I. COURSE DESCRIPTION

Transcription

1 TH Christianity and the Postmodern World Fall Term 2010 Tuesdays 1:15PM 4:15PM Dr. Richard Lints ( RLints@gcts.edu) Office Hours Monday Afternoon, Wednesday Morning I. COURSE DESCRIPTION We live in a post-christian and religiously-ambiguous culture, which is now by consensus referred to as Postmodernism. Our culture expresses an open hostility towards traditional forms of Christian faith while also being open to many forms of radical religious movements and a renewed pagan spirituality. It is profoundly committed to a deep pluralism and yet is ambivalent about how wide that pluralism extends. Its central thinkers have trumpeted the death of the self and the irrelevance of God. It is increasingly wrestling with its global identity as well. This course will begin by charting the origin of postmodernism in the thought of Frederick Neitzsche as well as in the ideological and social revolutions of the 1960s. These revolutions inevitably led to a loss of a world out there to be discerned and interpreted. Along the way both God and the self were reduced to mere imaginative constructs which could be socially manipulated for purposes of power and politics. The course will also examine themes across a wide swath of contemporary concerns from the impact of globalization upon the missionary identity of the church, to the clash of world cultures in postmodern times. The specific theological themes of anthropology will also be evaluated in the light of postmodern pressures. Finally the course shall sketch some strategies for faithfully thinking and living out the Christian faith in these postmodern times. The church has finally realized that it will ignore the postmodern world at its own peril. II. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Students are required to complete the required reading list below. A list of the extra reading should be turned in as well. In addition the student shall prepare a brief reading report (Th.M students are to write five page reports, M.A. / M.Div students are to write two page reports) on four primary readings from the course. Students are encouraged to participate in one of the two in-class presentations ( Religion in the Public Square Debate, or the Emergent Church Movement discussion). The final requirement shall consist of writing a theological paper, (Th.M students are to write pages in length, M.A. / M.Div students are to write a page paper) which shall interact seriously and reflectively with one of the figures and/or themes of the course. The final paper shall count as 80 percent of the final grade. The reading reports (presentations) and reading requirement shall count as 20 percent (4 points for each report turned in on time, 2 points for reports turned in late, 4 points for completing the required reading) of the final grade. Participation in a student presentation is worth 5 extra points. Due dates for the reading reports are listed below and the final papers are due on Dec 21 unless you are graduating. Due date for the final paper for January graduating seniors is Dec 10.

2 III. REQUIRED TEXTS 1. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 2. Richard Lints, Progressive and Conservative Religious Ideologies: The Tumultous Decade of the 1960s (Ashgate, 2010) 3. Either: a. Richard Rorty, Objectivity, Relativism and Truth (Cambridge 1992) (required - ch. 1 Introduction, ch. 2 Solidarity or Objectivity, ch. 5 Pragmatism without method, ch. 10 Representation, social practice and truth, ch. 12 The priority of democracy to philosophy and ch. 13 Postmodernist bourgeois liberalism. b. Michel Foucault, Power/ Knowledge (Pantheon Books, 1980) (required ch. 3, 5,6, 7, and 11). 4. Articles: Richard Rorty, Religion in the Public Square and NicholasWolterstorff, An Engagement with Rorty (On CAMS) 5. Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity? (Eerdmans, 2003) 6. Leslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks (Eerdmans) 7. John Franke, Manifold Witness (Abingdon, 2009) IV. Due Dates for Reading Reports 1. Friedrich Nietzsche Sept Richard Lints Oct 26 (??) 3. Richard Rorty Oct 5 4. Michel Foucault Oct 5 5. Richard Rorty and NicholasWolterstorff Oct Lamin Sanneh Oct Leslie Newbigin Nov John Franke Nov 23 V. Presentation Panels Religion in the Public Square (Oct 19) Rorty/Wolterstorff articles 2 students describing/defending Rorty 2 students describing/defending Wolterstorff Emergent Church Movement (Nov 23) John Franke, Manifold Witness 1 student describing Emergent Church 1 student describing concept of Manifold Witness 1 student taking issue with concept of Manifold Witness 1 student answering, How should the church deal with diversity? V. Recommended Background Texts Harvey, David, The Condition of Postmodernity (Blackwell, 1989) Woods, Tim, Beginning Postmodernism (Manchester Univ Press, 1999) Penner, Myron, Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views (Baker, 2006) Stan Grenz, Primer on Postmodernism (Eerdmans, 1998)

3 VI. WARNING ON PLAGIARISM Helpful guidelines on plagiarism can be found on the Indiana University website listed below. This document has the official recognition of the Gordon-Conwell faculty and provides very helpful tools to guide you as you prepare your papers/exams. In order to save paper, we ve provided you with the website address: Please consider this carefully. VII. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS To protect the professor s intellectual property rights with regard to classroom content, students are asked to refrain from audio and video recording of classes, as well as audio, video, and written publication (including internet posting and broadcasting) or live transmission of classroom proceedings. VIII. INTERNET USAGE Students are asked to refrain from accessing the internet at any point during class sessions, unless otherwise instructed by the professor. Surfing the web, checking , and other internet-based activities are distracting to other students and to the professor, and prevent the student from fully participating in the class session.

4 Outline of the Course Week One Naming Ourselves Modernity/Postmodernity; Modernism/Postmodernism Week Two The Beginnings of the Revolution The Legacy of Nietzsche The End of Ideology?? (Nietzsche The Anti-Christ) Week Three Early Movements of Postmodern Protest The Civil Rights Movement and Black Theology The Sexual Revolution and Feminist Theology The Death of God and the rebirth of Spirituality Vietnam and the Birth of the New Left (Lints-Progressive and Conservative Ideologies) Week Four Postmodernism in the Academy Rorty and the Death of Foundationalism Foucault and the Archaeology of (Post)Modernity Derrida and Deconstruction Postmodernism and Postmodernity (Rorty, Objectivity and Foucault, Power Knowledge) Week Five Religion in the Postmodern Public Square Student Presentation - Religion in the Public Square Debate (Richard Rorty and Nicholas Wolterstorff articles) Week Six - Postmodernity and Hypermodernity Globalization and Pluralism Global Church Realities Postcolonial Christianity (Sanneh-Whose Christianity) Week Seven Postmodernity and Hypermodernity The Self in the Age of Images Commodification and Consumerism Week Eight Ecclesiology in Postmodern Perspective Missional Church Movements (Newbigin, Gospel to the Gentiles) Week Nine Ecclesiology in Postmodern Perspective Student Presentation - The Emergent Church Movement (Franke, Manifold Witness) Week Ten Concluding Comments

5 Bibliography on Postmodernism Aichele, George, The Postmodern Bible / the Bible and Culture Collective. Yale University Press, 1995 Allen, Diogenes, "Christianity and the Creed of Postmodernism," Christian Scholars Review, Vol XXIII, no 2 (December 1993) pp Allen, Diogenes, "The End of the Modern World," Christian Scholars Review, Vol XXII, no 4, (June 1993). Allen, Diogenes, Christian belief in a Postmodern World : The Full Wealth of Conviction. Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989 Banister, Douglas Kirk, The word and power church : facing the challenge of postmodernity Bauman, Zygmunt Life in fragments : essays in postmodern morality. Blackwell, 1995 Beckwith, Francis J. and Gregory Koukl, Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (Baker 2000). Benhabib, Seyla, Situating the self : gender, community and postmodernism in contemporary ethics, Routledge, Berman M., All That is Solid Melts into Air. New: York: Simon and Schuster, Bernauer, James., "michael foucault's ecstatic thinking," in The Final Foucault, eds., James Bernauer and David Rasmussen. Cambridge: MIT Press, Bernstein, Richard J. ed. Habermas and Modernity. Cambridge: MIT Press, Breech, James, Jesus and postmodernism. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, c1989. Bridges, Thomas, The culture of citizenship : inventing postmodern civic culture. State University of New York Press, Brown, William E.. Roots of post-modernism [microform] : Also sprach Nietzsche. ETS Papers, Cabal, Ted, Modernity's discontents [microform] : the growing convergence of the New Age movement and postmodern spirituality ETS papers, 1997 Carmichael, Thomas and Alison Lee, eds., Postmodern times : a critical guide to the contemporary. Northern Illinois University Press, 2000

6 Clendenen, E. Ray, Postholes and postmodernism [microform] : a textlingistic [sic] approach to prophetic discourse. Evangelical Theological Society papers ; ETS Connor, Steven, Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1995). Curtler, Hugh Mercer. Rediscovering values : coming to terms with Postmodernism. M.E. Sharpe, 1997 Derrida, Jacques and Geoffrey Bennington, Religion and Postmodernism, University of Chicago Press, 1993 Derrida, Jacques. A Derrida Reader: Between the Blinds. Ed. Peggy Kamuf. New York: Coumbia University Press, Derrida, Jacques, Of Grammatology. Trans. Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Derrida, Jacques. Margins of Philosophy. Transl Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Dockery, David S., ed., The challenge of postmodernism : an evangelical engagement (Victor Books, 1997) Eberle, Gary, The geography of nowhere : finding one's self in the postmodern world. Sheed & Ward, 1994 Eribon, Didier, Michel Foucault. Trans. Betsy Wing. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Erickson, Millard, Postmodernizing the Faith: Evangelical Responses to the Challenge of Postmodernism. (Baker, 1998) Featherstone, M. "In Pursuit of the Postmodern: An Introduction," Theory, Culture and Society (1988) pp Ferre, Frederick, Being and Value : Toward Constructive Postmodern Metaphysics (Suny Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought) SUNY Press, 1998 Fish, Stanley. There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, And It's a Good Thing, Too. New York: Oxford University Press, Foucault, Michel, The Archealogy of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language. Trans. A.M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.

7 Foucault, Michel, The Foucault Reader. Ed. Paul Rainbow. New York: Pantheon Books, Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Pantheon Books, Foucault, Michel, Power/ Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, Pantheon Books, Fowler, James W., Faithful change : the personal and public challenges of postmodern life. Abingdon Press, 1996 Gay, Craig M., "Christianity and the "Homelessness" of the Modern Mind," Christian Scholars Review, Vol XXIII, no 2 (December 1993) pp Gellner, Ernest. Postmodernism, reason and religion. Routledge, Gergen, K.J. The Saturated Self: Dilemnas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books Goncalves, Luiz Gustavo The deconstructing of the American mind [microform] : an analysis of the hermeneutical implications of postmodernism. ETS Papers [1994] Grenz, Stanley, "Star Trek and the Next Generation: Postmodernism and the Future of Evangelical Theology," in Crux, vol XXX, no. 1 (March 1994) pp Grenz, Stanley, Primer on Postmodernism (Eerdmans, 1998) Grenz, Stanley, Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era (Baker, 2000) Groothuis, Douglas, Truth decay : defending Christianity against the challenges of postmodernism. InterVarsity Press, 2000 Growing up postmodern : imitating Christ in the age of 'whatever'. (Princeton lectures on youth, church, and culture with essays by William Willimon, Martin Marty, Nancy Ammerman) ; Institute for Youth Ministry, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1999 Guinness, Os, Time for truth : living free in a world of lies, hype & spin. Baker Books, c2000 Habermas, J. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, Cambridge: MIT Press, Harvey D. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1989

8 Hassan, I. "The Culture of Postmodernism," in Theory Culture and Society 2 (1985), , Hauerwas, Stanley, Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living in Between (Baker, 2000) Hauerwas, Stanley, Nancey Murphy, Mark Nation, eds., Theology without foundations : religious practice and the future of theological truth. Abingdon Press, 1994 Henderson, David, Culture Shift: Communicating God s Truth to Our Changing World (Baker, 1998) Hoesterey, Ingeborg, ed., Zeitgeist in Babel : the postmodernist controversy. Indiana University Press, 1991 Hoesterey, Ingeborg, ed., Zeitgeist in Babel: The Postmodernist Controversy, Bloomington, Indiania University Press, (Review in Christian Scholars Review, Vol XXIII, no 2 (December 1993)) Huyssen, A. After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture and Postmodernism, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Junker-Kenny, Maureen and Miklós Tomka, eds., Faith in a society of instant gratification. Orbis Books, 1999 Knight, Henry H. III., A future for truth : evangelical theology in a postmodern world. Abingdon Press, c1997 Kroker, Arthur, and David Cook, The postmodern scene : excremental culture and hyper-aesthetics. St. Martin's Press, 1986 Kroker, Arthur, Marilouise Kroker and David Cook, Panic Encyclopedia : the definitive guide to the postmodern scene. St. Martin's Press, 1989 Lash, Scott and Jonathan Friedman, eds., Modernity and identity (essays by Blackwell, 1992 Lash, Scott, Another Modernity a Different Rationality. Blackwell Publ Lash, Scott, Sociology of postmodernism. Routledge, 1990 Levin, David M. The Opening of Vision: Nihilism and the Postmodern Situation. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987.

9 Long, Jimmy, Generating hope : a strategy for reaching the postmodern generation. InterVarsity Press, 1997 Loscalzo, Craig, Apologetic Preaching : Proclaiming Christ to a Postmodern World. IVP Lux, Thomas, "Gorgeous Surfaces," The Atlantic Monthly, May Lyotard, Jean Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, MacIntrye, Alisdair, Whose Justice, Which Rationality. South Bend, University of Notre Dame Press, Madison, G. The Hermeneutics of Postmodernity. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, Mayers, Ronald B., Apologetic to postmodernism [microform] : general revelation and the fifth gospel ETS Papers (1997) McGowan, John, Postmodernism and its critics. Cornell University Press, 1991 McLeod, Mark S. "Making God Dance: Postmodern Theorizing and the Christian College," Christian Scholar's Review 21 (1992) Meyrowitz, Joshua. No Sense of Place. New York: Oxford University Press, Middleton, J. Richard & Brian J. Walsh, Truth is stranger than it used to be : biblical faith in a postmodern age. IVP 1995 Murphy, Nancey, Anglo-American Postmodernity : Philosophical Perspective on Science, Religion, and Ethics. Westview Press, Nash, Robert N., Jr, Loren Mead, An 8-Track Church in a Cd World : The Modern Church in a Postmodern World (Smith and Helwys Pub., 1997) Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Ed. Oscar Levy. New York: Russell and Russell, Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Will to Power. Translated Walter Kaufman and R.J. Hollingdale. Ed. Walter Kaufman. New York: Random House, Neville, Robert Cummings, The highroad around modernism. Norris, Christopher, The Truth About Postmodernism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1995).

10 Norris, Christopher, Derrida. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Norris, Christopher, What s Wrong with Postmodernism: Critical Theory and the Ends of Philosophy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Nuyen, A.T. "Postmodern Theology and postmodern philosophy," Philosophy of Religion 30 (1991) Oden, Tom, Requiem Penshansky, David, The politics of biblical theology : a postmodern reading. Mercer University Press, 1995 Phillips, Timothy R. & Dennis L. Okholm, Christian apologetics in the postmodern world. InterVarsity Press, 1995 Raja, Tasneem (ed. Madan Sarup), Identity, culture, and the postmodern world. University of Georgia Press, 1996 Reid, John, Lesslie Newbigin, David Pullinger. Modern, postmodern and Christian. Handsel Press, 1996 Rorty, Richard, "The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy," in The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom: Its Evolution and Consequences in American History, ed. Merrill D. Peterson and Robert C. Vaughn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Rorty, Richard, Contingency, Irony and Solidarity. Rorty, Richard. The Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Rorty, Richard, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Rorty, Richard. Objectivity, Relativism and Truth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Rosen, Stanley Hermeneutics as Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Rouner, Leroy S., On community. University of Notre Dame Press, 1991 Sampson, Philip, Vinay Samuel, and Chris Sugden, Faith and modernity. Regnum,1994 Schrag, Calvin O., The self after postmodernity. Yale University Press, 1997

11 Seidman Steven, Contested Knowledge : Social Theory in the Postmodern Era, Blackwell, Shepherd, Deborah J. and Arisian, Khoren. Humanism and postmodernism : essays from the Humanist Institute / edited by Deborah Shepherd and Khoren Arisian. New York : North American Committee for Humanism, 1994 Silverman, Hugh J. and Donn Welton, eds. Postmodernism and Continental Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, Simpson, David, The Academic Postmodern and the Rule of Literature : A Report on Half-Knowledge (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995) Smith, Huston, Beyond the Postmodern Mind. Quest Press, State University of New York Press, 1992 Stephens, Julie, Anti-Disciplinary Protest : Sixties Radicalism and Postmodernism Cambridge Univ Press, 1998 (Pap Txt); ISBN: Stiver, Dan, The uneasy alliance between evangelicalism and postmodernism [microform] : a reply to Thiselton. ETS Papers Sweet, Leonard, AquaChurch: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture (Group Publ. 1999) Sweet, Leonard, Post-Modern Pilgrims: First Century Passion for the 21st Century Church (Broadman and Holman, 2000) Taylor, Mark C. About Religion : Economies of Faith in Virtual Culture: Religion and Postmodernism. Univ. of Chicago Press, Taylor, Mark C. Deconstructing Theology. New York: Crossroad, Taylor, Mark C. Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Thiselton., Anthony, Interpreting God and the postmodern self : on meaning, manipulation, and promise. Eerdmans, 1995 Tilley, Terrence W. with John Edwards, Postmodern theologies : the challenge of religious diversity. Orbis Books, 1995 Tseelon E. "Is the Presented Self Sincere? Goffman, Impression Management and the Postmodern Self" Theory, Culture and Society 9.2 (1992) pp Turner, Bryan S., Theories of modernity and postmodernity. Sage Publications, 1990.

12 Van Gelder, Craig, "Postmodernism as an Emerging Worldview," Calvin Theological Journal 26 (1991) p Van Hook, Jay M. Review of Contigency, Irony and Solidarity by Richard Rorty. Christian Scholar's Review 20 (1990) p van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel, Duet or duel? : theology and science in a postmodern world. Trinity Press, 1998 van Huysteen, J. Wentzel, "Is the Postmodernist Always a Postfoundationalist?" Theology Today 50 (October 1993): Walsh, David, After ideology : recovering the spiritual foundations of freedom. Harper SanFrancisco, 1990 Ward, Graham, The postmodern God : a theological reader. Blackwell Publishers, 1997 Wells, David, God in the Wasteland, Eerdmans, Wells, David, Losing Our Virtue, Eerdmans, 1998 Woods, Tim, Beginning Postmodernism (Beginnings) Manchester Univ Press, 1999;