Postmodernism and Youth Ministry

An Introduction

Kopp

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781498272353
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

There are a number of ministers today that are unaware of the characteristics of postmodernism and of how it affects our young people. This book is written for all who work with youth and young adults in ministry; be they youth minister, youth pastor, director of religious education, Sunday school teacher, high school or college campus minister, or pastor or pastoral associate. It is an introduction to and framework for youth ministry and postmodernism. By bringing together and synthesizing the present literature on postmodern theory and guides for youth ministry, this book begins the discussion and lays the groundwork for a more comprehensive model and study for the future of youth ministry with a postmodern generation together with ideas for the working youth minister to begin implementation today.

1

Modernism

The list of labels that can be applied to historic epochs is seemingly endless. The first major division that can be agreed upon, though with no definite date, is that between history and prehistory. Prehistory is that time before written records.1 Before we come to the Modern Age, we have the Premodern Age. Premodern is different from prehistory. There are many more subdivisions that we could include within Premodern: Ancient, Late Ancient, Dark Ages, Early Medieval, High Medieval, Late Medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern, etc. Not all of these strictly follow premodern characteristics, but the key characteristics of this age were still present throughout. “Premodern human beings believed that the universe was the playground of the gods or God. Life was beyond human control and could be explained only in supernatural terms. Natural disasters and illness were interpreted as signs of divine displeasure. Chaos reigned in the universe. The only way to bring order to human existence was to befriend or placate the gods, thus ensuring their cooperation in battling the evil and the chaos.”2 Fear, sacrifice, and supplication rule throughout this age, which includes the religions of early humanity; i.e. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Judaism, and Christianity. “The church existed within this premodern worldview through its first seventeen centuries. The early church was born into a pluralistic context in which various religions sought to explain reality and to offer hope and solace to their constituents . . . the idea of God’s absolute power and authority over all of human life formed the foundation for the premodern Christian worldview.”3 Even into the Reformation, premodernism remained, but the seeds were planted for change.

The definite time of the Modern Age comes with Rene Descartes in 1641 with the publication of Meditations on First Philosophy, which includes his cogito: “I think, therefore, I am.” Descartes’ goal was to find the truths of existence without being prejudiced by any mistakes made by previous philosophers throughout history. He began by doubting all that he saw and experienced around him. One by one he eliminated the people and things in the world around him. He proceeded with this until he doubted all that existed, even God. What he was left with was the insight that even within this realm of doubt of all that is, he himself still was present as the one thinking these thoughts.4 He then proceeded to rebuild an entire system of philosophy and explanation of all that is from this foundation. What made this so revolutionary was the fact that the base of his thought is the human being as a rational creature. The existence of everything, including God, was derived from the existence of one person. With this placement of the human at the center of attention, and the center of the universe, the world moved away from the medieval and premodern mindset of God at the center.

With the cogito as our starting point, we can proceed to a summary of the entire Modern Age. As Matt Kelley states, “the human mind is lifted up as the apex of evolution because of its capacity to reason.”5 We have moved through the ages of the premodern, with mystery and crediting all things to a distant God, to a time of the fullness of evolution where the human mind alone can comprehend all the secrets of the universe through the use of reason. “From this anthropocentric self-understanding which so characterizes modernity come all the features of modernity.”6

As we have seen, the cogito does not just make humanity the center. The wording actually places the “I,” the personal subject, at the center of attention. Everything other than the “I” was pushed aside, as all of reality and the truths of existence were found within myself. Descartes made “I” the center and everything else was “Other.” It is “I” alone that can answer all of the questions, with only the help of my own reason. Reason and logic examine the world and discover certain similarities, consistencies, and commonalities. These similarities are studied and theories, axioms, and laws are developed to explain everything, which can then be used to explain new situations by applying these laws. The modern mind looks at what unites things and what is recognizable in new things. Gibbs and Bolger’s exploration found that “inherent to the logic of modernity was a resolve to remove the ambivalent, to remove all that did not fit.”7 What unites us is what is true. Everything that makes us different or unique is ignored or left to accident and unimportant.8

With this emphasis on reason, what of the mystical or the idea of faith? Reason can solve everything; as it tosses out all that is unreasonable, it downplays faith. All the miracles and the fantastic stories of the saints and the Bible are removed from consideration as they cannot be explained by reason. Religion itself is scrutinized under the objective lens of reason. Taking into consideration the concept of the “Other,” the objects that are beyond myself need to be analyzed, but in doing this, the process creates a self-centeredness. I am always the one analyzing, with the beginning of each phase of the process seen in terms of my own experience. Each analysis treats anything beyond myself as something to be observed and compared to myself. All thought of anything other than myself still involves myself. If I can comprehend all things with my own reason alone, I do not need other people. “All connections with others became ‘extra’ and discretionary rather than understood as essential to being human.”9

This creates now a lack of need for other people, which can be seen most clearly in the realm of religion. The wisdom of scripture reaffirms the theological position that God created humanity as a community. When Adam was alone in the garden, God provided companionship and community. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18) In the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” from the Second Vatican Council, we are taught that God has “willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people.”10 We need community. To believe otherwise is dangerous for Christians, and all of humanity. It can lead to isolationism, a belief that humanity can do everything by itself. This is not true in terms of looking at all of the services we enjoy every day that others help provide, but in terms of denying the need for church or a faith community. The modern mindset believes that we can survive quite well now alone. We do not need God anymore. Our reason is enough to provide all of the answers.

All systems were questioned and reevaluated after the Enlightenment. The great system of humanity’s relationship with the divine and the supernatural were brought under the eye of scrutiny. Modernism believed that humans can survive on their own. Reason and its child, science, explained everything that used to be credited to or “blamed” on a god. Religion itself was measured by its reasonableness, not its efficacy. “Rationality is the measure of all truth, and reason is the chief means to knowledge.”11 The revelation that is taught by the Church has been put aside so that humanity can find the truth through its own process of doubt and investigation. “Traditional structures of authority (like the church) were challenged because they were considered to be an affront to people’s ability to think and reason for themselves.”12

With the loss of the traditional structures comes the loss of tradition itself. Anything that hinted at the supernatural, the mystical, or the magical was removed from sight. We were left with what was knowable, reasonable, and provable; with what could be seen, touched, and felt. This was considered to be the “Truth.” Truth and its smaller components, truths, can be applied as laws to all aspects of life. The world, as seen through the eyes of reason, follows certain truths. Robert J. Nash, a self-proclaimed postmodern character educator, claims that, “moral absolutists believe Background Truths that are presumed to be free from variability and error, that are underived, complete, and universally binding.”13 Only that which can be proved conclusively is true and these truths can then be applied to future discoveries and questions. As stated earlier, the Modern Era is characterized by a search for what unites humanity. This search is the ultimate search for truth and a fuller explanation of the world. Any evidence that leads away from this unity is thrown out. “Nonrational knowing is always subservient to rational kno...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Modernism
• Chapter 2: Postmodernism
• Chapter 3: Postmodern Youth
• Chapter 4: Youth Ministry
• Chapter 5: Postmodern Youth Ministry Part I: Learn From Our Experiments
• Chapter 6: Postmodern Youth Ministry Part II: Pastoral Applications
• Conclusion
• Bibliography