"Post-modernism is the new black"

I really hate to steal someone else's title, but it was too good.

It's a tradition I inherited from my father - reading the latest issue of the Economist every time I ride a plane. It's wonderful, really. It's an education. I am told that to study for the United States Foreign Service Exam, one should read each issue from cover to cover. I walk away with the feeling that I "really" know what's going on, which is good ammunition for Washington. Agree or disagree with their positions, they do argue their points clearly and logically, which is more than I can say for most publications.

My favorite article this time, somewhere in the air between Orlando and Dulles, was called "Post-modernism is the new black." With an ironic tone, it examines capitalism's response to post-modernism. The founders of post-modernism were socialists, and capitalism was one of the "meta-narratives" it attempted to deconstruct. (Of course, they were no friends of the communist meta-narrative either)

In so many ways, post-modernism is beautiful. It naturally appeals to me. It's a philosophy where everyone gets to make up their own dance. There's real independence without real expectation on people. It's quite selfish in some ways, but given it was born in Europe in the 1940s, this was better than the alternative. Every other philosophy - religious, political, psychological - seemed to have contributed to the two wars, needlessly killing millions. How appealing to forget about who's right and stop fighting! It's still appealing as the grand narratives of "democracy" and "fundamentalist Islam" are killing each other based on beliefs. Would it not be better if we just stopped believing? In some ways, it seems we'd live much easier lives. So says post-modernism, which criticizes every belief, every "meta-narrative" from Christianity to Freudianism to Nazism to Capitalism, meticulously deconstructing everything the ancients took for granted. They criticize as only the French and the Germans could.

Yet one of the grand narratives, says the Economist, has succeeded in embracing post-modernism for its own propagation. As belief has become less important, at least in any corporate sense, everyone has started to dance their own dance. And capitalism has responded. Everyone has a "will not to be governed." Everyone is "the artist of his/her own life." And there are all sorts of products that go with this. (Blogs being one of them) I wonder if this is best demonstrated by a commercial I saw many times last year (and honestly enjoyed). A cell phone company was advertising a combination phone and MP3-player. What is more post-modern than that? Don't give me your stuffy old definitions of what phones must do and how pop-music must be heard! Our generation can do anything it wants. Wer'e our own artists, thankyaverymuch. So the commercial shows a young, incredibly hip looking woman being "the artist of her own life." Walking down city streets, she listens to some awesome "chick-rock." She walking in a normal, confident manner. But every time she passes a mirror, her reflection (or in other scenes, her shadow) is dancing in a way that made me desire to be as free as her. Perhaps an MP3-phone could help.

You are your own person, and there's a product for each of you out there to help you express that. You are your own niche-market.

This is different than a lot of Christians I have met. I've worked in missions and associated with missionaries, many of whom feared post-modernism. When belief is viewed as un-important at best, or dangerous at worst (watch the movie Downfall and you'll understand why many Germans aren't too keen on believing in anything), it makes spreading Christianity different. Christianity is a meta-narrative. It claims God stepped into the world to save us from our own selfishness. It claims if we follow him we can act more like him and we will be able to live in a state of eternal peace. Following is not very post-modern. It means letting someone else be the artist of your life. When someone else is the artist of your life, he can paint some unpleasant pictures. Popes used his narrative to lead others on crusades against Muslims, killing un-told thousands. And we ask why religion is so un-appealing.

Thus, so many Christians face post-modernism with a sort of gravity soldiers must get when they must face bullets. With modernists, one could at least have arguments. One doesn't know where to begin with a "pomo."

Yet, I wonder if by embracing capitalism, many parts of the American Evangelical church have ministered in a post-modern way. "What's Jesus for you?" is a common question. It kind of sounds like "what can brown do for you?" What is God doing in your life? In a previous blog, I considered Saddleback's niche-market worship services. We can almost be the artists of our own church service!

Let's now consider how much of this is a good thing. I love how it opposes uniformity. Christianity is open to many different kinds of people, kinds of worship and kinds of gifts. There's no exclusive priesthood, even though a professional priesthood (or clergy, if you prefer) is necessary. Many parts, one body. We're often accused of being exclusive. Yet post-modernism reflects Christianity in this way: everyone gets to dance, everyone gets to play along. Your color, gender, and background, under this grand narrative of the dying-God, doesn't matter. We were pomo before pomo. Moreover, it has taken evangelism away from the argument and the track and more to the individual. It is forcing us Christians to know and love our un-believing friend. There is little converting from a distance with post-moderns, and those of us who have ministered to pomos are better for it.

There is, as always, some danger. CS Lewis often warns that each age is susceptible to certain lies, and that the members of each age need to compare notes with other ages (he recommends reading old books at least as often as you read new ones). Inclusiveness can give way to individualism, to selfishness. Many observers rightly note that many churches have lost the real sense of community they once had. When you are selfish, the church, the Bible and the needy become as important as my mp3-player. I go to church, read my Bible, pray and give to the needy based on my feelings. These are the food of Christianity. I need my Christian brothers and sisters as I need nourishment. I starve when I don't read my Bible. I get lost in myself when I don't pray. I lose out when I don't give to the needy - be it my own, relatively unimportant possessions (even now I fail to believe this completely!) or the eternal gift of the Gospel.

I go to a church that in some ways is less post-modern. Yes, it does give me ways to serve in ways that may suit me more than others, and the church itself may be a niche-group as many of us are in the same stage in life. But the worship service forces me to participate with other people. As hard as it is for a person who cherishes his freedom and independence to admit, I am not the artist of my own life, and I am better for it. God, through my brothers and sisters, through scripture, through prayer and through sharing, is painting a picture infinitely more beautiful than I could on my own. He constantly overcomes my resistance to it, and at my best, I rejoice.