Why I Hate (and Love) Postmodernity: A Lesson in Cynicism

Dear Dan,

Here I sit, typing on one of the finest pieces of machinery every created, the Intel-powered, iLife equipped, 24″ Apple iMac. The knowledge of good and evil never tasted so good, Apple would lead us to believe, and I would be hard pressed to argue with them. The computer is equipped with its own recording studio, Garage Band, and also with its own built-in camera, Photo Booth, which allows you to stare at yourself in a small window while you surf the Internet and listen to your customized playlist on iTunes. Truly the 21st century is all about “i” and not about “me”. Perhaps Apple doesn’t capitalize the “I” in their products because they wish to appear “inConspicuous” about marketing their hip, personalized electronics to egomaniacs.

As advanced as this brave new world that we live in is, still (as you know), postmodernism has it’s drawbacks. Personally, I believe we tend to get lost in our own little “iLives”, and frankly, it’s a pet peeve of mine to see people walk down the street, ear buds in and completely oblivious to your “Hello’s” or “Hey, watch it’s!” Pretty soon we will have plotted out and customized our trivial little lives from beginning to end and the mystery of life that we postmoderns are so hip on will have shriveled to the size of a little latte-soaked microchip. My friend Mike commented the other day that we are slowly turning into a Star Trek civilisation, equipped with little pieces of electronics that stick out our ears and eyes like the Borg (ironically, he said this as he talked to me with a Bluetooth headset obliviously planted in his ear). If that is the case, then here’s to that old Vulcan adage, “Live long and prosper.”

If I sound pessimistic it’s not because I am. It’s just that I suppose I’m what could be called a “Biblical realist”. In the last days men will be lovers of themselves, says the beloved Paul, and no doubt the iLife lifestyle is propelling us into such a communal-less existence. Funny how we postmoderns are so hip on community and yet even hipper on individuality. This occurred to me as I was sitting in a posh Oregon District (Dayton) coffee bar, the pub and tavern of our day. Many people were sitting just inches from one another, drinking their coffee or imported beer (I with the latter), and at the same time were completely oblivious to the outside world, so engulfed in their books, plugged into their computers, and tuned into their iPods were they. I couldn’t help but feel as though what was once considered a haven for community (the pub/tavern) had now been robbed of it’s warmth and cordiality and was now, in fact, more of a brothel than a community table. With each dime and in each cup, our generation buys a false sense of intimacy. We buy community, we engage in some sort of intellectual whoredom like a man who wants to feel a warm body but stay far away in his mind. Pleasure, it seems, is still found in the companionship that is purchased solely for one’s selfish gratification. It seems that no amount of ritz could warm the cold-heartedness and the rash of individualism that that coffee bar is now frequented with. The pub is dead. Long live the pub.

This was very sad to me, the condition of this “generation lost in space” (to quote Don McLean’s American Pie), who find in themselves a great desire to dwell in community and an even greater desire to isolate themselves. Musicians and artists always seem to recognize the trends 30-40 years before they become a concrete reality and doesn’t Paul Simon speak so prophetically of your and my generation? “I have my books and my poetry to protect me; I am shielded in my armor, hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain; And an island never cries.”

I suppose it’s not that bad everywhere (certainly not in the rural culture), but the post-modern urban landscape seems so gray. Perhaps I myself am too postmodern in my assessment of the matter, but I know that our dear Mark Palmer (a vanguard in the Emergent movement) described this brave new world as “edgy”. I’m glad to see that the Emergents were the first to notice this culture shift and have taken the lead in bringing some gaiety back into the lives of the “iLifers”. Life is full of color. We white people don’t tend to understand that very well. If the postmodern generation is the bleakest, most self-absorbed generation the world has seen in quite some time, then we eagerly wait for the manifestation and revelation of a vivid, selfless God. And above all Jesus, His cross, His death and resurrection, and His Life (present tense) reflect this. It was the message of the Apostle John: We have come to know not an iLife, but The Life.

Switching gears a bit, I’ve been diving into McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy, which I couldn’t help but notice was being critiqued so heavily in Becoming Conversant With The Emerging Church by Carson. Both of these books are mentioned in the article that I passed on to you from Christianity Today. I found it quite beneficial and am now beginning to understand that the Emergents are somewhat of a reform group not unlike the Anabaptists of the 15th-16th centuries. Strong on community, strong on orthopraxy, and anti-creedal for the same reason the Anabaptists found that systematic theology tended to be too narrow of an expression of the Life. And yes, among every reform group, there are the extreme left-wingers (like the Zwickau Prophets and Muentzer who fueled The Peasant’s War), but wisdom has always been known by her children. The Emergent Church has even come full-circle (or so I think) and is now embracing the Catholic and Orthodox side of the faith, the latter expression having piqued my interest as of late.

We Evangelicals (if I don’t consider myself one, at least I call them my associates), so deeply trenched in our fundamental modernity have become too postmodern for our own good; Hiding in our rooms, safe within our wombs, touching no one and letting none touch us. We’ve all done such a fine job of labeling organisations heretical that we’ve broken our contact within those groups supposing anyone who might be associated with them shares their same damning heresy. Perhaps I shouldn’t speak for “we”, but I don’t feel as though I speak alone. I hope and pray that if the Emergents only bring about a breakdown of denominationalism they will have served their role in the story as prophetic breakers. I don’t see the U.S. and U.K. Emergent movement as an end in itself (hence “emergent”), but I certainly believe they are going to help propel our white culture into the story that is rapidly becoming global Christianity. Do we believe in the holy catholic church like we affirm in our Apostle’s Creed? I hope we do.

These are my musings. I pray for a brave new world where we as Christians can come together and lay our fears aside and realize the prayer that Jesus prayed right before He was betrayed and crucified, “Father, I pray that they might be one, even as You and I are one.”

Best,

Nate