dissertation

101
spirituality, 70 without the necessity of organized religion. 71 Postmodernity, then, functions
as an umbrella term that covers a variegated number of contemporary and sometimes
paradoxical 72 cultural and social processes. Seen from an analytic viewpoint, this is
not very satisfying, because it is difficult to see where postmodernity grinds to a halt –
so to speak – and where influences of something else take over (e.g. modernity, pre-modernity,
or perhaps ‘counter-postmodernity’ or ‘post-postmodernity’ 73 ). This does not,
however, mean that we suggest it would be better dropped. 74 It may be used, but in a
careful way, for example, in the way that the sociologist David Lyon shows in his book
Jesus in Disneyland.
“The condition of postmodernity,” Lyon suggests, “is best thought of as a social-cultural
configuration, whose contours became increasingly clear from the 1980s, and whose
effects are felt in many parts of the world....Above all, the postmodern relates to the development
and diffusion of communication and information technologies, and to the
growth of consumerism.” 75 Other aspects of postmodernity that Lyon mentions in his
68
“One thing on which all researchers are agreed,” says practical theologian John Drane, “is that creativeclass
people [to which ECM-sympathizers are thought to belong, RD] will run a mile from anything that
smacks of inauthenticity.” John Drane, After McDonaldization: Mission, Ministry, and Christian Discipleship in
an Age of Uncertainty (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 136. Note however that different researchers
have emphasized that “finding authenticity extremely attractive is a very modern [emphasis added] disposition.”
James S. Bielo, Emerging Evangelicals: Faith, Modernity, and the Desire for Authenticity (New York:
New York University Press, 2011), 18.
69
Of course, consumerism was already a mark of ‘modernity’. However, in postmodernity consumerism has
gained a prominent position on the terrains of – for example – personal well-being (e.g. therapy), spirituality,
and sexuality. In this respect, at least, postmodernity is not so much a break with modernity, but rather
an intensification and acceleration of ‘modern’ societal characteristics and developments.
70
Cf. historian W. Johnston: “The word ‘spirituality’ has never before been as fashionable as it is today in
the developed world, while Christians in the Third World remain largely oblivious to it. The term has become
a marker of the postmodern era in the West.” William M. Johnston, “The Spirituality Revolution and
the Process of Reconfessionalisation in the West Today,” in John Stenhouse en Brett Knowles, eds., Christianity
in the Post Secular West (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2007), 152.
71
Indeed, as David Boshart found out during his empirical research, many people today appear to exhibit a
“low sense of commitment to organized religion...that makes participation less than top priority.” David
W. Boshart, Becoming Missional: Denominations and New Church Development in Complex Social Contexts (Eugene,
OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 80.
72
An example of a paradox within contemporary (American) culture that Boshart encountered in a Mennonite
church plant was that of “postmodern individuals seeking an experience of community [emphasis
added] that validates their individuality [emphasis added].” See Boshart, Becoming Missional, 79.
73
Cf. Paul Hiebert on what he calls the “Post-Postmodern or Glocal Worldview.” Paul Hiebert, Transforming
Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,
2008), 241-264.
74
In France, Paul Klawitter notes, the term ‘postmodernity’ is not en vogue among sociologists, “because it
communicates the message that modernity is passé (a politically incorrect message in a country that incarnates
Enlightenment values), and because vestiges of modernism live on in postmodernity.” After an extended
discussion, his conclusion nevertheless is straightforward: “Evangelicals need to take postmodernity seriously;
it is real and it is here.” See Paul Klawitter, “Youth and Church: Shall the Twain Connect? A Comparative
Analysis of the Emergent French Youth Culture and Contemporary Church Planting Approaches”
(DMin thesis, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2005), 93 and 440.
75
David Lyon, Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Times (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000), 37.