Postmodernism 101: A First Course for the Curious Christian (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 11.

 

[3] Metanarratives have been oppressive, and postmoderns advocate replacing metanarratives with local narratives whose tellers are cognizant of their own perspective and respectful of others’ perspective. Postmoderns see the attempt to tell one story as violent exercise of power in which the voices of minority viewpoints are silenced.

 

[4] Myron B. Penner, Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2005), 125. See also James K. A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church, The Church and Postmodern Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 68.

 

[5] It is true that the biblical story has been used at times to oppress others. This would, however, constitute a misuse of the story and is the fault of sinful human beings. J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh, Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 83-91.

[6] Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 23-38. For a critique of Christian accommodation of postmodernism, see Millard J. Erickson, Paul Kjoss Helseth, and Justin Taylor, Reclaiming the Center: Confronting Evangelical Accommodation in Postmodern Times (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004). Millard Erickson’s “postpostmodernism” has some parallels to Webber’s approach; however, his analysis of postmodernism is much more negative than positive. Millard J. Erickson, Truth or Consequences: The Promise & Perils of Postmodernism (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 306-28. For an embrace of postmodernism by “postconservatives” see Grenz.

 

[7] For a discussion of the Christian story as a metanarrative, see Erickson, Truth or Consequences, 273-88.

 

[8] James Nored, The Story of Redemption, Second ed. (McKinney, Texas: PrintRight, 2010).