September 2, 2002
Rick Richardson, in his book "Evangelism Outside the Box," postulates a cultural shift in mindset that has occurred in our lifetime. Most of the following summarizes some of his thoughts. He feels that such a shattering shift may have occurred only three other times in the history of western culture. The first is classical based on the birth of the classical Greek mind around 469-400 by it’s central prophet Socrates. The second is called the medieval, as a result of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus at the dawn of the 1st century. The third is the modern era from which we are now emerging into post modernism. The birth of modern science at the trial and condemnation of Galileo characterized the modern era. His life spanned the years 1564-1642
The differentiating characteristic of all of these eras is the understanding of truth. For us who seek to speak of Jesus in this postmodern era the shift in the acceptance of truth is of fundamental importance. In medieval culture truth was religious and universal. For us of the modern generation truth is based the observation and collection of data through the senses as well as the inner reflection on this empirical data. Truth thus is scientific and universal and the questions about faith demanded data driven proof. That is proof about God’s existence and logical arguments for his involvement in our world. These logical, scientific and analytical approaches to the answers to people’s questions were and are effective in speaking to the modern mindset.
To the postmodern, truth is experiential and personal or communal. People aren’t looking for absolutes or universal truth. Rather for truth that is real, that resonates with their lives, their experiences and the experiences of their community.
The challenge for the church is to be this kind of community. A community where our lives, our words and our feelings all line up both inside its doors and out in the whole community where we live. This will appeal to modern and postmodern alike.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
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