Pomo IV

Evangelical Christianity benefited greatly from modernism. Both arose out of the 18th century. Modernity was decidedly anti-Christian in it's praxis, yet evangelicalism shared many common features with it. In particular they shared an epistemological outlook that was "scientific" and rational: authority.

For two hundred and fifty years Evangelicals have benefited from a culture that talked in terms familiar to us. So the focus of much of our attention has been the authority and reliability of the scriptures. Postmodernism, however, is not as interested in authority. It understands such claims as a nasty meta narrative - a powerplay.

What do we as the church do. It is a very easy temptation to forget about the reliability and authority of the bible. This would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater (we don't believe in biblical authority because of cultural convenience). But rather than shouting "I am the way, the truth and the life" louder and louder at post moderns, there is a trilogy of ideas central to contemporary postmodernism that also important in Christianity: authenticity, justice and community. It's these three ideas that we shall explore next.