Retro Faith: A Christian Response to Postmodernism
Editor Introduction: Postmodernism, The Church, and The Future
Bob Dylan wrote a song in the 1960’s entitled “The Times They are A-Changin” that describes the changing times that we now live in. Change is all around us. There is rapid development and technology such as the world has never seen before. In the past 100 years we have learned how to fly, we have traveled to outer space, we have invented weapons of mass destruction, and we have witnessed the age of computer technology. As a result, we live in an age of revolutionary change.
A Pneuma Review discussion about how the church should respond to postmodernism
In the midst of these rapid changes, the old world of modernity is crumbling around us and a new world is emerging. Futurists, theologians, and philosophers call this new world “postmodernism.” What we are experiencing is a major paradigm shift from modernity to postmodernism. The tremendous paradigm shift that we are witnessing can be compared to previous time periods such as the reformation or the age of reason. In his book Soul Tsunami: Sink or Swim in the New Millennium Culture, Leonard Sweet writes, “The seismic events that have happened in the aftermath of the postmodern earthquake have generated tidal waves that have created a whole new world out there.”1
There is no shortage of spirituality in our postmodern world. The postmodern world that we live in is a very spiritual place where people are looking for a spirituality that is real and relevant; a spirituality that is not dead and outdated. Many people in North America are actively seeking spirituality outside of the church by looking to alternative religions. Buddhism and other eastern religions are experiencing explosive growth in North America and around the world. In the marketplace of consumer spirituality, individuals are not choosing one religion over the other, rather they are weaving together their own patchwork spirituality.
The sad fact is that the church is one of the last places that people look for authentic spirituality. Most people say that church is boring, irrelevant, dry, complicated, even domesticated. How did this happen? Was it always this way? Part of the problem stems from the fact that many churches are still functioning the same way they were in the 1940’s. At the turn of the century the church became more rational than relational, more organizational than organic, more political than prayerful, and more structural than spiritual. Today, many of the churches in North America are anything but spiritual.
Author Brian D. McLaren declares, “If you have a new world, you need a new church, you have a new world.”2 The changes of postmodern world are real, but the church has been slow to address it. The church is one of the last institutions to acknowledge and engage the new world of postmodernism. Many churches have chosen to respond to the changes in our culture with apathy and denial.
Retro Faith
What will the future hold for the church? How should the church respond to the changes and challenges of postmodernism? Should the church change? The answer is that the church needs a retro faith: a return to the roots of the Christian faith. We need a first century faith for a 21st century generation of believers. We need to get back to the basics of New Testament Christianity. We need the faith that consumed the hearts and souls of the early followers of Jesus Christ.
Retro Christianity is return to authentic Christianity. It is a call to live out the basics of the Christian faith that are directly connected to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Regardless of the culture or time period, the church needs an authentic faith that comes from God alone. Retro Christianity reminds us that we need a first century faith for a 21st century generation of believers. Unchurched people could care less about the size of our church buildings or the number on our attendance role. What people are longing for is authentic Christianity that is not restricted by church walls, denominations, or nationality. People want to connect to a real spirituality that can only come from an experiential relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to strip away all of the fluff, emotionalism, and unnecessary theological baggage and get back to the basics of faith.
Retro Christianity is not a new concept or some kind of novelty to make Christianity sound appealing to a new generation. It is not the first time that the church has tried to return to the faith and mission of the early church. John Wesley devoted his entire life to making a difference in his generation. He believed the answer was to return to “the Old religion, the religion of the Bible, the religion of the primitive Church… the religion of the heart.”3 C.S. Lewis was also moved by the writings of the early church fathers and later called the basic tenets of the Christian faith “Mere Christianity.” Contemporary writers like Richard Foster and Dallas Willard call us to return to the great traditions of the Christian church in order to find meaning and purpose in the future.4
As a movement, Pentecostal/charismatics represent a radical return to the faith and practice of New Testament Christianity. Perhaps this is why the movement has become the fastest growing body of Christians on the face of the planet. Pentecostalism is growing at a rate of 13 million a year, 35,000 a day, and has nearly a half billion followers.5 It is the second largest Christian group after Roman Catholicism. There are Pentecostals in almost every denomination and every part of the world. Retro faith or New Testament Christianity will flourish in every age and every generation. I believe that if Pentecostal/charismatics want to continue to remain on the cutting edge they must revisit their New Testament roots and hold onto a retro faith.
Every generation of believers should revisit the passionate faith and spirituality of the early church because there are always new challenges and concerns that face the church. The faith of the first century followers of Jesus Christ offers us a foundation and model of authentic Christianity in every age. In other words, the authentic faith of the early church is an anchor for Christians of all ages especially in those who are living in changing and uncertain times. I do not claim to be the only one calling for the church to revisit first century Christianity there are many other pastors, theologians, and writers who believe that the church must keep the past and the future in perpetual conversation so every generation will find a fresh expression of the gospel.6
PR
Notes
1 Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami: Sink or Swim in the New Millennium Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999).
2 Brian D. McLaren. The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000). p.11.
3 John Wesley, Works, 7:423 “At The Foundation of City-Road Chapel.”
4 See the following books for examples. Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith (New York: Harper Collins, 1998). Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God (New York: Harper Collins, 1997).
5 For a more in depth discussion about the explosive growth of the Pentecostal Movement see Vinson Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit. 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001) and Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge, MA: De Cappo, 1995).
6 Leonard Sweet, Post-Modern Pilgrims: First Century Passion for the 21st Century World (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2000). Robert Weber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999). Norman T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is (Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity, 1999). Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995).
