Hey Lucie! I'm Home....

Finally finished school! Well, almost, I have to finish one final paper for my epistemology class. I'm writing on the postmodern role of scripture. Here is a quote from a postmodern theologian, Brad Kallenberg

Outsiders can read the Bible but cannot read the Scriptures because the term Scripture epitomizes the stance one takes toward the moral authority of the canonical text. (Taken from Virtues & Practices in the Christian Tradition: Christian Ethics after MacIntyre, edited by Nancy Murphy, Brad J. Kallenberg & Mark Thiessen Nation.)

Very interesting to say the least. Postmodern Christianity is a very slippery subject. On the surface it sounds okay, but once you start lifting the layers of rhetoric, it gets kinda' smelly! Take Kallenberg's statement above, for example. Does the Bible have moral authority over non-believers? Traditional Christianity would say, "Yes!" But, Kallenberg would say "not really." According to Kallenberg and other Postmodern theologians one would have to be an insider. He goes on to state

Using Scripture as the lens through which life is viewed, one becomes capable of learning to see in a whole new way. Assuming this stance is identical to becoming an insider to the believing community.

See at first I would not have a problem with Kallenberg's statement. I do believe Scripture for a believer is life changing, but is the Scripture only authoritative to believers? Will God not hold unbelievers accountable for His revealed Word because they are not in "the believing community"? Because they don't accept the Bible as Scripture? If the Bible is only authoritative to Christians because they are within the believing community, then are we just fooling ourselves?

It doesn't sound right once you start asking biblical questions? Hopefully over the next few weeks I will share some of the things that I'm learning about Postmodern Christianity.