Flattering News…

Laurie took a phone call today from a board member at A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls. They are interested in showing some of our photographic work from mid January through the end of March. We’re “bouncing off the walls” excited.

Book Report – The Next Reformation – Part Three

Subject: The Next Reformation, Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity, by Carl Raschke

Available Through: Discerning Reader

I’ve made it through the first chapter. Whew.

Dr. Rashke paints an eloquent picture of the “unholy alliance” of the church with “British evidentialism” and “Cartesian rationalism”; a picture that I think I’m at about the 50% level of grokking. I’ve a much better grasp of the etiology of schizophrenia than I do of either of the two concepts mentioned above, but what it boils down to for me is that the “evangelical church at large”, I’ll call it the eCAL, has hopped in bed with empiricism and gotten a little to frisky for it’s own good.

I’ve sensed such a thing before — the “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” sort of thinking, which is an apologetic approach that is really driven by the indended audience. Which I guess is the case with all apologetics. When we engage in a defense of our positions we generally walk right out onto the same field on which we are challenged.

Right now I’m sort of thinking ahead of the whole thing, what I’ve been interested in is finding some sort of approach to my faith that doesn’t claim empiricism, I gave that up when I became a beliver. If Christianity had an empirical basis faith would not be required and there would be a lot fewer denominations.

Dr. Rashke’s picture is grokked by me to describe an historic thought-context that both fueled and received the birth-pangs of the reformation. In some ways it got on the right track, none other than Luther gave us a great descriptive quote of the philosophy of the day, the “bitch-goddess Reason”. Hearing that descriptor made me think of the whore of Babylon, a love affair that was/is painfully destructive to the body.

This historic context of rationalism formed a reactive apologetic in the church, in other words the church started defending itself and in doing so changed the language by which faith in Jesus was described. The attack was “rational” (or fill in the blank), and so became the defense.

This are the sort of thoughts and understandings that are rattling around in my head as I begin to read chapter two.

Book Report – The Next Reformation – Part Two

Subject: The Next Reformation, Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity, by Carl Raschke

Available Through: Discerning Reader

In my first report I established two realities, 1) I’m not a scholar and 2) I’m interested in broad thematics. It’s important that these two realities be kept in mind by any readers, it’s also important to realize that I have a context. Much in the same way that one verse cannot be responsibly excerpted from scripture to create a theology, my words about a book cannot be responsibly exerpted from my life to create a characterization.

So here’s some broad thematic context: In my own struggle becoming a believer I found that it wasn’t the empiricism that convinced me of the reality of Jesus, it was the experiencing of a relationship.

Yesterday afternoon as I drove back from a meeting I called my supervisor, the Executive Director of the company I work for to report on the meeting. He was having a distracted afternoon and when I was finished reporting the outcome of the meeting he said, “Well, if you get lonely on the trip back give me a call, I’m not being very productive this afternoon.” Basically it was an invitation to shoot the bull. I said, “shoot, I’m lonely right now”, and we started talking. We ended up somewhere in the conversation telling the our stories of spiritual struggle…he and I are a lot alike in some ways, but different enough to be complimentary…one of the differences is that he grew up in a family in which Christianity was a core value, not just one of the pieces. We talked a bit about a committee that he was on with someone who was a bit of a baiter of Christians; I shared my own history of baiting Christians. I told him that one of my realizations about that time was that even then I had a relationship with God; I was angry with Him and arguing with His followers.

You just learned something else about the context of my life, I tell stories to make points. My point in telling that last story was to relay my reality that my conversion wasn’t an acceptance of one “biblical principle” after another finally culminating in an understanding that Jesus was truly the Truth. My conversion occurred the moment I turned the final corner wandering back home and saw my Father inviting me into His arms of love, acceptance and forgiveness.

Then I entered into a weird world, the modern church. Sort of a circus really to an outsider, which is what I was. Now I’m an insider that feels like an outsider. The reason it seemed a circus was that from my point of view there were hundreds of barkers standing around telling me that now that I believe in Jesus, for the best results I should believe in Jesus and ______ . Bark in the blank.

One Barker Said: Don’t go by experience, stand on the truth of scripture.

Another Barker Said: Come share this experience with me, then you’ll know the truth.

There were many more barkers, but the two paradigms I listed above fairly describe my dilemna, which is balancing scriptural truth with the deep emotional and spiritual experience of having a Father accept me into His arms. One barker said that a relationship with Jesus was quite rational, the other said that I should disengage the rational and simply experience Him. A false dichotomy was created, a schizophrenia of sorts, but I wasn’t mature enough in my walk with my hugging Father to discern the problem…so I hopped back and forth.

Where the heck is the book report I promised?

Here:

I’ve accomplished four pages of the first chapter, Dr. Raschke has already begun to address the threefold purpose of the book that he pointed to in the preface and I quoted in my opening post. To this point Dr. Raschke’s been painting the picture of postmoderism’s relationship with Christianity and giving some background for his contention that Christianity made its own unholy alliance with Cartesian rationalism and British evidentialism… Now I’ve got got to try to figure out what “Cartesian Rationalism” and “British Evidentialism” are…do any of you ever join me in thanking God for Google?

Already I see Dr. Raschke begin to describe the tension I feel standing between those two barkers, I’m excited…

It’s Probably Bigger Than I Can Reasonably Chew…

…but I’ve decided to blog my reading of a book I just received from Discerning Reader entitlted The Next Reformation and subtitled Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Posmodernity. It’s written by Carl Raschke, a philosopher with a Ph.D. from Harvard and currently a professor and chair of the department of religious studies at the University of Denver. He’s also been an adjunct faculty member at Mars Hill Graduate School. Essentially I’m creating a book review and the reason I think it’s bigger than I can “reasonably chew” is that I’m definately out of my depth, but it is something I want very much to learn about, so I will forge onward.

I am not a scholar, however I love to learn, think and teach what I’ve learned to others. I’m generally a generalist, (pun intended) meaning that I don’t much enjoy being immersed in the minutae of daily living and daily details. I like big, broad, sweeping thematic concepts. I look for themes and trends in things.

I ordered this book because I’ve read a bit about postmodernity as it relates to Christians and the church, and I’ve liked what I’ve read. I’ve also heard some rather strident objections to postmodern thinking from people whom I have great respect for over at Boar’s Head Tavern. I want to find some balance and understanding, and I’m too old, busy, married, careered and familied to go back to school. My “formal education” such as it was, has ended. But my “informal education” has been in process ever since my mother, an educator, taught me to read and took me to museums.

Dr. Raschke describes in his preface a similar experience with the church that I’ve had, upbringing in the more mainline denominational churches and some exposure to charismatic, non(or whatever)denominational…well, all of the fuzzy sorts of names that we attach to church today. His stated purpose for the book is as follows:

(1) To acquaint evangelical thinkers and ministers with what postmodernism really is and what postmodern thinkers-especially philosophers-have really said, as opposed to what the polemicists are telling us too glibly it is and says.

(2) To offer a historical analysis concerning how evangelical Christianity made its own unholy alliance with Cartesian rationalism and British evidentialism as far back as the seventeenth century, taking the wrong turn at a decisive juncture and thereby compromising the original spirit of the Reformation.

(3) To explore and suggest how embracing, rather than simply villifying, the postmodern turn in Western thought widens the prospects for evangelical Christianity to flourish once again as a progressive rather than reactionary force in the present day world.

I’ve long struggled with articulating an internal impression I have that the church and Christians approach God and their walk of faith analytically rather than relationally. I’ve also felt that our theological statements and expressions are so reductionistic as to define the undefinable…I’m hoping that this work will help me to understand and articulate my internal impressions.