Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? by James Smith is a short intro to postmodernism, especially as it relates to the church. As I attempt to read the book of Romans for today, I am going through this book, hopefully to see how the ideas of postmodernism can enrich the way that the church reads Romans. This should interact well with reading Romans for the underlying narratives that Paul may have had in mind as his worldview basis.
I will cite a particuarly compelling quote that causes one to reflect on the nature of the church and the role that postmodernity may have in recalling the church to its God-ordained position as a missional community of people who are being transformed together for the glory of God.
Conceiving of Christian faith as a private affair betweent he individual and God–a matter of my asking Jesus to “come into my heart”–modern evangelicalism finds it hard to articulate just how or why the church has any role to play other than providing a place to fellowship with other individuals who have a private relationship with God. With this model in place, what matters is Christianity as a system of truth or ideas, not the church as a living community embodying its head. Modern Christianity tends to think of the church either as a place where individuals come to find answers to their questions or as one more stop where individuals can try to satisfy their consumerist desires. As such, Christianity becomes intellectualized rather than incarnate, commodified rather than the site of genuine community. (page 29)
Hopefully Smith will flesh out exactly how this relates the ideas of postmodernity, so that I can better see how Romans can be read more beneficially for today. Additionally, as it relates to my first post on starting points, it is important to note how the above ideas would affect not just our communal living, but our communal reading of Scripture. If church is more than just a place for individuals to satisfy their consumerist desires, then perhaps Scripture is more than just a book to get self-help from. Perhaps it can be read for what is: the revelation of the Triune God to men of Christ through the power of the Spirit.
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