Is Pomo Nomo?

(Ed. Note: Chris Seay responds to recent columns on postmodernism by Kevin Miller.)

Yes, Kevin, let’s lose the word “postmodern.” It’s used so often it has become little more than a place keeper, or worse, a sordid synonym for “being cool.” I vote we lose the fads. Keep your flash animation and dark roasted coffee (I’m a tea drinker anyway). But this reformation is not about web graphics and libations; it is one of substance that will outlast our current lingo. I’m excited you will join us in San Diego at the Emergent convention because as you join our generative friendship, you (and D’Souza, whom you quote, for that matter) will find out that this transition is rooted in carefully contemplated and heartfelt beliefs. These are some of the things you may discover over a few fish tacos on a patio in California:

We don’t all head off to the hospital when we get sick. In fact my family’s health care practitioners are homeopaths, naturopaths, and alternative providers. My children are not born in the sterile confines of an operating room; they are welcomed to the world in a large bathtub in our living room by a midwife, family, and spiritual community. Insane as it may seem to modern man whose love of science is immeasurable, we do not immunize our children or have a love affair with psychotherapy.
Linear thought will not be abandoned, but we must realize it is not the panacea. So preach Romans fifty weeks a year and ignore the wisdom literature, but don’t act surprised when your church is filled only with fearful suburbanites and the engineers you love so much.
The building phase has begun, a new worldview is emerging that is no longer articulated simply by its antithesis. In fact, we consider the “Emergent Convention” a ground-breaking ceremony because the centerpiece will be the future, not the blunders of the past. The demolition will continue, but we will forge ahead building much more than we tear down.
No one is completely rejecting modernity. We are rejecting the worship of modernity, her favored children ‘reason and science’, her belief in the progress of man, and her arrogant pyramids (i.e., Maslow and Food Groups).
Stop defining beauty like it is embodied by a Thomas Kincaid painting. Beauty is about reality, and the church has neutered the gospel. It’s time to celebrate aesthetic actuality instead of evangelical fantasy.
I am not familiar with anyone foolish enough to believe the “post modern matrix is the savior of the church.” Any culture is at best neutral to the gospel. If my friends and I are PPM’s then it should be clear we are championing the gospel and missional values, not what you describe as “ministry intentionally influenced by postmodern theory.”
Postmodern theory has already transformed academia, the arts, and sciences. In fact, Modern Science ended with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. So be cautious celebrating modernity’s triumphs in everything from aerospace, Rifkin’s Biotech Century, and the so-called modern gene-splicers. It is undue praise and sounds a bit like Al Gore taking credit for the Internet.
It’s not nice to objectify truth, she doesn’t like it. Just allow her to be who she is, accurate and dependable. Your wife wouldn’t like being treated like an ‘object’ and neither does she.

I could go on, but it may not help. Rant and counter-rant will only create more frustration. There is more to this transition than the merits of the argument. Instead of debating our propositions and creating malice and division (a la Piper and Pinnock), I invite you into relationship—let’s be pals. You know, eat good food, talk theology, and go see a movie. I’m sure we could both learn a lot, I’ll have you eating tofu and wearing Birkenstocks in no time and, who knows, maybe I’ll alliterate a sermon or two.

Kevin, I’m offering to be your friend; I’ll take your back if you’re suddenly surrounded by a group of irate, goateed dissidents at the Emergent Convention who want to carry you off and give you a prison tattoo that says “I Love Jacque Derrida” squarely on your modern tush. But help me out a little; let’s proofread your next response before you say something else like “Remember there was great community among the Gestapo, the Nixon administration, and the execs at Enron.” Since when did lying, cheating, and stealing become the pillars of communal life? I’m no expert on the Nixon administration, but I took two masters courses in Holocaust studies and wrote a book on Enron. These people had none of the characteristics of “great community.”

Enron routinely fired and demoted over 30 percent of their workforce, a system called “the Rank and Yank” to keep everyone competitive, unsettled, and looking over their shoulders. These people despised one another. None of the groups you listed share a real communal identity; they were seeking their own good above all else.

When you buy me lunch, we should talk more about community, family, embodied truth, and the Hebrew understanding of corporate personality. If we get dessert, we could work on reinterpreting the radical views on the “priesthood of the believer” common in today’s churches.

So, I agree, “postmodern” is tired and overused, because most Christians still don’t know what it means, thus stupid questions like “Are those shoes postmodern?” and “Cars are modern so when are you gonna stop driving?” It is time for some new words and new directions. Let us lift our glass to the p-word. The old girl got us this far, but our eyes are now keenly focused on the phoenix emerging from the ashes.

Chris Seay founded Ecclesia, a church in Houston, Texas and before that University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. He is also the author of “The Gospel According to Tony Soprano” (J.P. Tarcher, 2002) and “The Tao of Enron” (with Christopher Bryan, NavPress, 2002).

Read Leadership Weekly readers’ responses to the Postmodern debate.

Read Kevin Miller’s first column “Nomo Pomo—A Postmodern Rant: Why we can and should talk about something else.”

Read Kevin Miller’s follow-up “Pomos vs. Mods—The Smackdown: Boy, did you respond.