Monday 7/2
7:30 Goo Goo dolls concert 36.50 (17.75 per student) Starlight theater
Friday 7/13
6:30- ? Casino night @Ameristar meet @ Ameristar Casino entry
Wed. 7/18
6:00pm Unity Temple on the Plaza (midweek service) 47th & Jefferson
Friday 7/20
9:45 Comedian Michael Winslow (10-20 range) Stanford & Son (Village West)
Mac’s house in DeSoto – meet @ 8:00
Saturday 7/21
6:30-11 X-Men film fest No cost
Friday 7/27
6:30 XBOX live game experience Pizza kick-in –5.00 Mac’s house in DeSoto
Saturday 7/28
12-3:00 Leedy-Voulkos
Art center 2012 Baltimore Meet for lunch @ Souperman’s @ noon – 1724 Main
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Thomas Hohstadt - on what comes after PostModernism
THE "HOLY GRAIL" OF POSTMODERNISM
Most would-be futurists cling to the "Holy Grail" of postmodernism. They blindly adhere to every novelty of this philosophical fad. In fact, the very definition of the "emerging church" includes this philosophy—or, what many now consider, this failed philosophy.
No doubt, something needs to challenge the harmful excess of modern thinking. Something needs to question the manipulating self-interests of our small worlds. Something needs to expose the distortion of our rhetoric, the slant on our slang, the leanings of our lingo. And, something needs to refuse the arrogance of our "God in a box."
But, with too many gullible postmodernists, "One enormously precious baby was tossed with tons of unpleasant bathwater."1
Postmodernism, after all, angrily rejects the modern past. It arrogantly "deconstructs" a "truthful" present—especially everybody else’s truth!—and it cynically proposes a hopeless future. In short, Truth—with a capital "T"—no longer exists: "Absolute truth is an illusion and one interpretation is purportedly as good as any other."2
Yet, the claims of postmodernists get a little embarrassing. Their "authoritative announcements" that "there is no authority" get a little befuddled. After all, "To say there are no absolutes is in itself absolute."3
But postmodernists ignore these inconsistencies. "Truth is whatever you want it to be, it’s whatever suits your purpose." In other words, "You do your thing, and I’ll do mine." Their "new world," then, becomes an anarchy of endless private opinions—a sea of disconnected dots. So a "move of the Spirit" easily becomes lawless license. An "anointing" often becomes knee-jerk reflex. And a "manifestation of God" usually becomes one more psychological condition.
Still more embarrassing, "postmodernism" has already come and gone. This fad is about the death of the past, and the past has already past! "Postmodernism is so yesterday . . . To deconstruct everybody else’s ideas . . . just (isn’t) any fun anymore."4
Obviously, we live in a "post-modern" period, but we must not confuse it with "postmodernism." Something else has already replaced this fleeting philosophy.
There are profound implications, for example, beyond mere subjectivity. There are vast worlds of prophetic visions, inspired revelations, and vicarious beauties far more significant than mere opinions, self-made notions, or selfish beliefs. There is even a language beyond language that transcends us, language itself, and the culture in which it "speaks."
Truth, after all, is autonomous. It’s not something we create—it’s something we encounter. It’s a "not us." It has an "is-ness" or existence prior to our interpretation. And, it has self-evident signs and self-authenticating tests that differ, for the most part, from the "proofs" we’ve misused for so many years.
In short, wiping the slate clean removes neither God nor His Truth.
READING LIST:
Books to read=
*The 4th Turning (Strauss & Howe)
*The Next Christendom (Jenkins)
*The Forgotten Ways (Hirsch)
*Listening to the beliefs of Emerging Churches (ed.- Webber)
make sure you start with Strauss & Howe
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