New Kid on the Blog

Sixteen days straight without missing a post, some kind of record, except when I had that blog madness a year or so ago and posted lots and lots and lots and lots etc Not that I'm getting a huge number of comments on this series of books - obviously not firing the popular imagination.... But, this is what I've committed myself to and I am nothing if not stupid, I mean, committed. Today's choice is a bit of heavy theology Actually 'truth is stranger than it used to be' is more philosophy than theology, I think, and if someone wants to pick me up on that definition, then the comments section is open for business anytime! But this book looks at cultural shift and the features of the societal change and 'world view' often termed 'postmodernity'. About which I did a whole load of posts starting here . I do enjoy thinking about this subject, though I realise that some disagree with the very concept of 'the postmodern', but I don't think we ca...

Continuing my NaBloPoMo trek through a few faves, or ones I want to read, here is today's offering: Prolific as he is, Coupland seems to sum up current 20/30 something mentality perfectly. I started reading his stuff as part of my 'Postmodernity' module on my MA and have picked up a number of his novels which I have enjoyed and which give some insight into contemporary culture. Generation X is a good one to start with in terms of getting to grips with cultural shift whilst still being entertained, but JPod is one of his latest - slightly more surreal than other ones I've read, and more self-referential (perhaps this is a postmodern thing) he even appears frequently as one of the protagonists, weaving himself into the story by meeting the main character in some unlikely settings and variously stealing information from the main character by taking his laptop and personal files as the story progresses. It's all based around a group of games programmers who work tog...

This thought is really in response to what Jeff said in a comment on yesterday's post, i was going to respond in a comment of my own but decided to post this instead as the comment was getting longer and longer... In saying that we need to be creative and relate to people's experience I'm not trying to put sermons and liturgy against worship, but to remember that they are a part of worship not the whole of it. I agree totally with what Jeff writes in his comment, that worship is not just about what happens in Church, and I believe that worship is about a pattern of life in which all that we do gives glory to God. I think, though, that the Church is making itself less and less relevant by continuing to buy into a word bound culture that is a product of post enlightenment thinking. People were astounded by Jesus teaching but were, it seems to me, drawn into faith by the way he lived, died and rose again as well as what he taught. It was the whole package. Likewise Jesus d...

For those hoping for a blueprint for a pm church, I am going to have to disappoint you! Or for solutions to the malaise of the 'modern church' you will have to look elsewhere. I have recently been challenged and inspired by the book 'the out of bounds church' by Steve Taylor, which looks at the potential for creating living Christian communities in a changing world. Also, in a variety of reading over the last few years i have been equally inspired by the opportunities that societal change makes possible, and whilst not wanting to dump wholesale the 'old' ways of being church, i long to explore new ways of being Christ's followers in a pm age. My inspirations: church is relational, not rational - in fact that is the best way to think of Christian faith, it is not about accepting the right doctrines (though i believe doctrine is the anchor that holds faith secure - but i've warbled on about that before) but about knowing God through Jesus Christ and in ...

Of course, there is no one 'postmodern philosophy' or movement which people subscribe to. In fact the defining factor of our age is exactly that, we live in a society which contains a patchwork of belief, practice, understanding. When we consider what it is to say we live in a 'postmodern' (from now on i will say pm instead of typing 'postmodern' frequently!) world we are simply trying to examine the cultural situation, reflect on a changing world and put some shape to the results of that process. In 'who's afraid of postmodernism' there is a very good broad summary of the main thrusts of pm thinking as (to paraphrase the subtitle) - Foucalt, Derrida and Lyotard are taken to church (!). The three aspects are: suspicion of power & rejection of any attempt to proclaim one single unifying truth (metanarrative), examination of langauge and its power to oppress and imprison and an assertion that meaning and truth are relative and fragmented - there...

Have been trying to get my head around the whole concept of postmodernity/postmodernism, and admittedly not succeeded very well. What can't be denied (though i am sure there are plenty who will) is that Western culture is undergoing a radical shift in outlook - though there is some debate as to whether we are in the apex between two ways of understanding the world, at the end of one (modernity) or the beginning of another. Are we late modern, post modern, the malaise of the modern or what? Perhaps it would help to think a bit about what Modernity as a 'world view' is (very broadly speaking, i don't claim to be an expert). Modernity is a post-enlightenment, rational/reason based view of the world characterised by a belief in the constant progress of humanity through technology and reason, the growth of institutions, the elevation of reason and rationality and science and a sense of always moving forward towards ultimate truths. This is a woefully inadequate summary, b...