A Revelation Moment
ApologeticsJust had an email from an old friend asking for help to compile a book list. The theme of the booklist is Christian responses to the challenge of postmodern semiotics, Saussurean signifieds and signifiers, believe it or not.
If that last sentence means absolutely nothing to you don't worry at all, its better that way. Its just an indication of how geeky I was in a previous life.
Reading my friend's email made me realise how much I have changed in recent years. I used to spend all my energies trying to respond to big intellectual issues. Its not that I don't think that's important any more, just that it is only of use to a tiny set of Christians (who are, admittedly at the cutting edge of some very important issues of truth and interpretation).
These days I think that serving the church as widely as possible ought, for me, to involve considering issues that are of every day consequence to the discipleship and mission of every Christian. Hence there being much more about discipleship, grace, Christ-centredness and glory on this blog than there is about postmodern semiotics.
However, the point at which my old interests do still continue to bite for me is this: I think it is crucial that every Christian is able to defend truth. Anyone who is unable to give a reason for the hope they have will not defend that hope when asked. It is necessary not only to have a hope but to be able to express the reason you have it. That's apologetics - not of the fancy academic sort, but of the every day, every Christian, sort.
Thinking back on some of the work I used to do leads me to this concern: I wonder if by so concentrating at the academic end, I and others interested in apologetics essentially took it out of the hands of every Christian. I wonder if we communicated that this is the advanced stuff, rather than the normal stuff. I wonder if we put people off by using words that were too long. I wonder how many people felt disempowered from giving a reason for their hope rather than empowered. I wonder if, at least for a while, I made a priesthood out of apologists?
There are lots of questions people have about the faith and lots of good answers. But these days I start any apologetics training I do in a church in a very simple way. I ask "if you could say just one thing to someone about the hope you have, what would it be? If they only got to hear one thing from you ever what is the thing you would most want them to hear?"
My answer? "Jesus Christ is terrific. He has stolen my heart, forgiven my sins, and I am blown away by his brilliance. That's why I have hope." Hopefully that will make people ask some more after that! All apologetics and all apologetics training should have this as its one goal: how to tell people how amazing Jesus is in a way they are able to hear. And almost all apologetics training should be of the every day, every Christian, sort.
Reader Comments (6)
It would be great to have a post on postmodern semiotics and Saussaurean/Barthesian hijinks! I had to study Roland Barthes two years ago and was at a loss for how to respond at a better intellectual level than "this is silly"...
Ah, good old Roland Barthes. I have to say I have a sneaking regard for La Plaisire du Texte. The idea that words are tools for seduction is an interesting take on the power of good communication. It certainly seduced me - I shelled out £15 for 80 pages back in the mid 90s!
I might manage a post on Barthes at some point but am seriously out of touch with recent study, so don't hold your breath
By the way, Larry, what plugin do you use to power that animated label cloud on photizo?
I honestly can't remember what the exact plug-in is called but an updated/similar version is available from here
http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2008/08/blogumus-flash-animated-label-cloud-for.html
Blessings on your day,
Larry
Marcus
Whilst a detailed treatment of post-modern semiotics may not be what Joe Christian needs in their everyday apologetics, I think there is still a need to alert the church to these ways of thinking and their anti-Christian use. As an academic and a parent I can see that these ways of thinking are present in how secondary schools teach English literature (and probably other subjects) but most Christian parents are not aware of this and are unable to help their children to deal with the unwritten assumptions and the ways of thinking that undermine young people's Christian belief. The same ideas filter through in some writing in broadsheet newspapers.
There are plenty of books dealing with Christian responses to the 'science says God is dead' type of argument, from academic tomes to more popular treatments. What we seem to have had for post-modern attacks on Christianity is the more academic end of the spectrum, and what we need is something more aimed at Joe Christian setting out what is happening and what a Christian response is.If these ideas can be used effectively in newspapers then communicating about them at the right level to every Christian must be possible.
Unless of course there is a pile of books I've completely missed which deal with this issue...
Thanks Andrew
I basically agree with you, this post was mainly about where I think the majority of my time ought to be spent and why. And it isn't on Saussure any more, though once that was where I ought to have been spending it.
Your comment about books for Joe Christian is very pertinent. The reason I originally wrote Meltdown was a number of folk pointed out to me that there are two kinds of books on postmodernism:
1. Deals with (difficult) secular source material but is only aimed at postgrads
2. Is more popular but doesn't deal with any of the key secular material and is 1000 miles and half an inch deep
With nothing in between. I set out to write something that dealt with key material but at an accessible level for undergrads, which was the chief area of my work at the time. I assumed that 10 years later there would have been a flood of of books trying to do the same, but am amazed at how few there are. And if there are few for 18 year old undergrads, the number for their parents is even fewer (something like Gene Veith's Guide to Contemporary Culture is OK but now in need of a updating). We badly need something at tabloid level of accessability but that isn't overly simplistic.
You absolutely nail the chief issue to my mind which is that unwritten underlying postmdern assumptions are taught as fact for unthinking regurgitation without being explored or presented as one viewpoint of many. The great tactic of the postmodern secularist is to attempt to position themselves as the adjudicator of what counts as proper learning and what may and may not be said and taught, rather than one party in the discourse.
If you've missed the pile of books on the issue, so have I.