Wednesday, September 5, 2007

"Future-Ancient" as "Postmodern-Premodern"

Following up on the ridiculously long post from yesterday, consider this Part 1 of an introduction to my faith journey:

In describing this blog as "a [current] experiment with a future-ancient faith," there is one time period being avoided: the recent and not-quite-ancient past. This historical omission is intentional and reflects my uncomfortable relationship with the expressions of the Christian faith that have gained prominence in the last 300 years or so. My issue is not with the Christian faith however, rather it is with the expression it has taken as a result of modernity (For more, see yesterday's blog).


By turning biblical study and theology into sciences like any other, the Enlightenment project replaced subjective religious experience with cold scientific fact and declared faith as irrational. For those wanting to challenge this statement, I ask: why are apologetics so important, (because people need science to validate their faith), why MUST God have created the world in seven days (because that is what the Bible, as a scientific document, says God did), and why is theology such a divisive endeavor (because "I am right and you are wrong, my truth is the truth and I can objectively prove it to you ").

Turning faith into fact and needing proof before belief has corrupted the historical meaning of Christianity. My quest for a faith that rejects these modern influences is what has lead to this "ancient/future/premodern/postmodern" experiment. In the future and postmodern, I see a reaction against modernity and a desire to find Christ without the baggage of a universal, knowable, certain, and inherently positive understanding of "truth". In the ancient and premodern, I have found a faith devoid of such enlightened notions of truth.

In short, I find much value in the expressions of the Christian faith that are devoid of, and in reaction to, Enlightenment rationalism and it's idolic tendencies (again, see yesterday's blog).

Next Post:

Part 2 of my faith journey: "What is a postmodern faith?"

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