THSE8302 Issues in Baptist Life: Postmodernism New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Professional Doctoral Seminar Institute of Christian Apologetics January 2013 Dr. Steve Lemke Professor of Philosophy and Ethics phone: 5 0 4-282-4455, ext. 3 2 1 6 5 0 4-466-5381 e-mail: slemke@nobts.edu Seminary Mission Statement The mission of New O rleans Baptist Theological Seminary is to equip leaders to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandments through the local church and its ministries. Core Value Focus and Curriculum Competencies Addressed Core Values -- The primary core value of the course is Doctrinal Integrity. The NO BTS focal core value is Servant Leadership. Core Competencies -- The course will primarily address the competencies of Biblical Exposition, Christian Theological Heritage, and Disciple Making. Course Description This Special Event Seminar is designed to involve students in the analysis and investigation of relevant theological issues pertinent to Baptist life in general and the Southern Baptist Convention in particular. Students will encounter and engage significant theological and ministerial issues through attendance and participation in the conference sponsored by the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry (or another such conference). The course is designed to promote the importance of theology and the integration of theology for Baptist ministry and church life. Objectives By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand the key concepts and beliefs of various forms of postmodernism. 2. Articulate a well-informed Christian response to postmodernism. 3. Value the truth of the Christian faith. 4. Understand the distinctive lifestyle and interests of a person who holds a postmodern mindset. 5. Be able to connect effectively with a postmodern person through a sermon or conversation.
Textbooks Group A: Understanding Postmodernism (choose one from this group) Walter Truett Anderson, Reality Isn t W hat It Use to Be: Theatrical Politics, Ready-to- Wear Religion, Global Myths, Primitive Chic, and O ther Wonders of the Postmodern World. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1 9 9 0. [A good read on postmodern culture from a nonevangelical perspective]. David S. Dockery, ed. The Challenge of Postmodernism: A n Evangelical Engagement. Grand Rapids: Revell/ Baker, 1 9 9 5. [This book is good but somewhat more technical]. Millard Erickson, Postmodernizing the Faith: Evangelical Responses to the Challenge of Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.. Truth or Consequences: The Promise and Perils of Postmodernism. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001. Millard Erickson, Justin Taylor, and Paul Kjoss Helseth, Reclaiming the Center: Evangelical A ccommodation in Postmodern Times. Wheaton: Crossway, 2 0 0 4. [This book is excellent but rather technical]. Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1 9 9 6. Doug Groothuis, Truth Decay: Defending Christianity against the Challenges of Postmodernism. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2 0 0 0. [A strong critique of postmodernism]. Stewart E. Kelly, Truth Considered and A pplied: Postmodernism, History, and Christian Faith. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2 0 1 1. [This book is somewhat technical]. J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh, Truth Is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern A ge. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1 9 9 5. [A readable book by authors who have a more favorable perspective about postmodern Christianity]. 4Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge Timothy Phillips and Dennis Okholm, eds. Christian Apologetics in a Postmodern World. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1995. James K. A. Smith, Who s A fraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2 0 0 6. Gene Edward Veith, Jr. Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture. Wheaton: Crossway, 1994. Group B: Engaging Postmodernism (choose one from this group) Don Carson, ed. Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2 0 0 0. Zack Eswine, Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Sermons that Connect with O ur Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2 0 0 8. Craig Lescalzo, A pologetic Preaching in a Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2000.
Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World: A Guide to Reaching Twentyfirst Century Listeners. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2 0 0 1. Course Requirements Pre-workshop Assignments: Book Reviews of the Texts about Postmodernism Understanding Postmodernism text review Due 12/1/12 -- 50 points Choose one text from the Group A: Understanding Postmodernism book list which you have not already read, and write a thoughtful review of about 5 single spaced pages each. Your review should include two key elements: (a) an annotated summary of the content of the book, especially with regard to the key beliefs of postmodernism (about 3-4 pages), and (b) your evaluation of postmodernism, and what you found to be helpful contributions/ strengths and weaknesses of the book s content (not style) (about 1-2 pages). Note: a book review which just addresses the assignment in (a) but not in (b) will not receive a good grade. The reviews should be written in proper Turabian style, but single spaced, and references from within the books may be referenced in parentheses; other references should be footnoted. Engaging Postmodernism text review Due 1/1/13 50 points Choose one text from the Group B: Engaging Postmodernism list of books, and write a thoughtful review of about 5 single spaced pages each. Your book review should include the same key elements as described in the Understanding Postmodernism text review. During the Defend the Faith conference assignments: Conference session reflections Attend all three ProDoc seminar breakout sessions (1/6-11/13) 25 points We will be presenting an overview of postmodernism, and discussing your insights from the texts that you read. These sessions will be at 2 :3 0 pm Monday through Wednesday. Session notes Due 1/25/13 25 points Take notes on any five of the Defend the Faith plenary or breakout sessions besides our class (heard either in-person or by recording). Turn in a one page single spaced summary for each plenary session. Your notes should outline or overview (a) the content of the Apologetic issue presented, and (b) your brief evaluation of the relevance of the issue in your ministry setting. Post-Workshop Assignment: Focused interest book review
Focused interest book review (Due 2/15) 50 points Choose another text about postmodernism from the Group A or Group B list above, or get the approval of Dr. Lemke to read another book addressing another topic within the scope of this seminar in which you have great interest namely, Reformed theology/ divine sovereignty and human freedom, the problem of evil, the New Atheism, Islam, Christology of the cults, or broader readings in Christian Apologetics. These book reviews should be done in essentially the same format as the book reviews for Group A and Group B. Course Evaluation Students are expected to exercise the highest of ethics and integrity in keeping with the character of Christ when completing all assignments, especially regarding the Seminary s standards regarding plagiarism (see NO BTS catalog). The grading scale and attendance requirements will be those outlined in the current A cademic Catalog. Note: Late work is penalized at the rate of two points per school day. Attendance Note that the Defend the Faith conference begins at 7 pm on Sunday, January 6 th, and goes through noon on Friday, January 1 1 th. Presumably, students will want to attend the full conference. However, contact the professor if ministry demands or emergency issues arise that impact your attendance for the week. Audio tapes are available for all sessions. Tentative Class and ICA Schedule See the schedule at the Defend the Faith conference link. A more detailed schedule will be posted soon. The ProDoc breakout sessions on Postmodernism will be Monday through Wednesday at 2:30 pm daily. Bibliography Understanding Postmodernism Anderson, Walter Truett. Reality Isn t W hat It Use to Be: Theatrical Politics, Ready-to- Wear Religion, Global Myths, Primitive Chic, and O ther Wonders of the Postmodern World. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1 9 9 0. Baudrillard, Jean. America, trans. Chris Turner. New York: Verso, 1988.. The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, trans. Paul Patton. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.. Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism),
trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. Caputo, John D. Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida. NewYork: Fordham University Press, 1997.. Radical Hermeneutics: Repetition, Deconstruction, and the Hermeneutic Project. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1987. Carson, D.A. Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and A pologetics, 3 rd ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2 0 0 8. Craig, William Lane, Francis J. Beckwith and J. P. Moreland, To Everyone an A nswer: A Case for the Christian Worldview. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2 0 0 4. Derrida, Jacques. Dissemination. Translated by Barbara Johnson. London: Athlone, 1981.. Of Grammatology. Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1976.. Margins of Philosophy. Translated by Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.. The Postcard: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.. Writing and Difference. Translated by Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schitzophrenia, trans. Helen Lane and Robert Hurley. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985. Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul Patton. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Dockery, David, ed. The Challenge of Postmodernism: An Evangelical Engagement. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1995. Doty, William G., ed. Picturing Cultural Values in Postmodern America. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995. Erickson, Millard. Postmodernizing the Faith: Evangelical Responses to the Challenge of Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.. Truth or Consequences. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001. Fish, Stanley. Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980. Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon, 1972.. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaelology of Medical Perception, trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Pantheon, 1977.. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Frank, Manfred. What Is Neostructuralism?, trans. Sabine Wilke and Richard Gray, Theory and History of Literature series, vol. 45. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989. Grenz, Stanley. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.. Revisioning Evangelical Theology: A Fresh Agenda for the 21st Century. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993. Grenz, Stanley L., and John R. Franke. Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a
Postmodern Context. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2001. Griffin, David Ray, William A. Beardslee and Joe Holland. Varieties of Postmodern Theology. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989. Groothuis, Truth Decay: Defending Christianity against the Challenges of Postmodernism. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2 0 0 0. Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1989. Hauerwas, Stanley, Nancey C. Murphy, and Mark Nation, eds. Theology without Foundations: Religious Foundations and the Future of Theological Truth. Nashville: Abingdon, 1994. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984. MacIntyre, Alisdair. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1988. Maloney, George. Mysticism in the New Age: Christic Consciousness in the New Creation. New York: Alba House, 1991. McKnight, Edgar. Post-Modern Use of the Bible: The Emergence of Reader-Oriented Criticism. Nashville: Abingdon, 1988. Middleton, J. Richard, and Brian J. Walsh, Truth Is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern A ge. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1 9 9 5. Moore, Stephen. Mark and Luke in Post-Structuralist Perspectives: Jesus Begins to Write. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. Norris, Christopher. Derrida. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987. Patte, Daniel. Ethics of Biblical Interpretation: A Reevaluation. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1995. Penner, Myron, ed., with R. Douglas Geivett, R. Scott Smith, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, John R. Franke, James K. A. Smith, and Merold Westphal). Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views. Waco: Brazos Press, 2005. Phillips, Timothy, and Okholm, Dennis, eds. Christian Apologetics in a Postmodern World. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1995. Rorty, Richard. Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Smith, James K. A. Who s A fraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2 0 0 6. Taylor, Mark. Deconstructing Theology. Chico: Scholar s Press, 1982.. Erring: A Postmodern A/theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. Thiel, John E. N onfoundationalism, Guides to Theological Inquiry. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994. Thiselton, Anthony C. New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming Biblical Reading. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1992. Vanhoozer, Kevin J. Is There a Meaning in This Text? Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1998., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. London: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Veith, Gene Edward, Jr. Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture. Wheaton: Crossway, 1994. White, James Emery. What Is Truth? Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994. Engaging and Ministering to Postmodernism Copan, Paul. When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008.. True for You, But N ot for Me: Deflating the Slogans that Leave Christians Speechless. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1 9 98. Dean, Kena Creasy. A lmost Christian: What the Faith of O ur Teenagers is Telling the A merican Church. New York: O xford University Press, 2 0 1 0. Erickson, Millard J., and James L. Heflin. O ld Wine in N ew Wineskins: Doctrinal Preaching in a Changing World. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1 9 9 7. Eswine, Zack. Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Sermons that Connect with O ur Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2 0 0 8. Fisher, David. The 2 1 st Century Pastor. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996. Henderson, David W. Culture Shift: Communicating God s Truth to O ur Changing World. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1 9 9 8. Hughes, Robert G., and Robert Kysar. Preaching Doctrine for the Twenty-First Century. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997. Johnston, Graham. Preaching to a Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2001. Jones, Tony. Postmodern Youth Ministry. El Cajon: Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2001. Kallenberg, Brad. Live to Tell: Evangelism in a Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002. Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God: Belief in an A ge of Skepticism. New York: Dutton, 2008. Lemke, Steve. Pluralism and Relativism in Richard Rorty's Liberal Utopia," Midwestern Journal of Theology, vol. 3, no. 2 (Spring 2005):49-58; based on a paper presentation at the 1997 Southwest regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, available online at http://www.nobts.edu/faculty/itor/lemkesw/personal/rortyets.html.. Truth for a Postmodern Era, a paper presented at the 2005 Evangelical Theological Society meeting in San Antonio, available online at http:/ / www.nobts.edu/ Faculty/ ItoR/ LemkeSW/ Personal/ truthets.pdf. Lescalzo, Craig. A pologetic Preaching in a Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2000. Lindbeck, George, et. al., eds. The Nature of Confession: Evangelicals and Postliberals in Conversation. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1996.
Newport, John. The New Age Movement and the Biblical Worldview: Conflict and Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. Sanford, John. Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John. New York: Crossroads, 1994. Stackhouse, John. Humble A pologetics: Defending the Faith Today. New York: O xford University Press, 2 0 0 2. Stowell, Joseph M. Shepherding the Church in the 2 1 st Century. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1994. White, James Emery. Rethinking the Church: A Challenge to Creative Redesign in an A ge of Transition. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1 9 9 7.