Understanding postmodernism

by Steve Cornell
Awareness of cultural context is vital to effective ministry.  Missionaries have known this for many years. Exploring the underlying ways people think and especially the way they view truth and reality should be required preparation for ministry. Those who minister in western cultures have recently recognized some significant shifts in the way people view [...]

The exasperating enigma of existence

By Steve Cornell

The story of humanity has always been a mixture of goodness and evil; love and hate; beauty and cruelty; life and death. Themes of dignity and depravity are relentlessly recurrent in all human cultures– at all times. There are times of deep happiness and peace, but thoughtful people realize know that things [...]

Character counts: But do we really want it?

“We say we want renewal of character in our day but we don’t really know what we ask for… We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having [...]

Postmodern smirk

“Postmodernists reject unifying, totalizing, and universal schemes in favor of a new emphasis on difference, plurality, fragmentation and complexity. Postmoderns are suspicious of truth claims, of ‘getting it right.’”                        

       (Kevin Vanhoozer, “The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology”) 

Postmodernists promote anti-theory by using theoretical tools to neutralize all theories. They demand a type of uniformity in an effort to [...]

Is the Bible really from God? part 1

Sometimes it becomes necessary to restate the basic truths that many had considered to be clear for years. Such a time has come regarding the origin and nature of the Bible. At the present moment in the life of the Church, there is a definite need to reaffirm with deep conviction and clarity the divine [...]

Loss of knowledge: A professor of Jewish history provokes a few thoughts

How far have we drifted? Bernard Dov Cooperman (Associate Professor of Jewish History at the University of Maryland), in a recent letter to the editor (Newsweek, 9-03-07) acknowledged that “…our society is more than happy to accept spin and cant because we have come to believe that all expertise is bias, that all knowledge is [...]

Postmodernity and Genesis 1-4

By Steve Cornell
A compelling example of the way the bible connects with the human story is found in the consequences to human rebellion against the Creator. Recorded in the third chapter of Genesis, seven consequences emerge. Interestingly, each one affects a major area of human existence. Each one also provides a background to the primary occupational [...]

Is there a narrative for all people?

Is there a narrative or story that applies to all humans throughout all history? Does anything speak to us with univocal impact? I believe that the Bible is the narrative that best explains the human story. It answers the main questions of life: Origin: Where did we come from? Meaning: Why are we here? Morality: [...]

What is the Emergent Church?

The purpose of this article is to critique a relatively new wave of Christian identity known as the Emergent Church. It is a rapidly growing network of individual believers and Churches who would prefer to be understood as a conversation or a friendship rather than an organization. Yet due to overwhelming interest, those who have joined the [...]

What does “postmodern” mean?

We live in a postmodern world. Or, so we’re told. But what does this mean? Postmodern is a word used to describe major changes in the underlying ways people think—especially the way people view truth and reality. Understanding postmodernity requires an understanding of modernity. But before we lived in a modern era, the world was considered [...]