Post modernism, as a worldview and as a secular trend, has made its impact greatly in our contemporary world. The pre- modern and the modern era had brought its share of philosophical and intellectual worldview which revolutionized the social, political, scientific world. The transition from pre modern to the modern world gradually altered man’s understanding, not just of the physical realm of the universe but even the metaphysical realm. One of the most important development of the modern world is Secularization. Secular or secularization can be understood in different ways. It could mean the separation of the church from the state, the detachment of religion and religious beliefs from political and social life, the reduction of the metaphysical reality to a mere ideological concept and opinion. Secularization has reached its full bloom in the postmodern world. The belief in the existence of God is diminished as the postmodern era continues to manufacture secular worldviews and philosophical criticisms that attempt to completely erase the reality of the being of God from the face of the earth.As a result, belief in God has become rationally and logically absurd for many. For others, belief in God has become an optional mode of lifestyle. One area where postmodernism has made tremendous inroads is in the field of literary criticism. Most of the methods of literary criticism employed by the postmodern thinkers seek to eliminate the relevance of the author in the interpretation of the text. Whether it be the method of deconstruction, structuralism, historical criticism, reader response criticism; all these criticisms undermines the importance of the author (of the text) in deriving the meaning of any literary text. This has led to the development of a secular ideology, defined through the phrase “the death of the author,” which in turn resonates the famous phrase, “God is dead,” popularized by German atheistic philosopher Frederich Nietzsche. Postmodern literary critics attempt to dethrone the author and enthrone the interpreter. For postmodern critics the author is dead or irrelevant and the meaning of the text is redefined by the interpreter.
Christianity is a religion that believes in the divine revelation of God and formulates all its doctrines and beliefs from the revealed words of God (the text) in the Bible. God has spoken and His words are recorded in a propositional format in the form of the text of the Scriptures. Applying postmodern methods of literary criticism on the Biblical text will yield dangerous consequence and results. Such literary criticism isolates the text and treats the text independent of the author. To eliminate the author or the authorial intend in interpretation is to rob the text of its purpose and the truths embedded within the text. Once the author’s intended meaning is discarded, there is a flood gate through which diverse and distorted interpretation pours in. In writing the text of the Scripture, God inspired the human authors in such a way that they recorded God’s word to man without any errors (inerrant). This inerrant document that God has passed unto us has God’s authority vested upon it. God exercises His authority over His people through His Word, i.e., the propositional text of the Scriptures. God’s purpose in giving His revelation in a propositional written form is to reveal His will, plan, purpose and truth to man. God (the author of the text) cannot be separated from His Word(the text) and vice versa. To neglect His word is to neglect Him; to undermine His word is to undermine Him; to exclude His word from our plans and schemes is to exclude Him from the same. A society or a people that neglects God’s word and has no room for God’s word in its midst destroys the only lifeline for its stability and coherent existence.
Relativism, another major ideological arrow in the quiver of postmodern thinking, has been stealthily making its insidious influence upon our society. For a postmodernist, truth is a social construct. Anyone can determine and decide what truth is, based on his own situation and personal taste. What you hold as true might not be true for others and vice-versa. There is no objective standard for measuring what is morally right and wrong. An example that will best illustrate this point is the March 5th incident, when hundreds of people publicly tortured and murdered a man at the city tower in Dimapur, without proper and legal trial. Many condemned the killing, deeming it as morally and ethically wrong, and unlawful. But at the same time there were hundreds of people who were involved in shouting slogans of capital punishment, taking the law into their hands, controlled by the mindset that what they were doing was right and justifiable. Through this incident our society got a graphic glimpse of the chaos and destruction that a state of Anarchy can bring about. Postmodernism places total freedom to the individual to decide what is right or wrong, to construct his own definition of truth. The end result is Anarchy. There is only one source through which the individual and the society can find undiluted, undistorted, unbiased truth – the Word of God. The only tangible objective standard by which the society can establish proper principles of moral and ethical conduct and the purpose for its existence is within the text of the Scriptures.
From the Old Testament times through the early centuries of the New Testament era, only trained scribes and priests were given authorization for the interpretation of the Biblical text. In Church history, from early medieval up to the pre modern times, the study of theology was considered as the queen of sciences, and only an elite group of trained theologians were granted ecclesiastical permission for the interpretation of the text of the Scripture to the people. In our society today, the same approach is a must if we are to let God bring transformation to the society. The pastor-teachers and theologians, who have academic credentials, are the interpretive agents of the text for the society. This is not to say that everyone who has gone to a Bible college or seminary automatically becomes an expert in its interpretation; nor am I saying that academic credentials and capacities alone are necessary for the interpretation of God’s word. The Bible, being a divine book needs divine enablement in understanding and interpretation. No matter how many theological degrees a person has earned for himself, without the divine enablement of the Holy Spirit known as illumination, it is impossible for any interpreter to draw out the author intended meaning from the text. But that being said, the knowledge and study of the historical-literary-grammatical context of the text, the application of proper hermeneutical principles and basic understanding of systematic theology are indispensable in deriving the authorial intent of the text. Therefore, to commit the pulpit to a person who is not professionally trained and equipped from a theological college or seminary is to place the text at the mercy of someone who would very likely misinterpret the meaning, thus distorting the authorial intent of the text.If the pastor-teachers and preachers in our churches do not take these things into account, then we are no less in committing the same crime as the postmodern literary critics, placing the interpreter above the author (of the text) and allowing him to bring his own interpretation to text, which then becomes his words, not God’s word. For this reason, no matter how fluent or eloquent a person may be in his oratory and rhetoric aptitude,the Church must exercise the utmost caution as to whom it endows the permission to interpret the text. Only when the Churches and our pulpits are taken over by committed, qualified, gifted pastor-teachers and preachers, can there be real transformation of the society. The solution to our societal problems is not economical, political, nor physical. The solution lies in the clear indoctrination of the Word of God and the impartation of sound biblical teaching by the Church and its preachers to the people.
A person who is sick cannot provide aid to a sick person. In the same way, if the Church, which is God’s secondary (the Holy Spirit being the primary) transforming agent, is itself sick within, it cannot function efficiently in its mission to the secular world. The Church and the apex bodies of associations or denominations should carefully scrutinize the academic credentials, capacities and giftedness before appointing someone as pastor-teacher or committing the pulpit to a preacher. Clear exposition of God’s word by trained pastor-teachers, and sound biblical doctrinal teaching is the key to a healthy Church. The vigor and the vitality of the church depend on the Word of God, preached as God intended it to be preached: unbiased towards denominational trends; unprejudiced towards any particular class; not bounded by unscriptural traditions and norms of the Church. Only when the Church is healthy can it minister efficiently to the outside world and become a transforming agent to the secular world.
The wave of the postmodern world, characterized by such traits as relativism, breakdown of authority, deconstruction of moral foundations, liberation of the individual free will, freedom of expression etc., is upon our society. This wave will slowly turn into a tornado and destroy every moral and ethical foundation which holds the society together. There is an uncontrolled growth of organizations, unions and groups mushrooming, which seek to uphold its own vested interest and principles. The very authority and institution of the Government has been questioned an attacked many times. If this continues, postmodern worldview will triumph in bringing about its desired goal – the breakdown of the Government and establishment of total anarchy in the state. The only safeguard against this postmodern and secular worldviews, trying to destroy the very fibers that hold our society together is God, through His Words. The Church, theologians, pastor-teachers have has a tremendous responsibility in implementing the authority of God in the society through clear exposition of His words to the people. The source of our societal defects and problems is neither economic nor political, nor physical, but spiritual in nature. Until the second return of Christ, the Government will remain corrupted and fraudulent in one aspect or the other; economic problems will continue to rise and exist; political tensions will escalate; the physical body will deteriorate with each passing year. Complete peace, righteousness and order can be established only when Christ returns and establishes His kingdom and rule on this earth. Only then will there be a perfect Government, a corruption free society, overall removal of economic problems, alleviation of health issues, a world without epidemics, free of all societal problems that we are facing now. Until then, our only chance at achieving stability and coherence in this degenerated, decadent and depraved society is to anchor ourselves to the Word of God. Our society needs a revival – not of euphoric emotional experience, not of the latest contemporary worship songs, nor celebrity like preachers and pastors who are mere motivators than expositors (of the text), nor display of extravagance crusades. A revival of clear exposition and delivery of God’s truth and doctrines to the people is the urgent need of the hour.
Petekhrietuo Mhasi
Asian Mission College
