Postmodernity and a Biblical Worldview WYT 3805HS Winter 2016

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1 Instructor: Dr. Brian J. Walsh, Wycliffe College Times: Mondays, Postmodernity and a Biblical Worldview WYT 3805HS Winter 2016 Course Description: The worldview of modernity which has dominated western civilization for three hundred years is presently being replaced by what has been described as postmodern culture. While the period of transition is characterized by a growing sense of fragmentation, marginality, paralysis and numbness, many people hope that postmodernity will be able to engender a worldview that will overcome the individualism, economism, technicism and scientism of the modern era. The implications of this cultural shift and emerging worldview effect literally every dimension of cultural life. This course will discuss postmodernity as a cultural phenomenon, trace its implications in various areas of cultural endeavour, and work toward an integral Christian worldview that gives guidance in a postmodern world. Of particular concern in this course will be to plumb the resources of Scripture for such a cultural context, specifically the text of Colossians. How do we read a text that claims unconditional truth and authority in the face of a postmodern hermeneutic of suspicion? Required Readings: Middleton, J. Richard, and Brian J. Walsh. Truth is Stranger than it Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, Penner, Myron B. ed.. Christianity and the Postmodern Turn. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, Smith, James K. A. Who s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic,, Walsh, Brian J., and Sylvia C. Keesmaat, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, Course Requirements 1. attendance and participation in all classes. This will count for 20% of the final grade. 2. one 5 to 7 page reflection paper in response to some dimension of Smith s text, Who s Afraid of Postmodernism? This will count for 20% of the final grade and is due on February one 15 to 20 page essay on a topic of relevance to a Christian interaction with and evaluation of postmodern culture. This will count for 60% of the final grade. Paper proposals (one paragraph description and beginning bibliography of at least five works beyond the class texts) are due on February 29. The paper is due on April 4. Note regarding essays and reflection papers: All work is to be submitted on double sided paper (either printing on both sides or using clean backs). Electronic submissions are discouraged. Course Outline 2012 Jan. 11 Introductory Session: the Postmodern Condition, Post 9/11 Part One: Who s Afraid of Postmodernism? Jan. 18 The good news of deconstruction

2 Reading: Who s Afraid?, chapters one and two Jan. 25 Stories, power and church Reading: Who s Afraid?, chapters three, four and five Feb. 1 So who is afraid of postmodernism? once again Reading: Truth is Stranger, chapters one to four Part two: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age Feb. 8 Scripture Revisited Reading: Truth is Stranger, Interlude, chapter five and six Feb. 15 No class, TST Reading Week Feb. 22 Stewards of Gift, People of Hope Reading: Truth is Stranger, chapters seven and eight Reflection Papers due today Part three: Divergent Voices Feb. 29 Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Affirmations and Concerns Reading: Christianity and the Postmodern Turn, chs. 1-6 Mar 7 Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: The debate rages Reading: Christianity and the Postmodern Turn, chs Part: four: The smirk of empire, postmodernity and scripture revisited. Mar. 14 Context Remixed: Colossians, Postmodernity and Empire Reading: Colossians Remixed, part 1. Paper proposals are due today Mar. 21 Truth Remixed: Contested Imagination Reading: Colossians Remixed, part 2 Mar. 28 Praxis Remixed: Subversive Ethics Reading: Colossians Remixed, part 3. April 4 The class in which we talk about everything that we didn t get to in the previous 12 weeks. Final Papers are due today. Beginning Bibliography: (asterisk indicates recommended) [see also the bibliographies in Colossians Remixed and Who s Afraid of Postmodernism?] *Adams, Douglas. Mostly Harmless. London: Pan Books, [This is the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.] *Anderson, Walter Truett. Reality Isn t What it Used to Be: Theatrical Politics, Ready-to-wear Religion, Global Myths, Primitive Chic, and Other Wonders of the Postmodern World. San Francisco: Harper and Row, Bauman, Zygmunt. Postmodern Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell, Benson, Bruce E. Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida and Marion on Modern Idolatry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002.

3 Berger, Peter, and Lukmann, Thomas. The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, *Berger, Peter. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Berman, Morris. The Reenchantment of the World. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, *Bernstein, Richard J. The New Constellation: The Ethical-Political Horizons of Modernity/Postmoderntiy. Cambridge, MIT Press, *Best, Steven, and Kellner, Douglas. Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations. New York: Guilford Press, Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster, *Borgmann, Albert. Crossing the Postmodern Divide. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, Bouma-Prediger, Steven and Walsh, Brian J. Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, (especially chapters seven and eight) *Brueggemann, Walter. Texts Under Negotiation: The Bible and Postmodern Imagination. Minneapolis: Fortress, Caputo, John D. Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with Constant Reference to Deconstruction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, *Chambers, Iain. Migrancy, Culture, Identity. London and New York: Routledge, Connor, Steven. Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary. Oxford, U.K. and Cambridge, U.S.: Blackwell, [Includes an especially good bibliography.] *Derrida, Jacques, edited by John D. Caputo. Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida. N.Y.: Fordham University Press, [This conversation, together with Caputo s essay is the best introduction to Derrida s thought that I have read.] Downing, Crystal L. How Postmodernism Serves (my) Faith: Questioning Truth in Language, Philosophy and Art (Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press, 2006). *Flax, Jane. Thinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Postmodernism in the Contemporary World. Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford: University of California Press, *Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, New York: Pantheon, Foucault, Michel. Religion and Culture. Edited by Jeremy R. Carrette. New York: Routledge, Gergen, Kenneth. Realities and Relationships: Soundings in Social Construction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Gergen, Kenneth. The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books, Gilkey, Langdon. Society and the Sacred: Toward a Theology of Culture in Decline. New York: Seabury, 1981.

4 Greer, Robert C. Mapping Postmodernism: A Survey of Christian Options. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, Grenz, Stanley. A Postmodern Primer. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, Grenz, Stanley, and Franke, John R. Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, Griffin, David Ray, ed. The Reenchantment of Science: Postmodern Proposals. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity. London: Basil Blackwell, Hays, Richard B. Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, Hauerwas, Stanley. After Christendom? Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, Hoesterey, Ingeborg, ed. Zeitgeist in Babel: The Postmodernist Controversy. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, Horsley, Richard A., ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society. Harrisburg, PA.: Trinity Press International, Hunsberger, George and Van Gelder, Craig, editors. Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, [Especially helpful are the chapters by Van Gelder.] *Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. London and New York: Routledge, Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, Knight III, Henry H. A Future for Truth: Evangelical Theology in a Postmodern World. Nashville: Abingdon, Kroker, Arthur and Mary Louise, ed. The Panic Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Postmodern Scene. Montreal: New World Perspectives, Lakeland, Paul. Postmodernity: Christian Identity in a Fragmented Age. Minneapolis: Fortress, Lasch, Christopher. The Minimal Self: Psychic Survival in Troubled Times. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., *Lyon, David. Postmodernity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, *Lundin, Roger. The Culture of Interpretation: Christian Faith and the Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Lyotard, Jean-François. The Lyotard Reader. Edited by Andrew Benjamin. London and Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell, Long, Jimmy. Generating Hope: A Strategy for Reaching the Postmodern Generation. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by G. Bennington and B. Massumi. Theory and History of Literature, vol. 10. Minneapolis: University of Minnestota Press, 1984 [1979 original].

5 Marcus, Greil. Lipstick Traces. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Middleton, Richard, and Brian Walsh. Theology at the Rim of a Broken Wheel : Bruce Cockburn and Christian Faith in a Postmodern World. Grail 9, 2 (June 1993) Murphey, Nancey. Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity, *Natoli, Joseph. A Primer to Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell, [Great book if you are television literate, frustrating if not.] Nicholson, Linda, ed. Feminism/Postmodernism. New York and London: Routledge, *Olthuis, James H. A Cold and Comfortless Hermeneutic or a Warm and Trembling Hermeneutic: A Conversation with John D. Caputo. Christian Scholar s Review XIX, 4 (1990). Also see the continuing discussion between Caputo and Olthuis in vol. XX (1990). Olthuis, James H., ed. Religion With/Out Religion: The Prayers and Tears of John D. Caputo. New York: Routledge, Penner, Myron B., ed. Christianity and the Postmodern Turn. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, *Rifkin, Jeremy. Time Wars: The Primary Conflict in Human History. New York: Simon and Schuster, Rorty, Richard. Contingency, Irony and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Smith, James K. A. The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, *Smith, James K. A. Desiring the Kingdom Worldview and Cultural Formation. Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic, *Smith, James K. A. Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works. Grand Rapids, BakerAcademic, Taylor, Charles. The Malaise of Modernity. Toronto: House of Anansi, Taylor, Charles. Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989). Taylor, Mark C. Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Thiselton, A.C. Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self: On Meaning, Manipulation and Promise. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Tracy, David. Theology and the Many Faces of Postmodernity. Theology Today 51,1 (April 1994). *Usher, Robin and Edwards, Richard. Postmodernism and Education. London and N.Y.: Routledge, [A very helpful book.] Vanhoozer, Kevin J. Is there a Meaning in this Text? Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, Walsh, Brian J. Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011.

6 Walsh, Brian J. Derrida and the Messiah: The Spiritual Face of Postmodernity. Re.generation Quarterly 5.1 (Spring 1999): [also on line at chaplains.sa.utoronto.ca/crc] Walsh, Brian J. Transformation: Dynamic Worldview or Repressive Ideology. Journal of Education and Christian Belief 4.2 (Autumn 2000). [also on line at chaplains.sa.utoronto.ca/crc] Walsh, Brian J. Subversive Christianity: Imaging God in a Dangerous Time 2 nd edition. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, Watson, Francis. Text, Church and World: Biblical Interpretation in Theological Perspective. Edinburgh: T&T Clark; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Westphal, Merold. Overcoming Onto-theology: Toward a Postmodern Christain Faith. New York: Fordham University Press, White, Heath. Postmodernism 101: A First Course for the Curious Christian (Grand Rapids, Brazos, 2006). *Wright, N. T., Colossians and Philemon. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Wright, N.T., Simply Christian. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2010.