Tagged: modernity

A Relational Model of Truth

I was reading Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach recently.  In it, he presents what he calls a relational model of truth, which he contrasts with an “objectivist” and a relativist view of truth.  I thought it worth repeating here, because I think it is a good example of how modernity, postmodernity, and what-comes-next […]

Modernity and the myth of progress

One of the fundamental beliefs of modernity is the belief in progress.  According to modernity, all manners of things can undergo an endless progression of expansion, improvement, and growth.  Knowledge, technology, the economy, social systems, and our selves are all capable of a never-ending process of improvement.  Such a notion is, however, a culturally-conditioned belief […]

Playing house vs. playing Legos

I would like to suggest two metaphors describing how societal unity has functioned in the past and how societal unity might function in the future.  In the past, societal unity has been like playing house.  In the world of what comes next, I think societal unity needs to be like playing Legos. Playing house is […]

The Western-ness of postmodernity

After a week and a half’s hiatus (ah, the start of summer!), we’re back and blogging.  Today, I’d like to talk about a topic that I think will weave together some threads from the last three or four posts, and that’s the relationship between postmodernity, the West, and the Majority World. It’s generally acknowledged that […]

Global Christianity and (post)modernity

Last week, I wrote a post discussing the southward shift in Christianity, also referred to as the rise of Global Christianity.  Since I talk a lot about modernity, postmodernity, and whatnot in this blog, an obvious question might be how the rise of Global Christianity relates to these historical eras.  The class I’ve been TAing […]

Periodizing the History of Christianity and Methodological Pluralism

I’m a historian of Christianity.  One of the things historians like to do is divide history into periods.  If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ve probably gotten a sense of the periodization of history I’ve been using, but I thought I’d summarize it here and then share some reflections on the process of periodizing church […]

Christendom, Modernity, Postmodernity, and What Comes Next, Part 2

On Tuesday, I posted the first half of a description of how I would characterize a periodization of history broken into Christendom, modernity, postmodernity, and what comes next.  This post completes that description. Let me reiterate my three caveats: 1. All of my answers for “what comes next” are just guesses.  Since it comes next, […]

Christendom, Modernity, Postmodernity, and What Comes Next, Part 1

I’ve promised you loyal readers some elaboration on what I think are the characteristics of postmodernity.  I’m going to structure part of this answer by comparing Christendom, modernity, postmodernity, and what comes next (one possible periodization of the last 1000 years of Christian history; I’ll write a post on periodizing church history later).  I’ve structured […]

Defining Postmodernity

If you’ve read past blog posts or continue to read future blog posts, I think you’ll quickly notice that contrasting modernity and postmodernity (as exemplified in the new title for the blog!) is a big thing for me.  Yet, as I’ve realized from reading comments, my understanding of these terms is not always the same […]

My quest for a theology of history

In last week’s blog post, I talked about three sermons I’ve heard recently that have challenged my thinking about hope.  These same three sermons, especially that by Allie Hoffman, also challenged me on the question of my theology of history.  What is a theology of history?  It’s a set of beliefs about the relationship between […]