Postmodern Times Flashcards
What unbiblical tenet of modernism is rejected by postmodernism?
The exalting of human reasons
What 2 extremes have always faced the church regarding her relationship with culture?
Ignore the culture-irrelevance
Accept the culture-syncretism
What is the main teaching of postmodernism?
A denial of absolute truth
What 18th century philosophical movement spawned the modernist mindset? What a a few of the primary views if modernism?
Enlightenment, the only way to know truth is human reason, self reliance, independence
How does the postmodernist understand our ability to do history?
No absolute truths so no history, Postmodernists rewrite history to promote agenda
How did the environments come to be such an important issue to the Postmodernists?
Man was devalued so environment was exalted
How do the following groups arrive at truth: modernists, Postmodernists, reformers?
Modernists- human reason
Postmodernists- no truth, truth is whatever you want it to be
Reformers- revelation of God
How can the church respond to postmodernism’s counter-cultural approach by being “counter-cultural”?
Return to liturgical worship & strongly proclaim the gospel
According to the poll referenced by Veith, of those who call themselves evangelical Christians, what percentage say they do not believe there are absolutes?
53%
What beliefs does Veith mention this same group holds?
Christ works for them & the Bible is the written word of God and is totally accurate in all it teaches
In the study Veith discusses in ch. 1, how does the number of “fundamentalists” who engage in sex outside of marriage compare to the number of “liberals” who do the same? What does this imply?
Fundamentalists- 56%
Liberals- 57% those who claim to stand firm to the teachings of the Bible and those who don’t aren’t really very different
According to the study, almost half of both Catholics and Protestants believe abortion and what other form of murder is acceptable?
Euthanasia
According to a poll Veith cites, what percentage of Americans believe there is no such thing as absolute truth? According to the same poll, what percentage of those who call themselves evangelical Christians believe there are no absolutes?
Americans- 66%
Christians- 53%
According to Thomas Oden, what are the dates for the “modern age”?
The fall of the Bastille in 1789 to the to fall of the Berlin Wall 1989
To what historical movement is the turning away from biblical supernaturalism traced?
Renaissance
What historical movement rediscovered and re asserted the Greeks? What movement rediscovered and reasserted the Bible?
Greeks- Renaissance
Bible- reformation
What “religion” did Enlightenment thinkers devise?
Deism
What 19th century movement cultivated subjectivity, personal experience, irrationalism, intense emotion, & encouraged introspection?
Romanticism
What worldview dominated the 20th century?
Existentialism
What is the name of the postmodern view that all meaning is socially constructed?
Deconstructionism- words have no objective meaning
What German existentialist contributed significantly to the thinking of deconstructionism?
Martin Heidegger
According to Veith, what does art do?
Communicates worldview through culture
If art expresses a worldview, how do Postmodernists express themselves artistically?
By breaking out of the “high culture” of the art world & into the “popular culture” of the mass mind
*How is meaning expressed in postmodern art?
by relating art to the rest of reality
How is the role of the audience emphasized in postmodern art? What significance does this have?
by minimizing the role of the artist; it has no single authoritative meaning its all subjective
How do postmodern artists collapse the distinction between what is artistic and what is not?
they use ordinary objects and display it as art
Why does postmodern art so often employ the form of collage?
it embraces multiculturalism & pluralism
What is performance art?
art that is temporary & is watched. The audience’s reaction is part of the art
According to Michel Benamon, what is the “unifying mode of the post-modern”? What does he mean by this? What German artist typified this form?
performance; it’s only temporary; Joseph Beuys
What characterizes the art of Andy Warhol?
mass reproductions, puts everything at the same level
What common feature of the big city best represents the architecture of modernism?
skyscrapers
What is the basic principle upon which the modernist aesthetic is based?
“form follows function”
What were the foundational values of architects of modernism?
the Enlightenment confidence in human reason, the orderliness in nature, & the utilitarian value system
What does Veith refer to as the “supreme postmodernist art form”?
the electronic media
What is “metafiction”?
fiction about fiction
Give some examples of “magical realism.”
Groundhog Day, Touched by an Angel, Batman
What is the problem with multiculturalism?
it leads to relativism, cultures begin to think all cultures are the same
How does Christians have a basis for “good multiculturalism”?
We are all related through being created in the image of God
List eight tenets of postmodernism.
1) Social constructivism
2) Cultural Determinism
3) Rejection of Individual Identity
4) Rejection of Humanism
5) Denial of Transcendent
6) Power reductionism
7) Rejection of Reason
8) Revolutionary Critique of Existing Order
To what does Charles Colson say relativism will lead politically?
tyranny; without absolutes=no restraint of majority
What is the postmodernist understanding of the Constitution of the United States?
it is a living organism that must be changed as society evolves
Give some examples of mutually contradictory ideas characteristic of the postmodern mindset.
believing in Reincarnation & the Bible
a health fanatic doing drugs
abortion is morally wrong but I’m pro-choice
What is the difference between “knowledge” and “information”?
knowledge- substantial & tangible
info- fleeting & ever-changing
Why is giving grades in school problematic for a postmodernist?
it implies that some work/students are better than others, implies that there’s a standard
What is the modernist view of the Bible ?
it is like any other historical document; they tried to demythologize it
What is the postmodernist criterion for deciding theological doctrine?
preference
What is the cardinal virtue of postmodernism?
tolerance
What 2 world religions have clear affinities with postmodernism? Explain.
Hinduism & Buddhism; “the external world is an illusion spun by the human mind”
What is “technopoly”?
technology acquires a monopoly over all of culture
What is confessionalism? Why does Veith think it s necessary?
confessing the faith against a syncretic church; it would force Christians to return to the roots & can regain their vitality & testify to a core of Biblical truth
What form of worship does Veith suggest might be welcomed by postmodernists?
traditional, worship of the past
On what two foundational conecepts does Veith say the church must stand firm?
morality & truth
