(This post is Part 3 of a series on the rise of the Postmodern world and its impact on Biblical Protestantism.  This post offers Biblical insight to the theological and spiritual changes we are witnessing in our day and how we ought to view them through the lens of Scripture.  These essays are an exploration of the continual impact of Postmodern thought upon Biblical Christianity.)

Naturally, when discussing such shifts in theological and philosophical thinking, the question among true Bible-believing Christians arises: what can we do about this new shift in the history of religion in the world?  The Bible provides a very simple answer to that question: NOTHING.  We cannot stop such religious and philosophical shifts which are simply part of the global rebellion of mankind against God and His sovereign rule.  Indeed, God does not expect us to start, stop or change the broad flow of human history.  One of the sad commentaries regarding current Evangelical thought and theology is that far too many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists are still living under the old New England Puritan and later Edwardsian pang of conscience that it is the Church’s responsibility both to change history and to usher in Christ’s kingdom.  The scripture is very clear: God is sovereign over the course and direction of human events, and God alone changes and directs the flow of time and historical development.  The duty of the Christian is simple: be faithful to God’s commands in the Holy Scripture no matter what may happen.  Hence, many a saint has spoken wisely, “Duty is mine, consequences are God’s.”  And a true Protestant, indeed a true Calvinist, would assert that in all circumstances of providence, our first duty in all of life is to trust God and to submit to His all wise and all sovereign will.

Having stated these observations, let us now turn the real question regarding this new shift in theology and thought in the Western world. The right question we should ask is not what is happening (descriptive) or what can we do about the present crisis of thought and theology (proactive), but rather the question we ought to ask is this:

What does the Scripture say about such a crisis of theology?  And how are we to view such a crisis in light of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ?

These are the fundamental questions we must ask ourselves in the query concerning an understanding of the times in which we live.  Indeed, every Christian in every age ought to ask this one question.  What does the scripture say about my times and circumstances?  Between the constant badgering of the secularist and the age old question of the devil himself, too many Christians have allowed themselves to think that the Bible does not address their time and circumstances. But in fact, the Bible does talk about different times and seasons, and through His word, Christ offers instruction for His church in all such times and occasions.  With this perspective in the mind, the question we ought to ask in such times of crisis is this:

How am I to view the current shift of theology and thought that is occurring, especially considering the overall traumatic effects it is having upon our economic, political, social, cultural, national and international circumstances?

Without a doubt, in our life time we will witness the total collapse of Protestantism as we have known it for the last five centuries.  But with the outward collapse of such a movement or an absence of a clear outward profession of faith, does that mean that the church of Jesus Christ shall cease to exist?  On the contrary, the scripture patently declares otherwise!  Christ will build His church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it!  That is the sure promise from Christ himself.  But that promise does not mean there will not be rises and falls in the history of the church until Christ returns.  So then, that fact being acknowledged, the proper question for us to consider is what should our duty be when faced with the traumatic shift of thought that is occurring in our day, and what can we as followers of Jesus Christ do to prepare for new world which we and our descendants may face: a world in which the Protestant havens we have known no longer exist and we are left in a theologically and ecclesiastically desolate wilderness.  It is this question that I hope to address in the essays to come.

(The following post is Part 2 of a three part series that I began in the previous post entitled, 9/11 and the death of the Modern.  While the first part focused on the philosophical and secular impact 9/11 to the Postmodern age, this section focuses on the theological impact of Postmodernism, particularly on Protestantism.  A third post will follow this one offering some concluding remarks.)

The more sobering reality of the epistemological revolution occurring in our day is not just that the Modern has fallen prey to the supplanting forces of the Postmodern, but that at the same time, the last gasps of a Post-Protestant Christianity are also quickly succumbing to the same principles of Postmodern thinking.  And when carefully examined, the principles of the Modern, the Postmodern, and the growing Post-Protestant Christianity are not only virtually identical, but these principles which they espouse are the same principles of religion adhered to by the Roman Church.  Thus, the sobering fact of this shift that we are witnessing in the opening years of the 21^st century is the very the reversal of the Protestant Reformation, not just in theological terms as occurred in the 20^th century, but also in ecclesiastical, cultural, social, economic and political terms.  Even secular historians acknowledge the Protestant Reformation transformed Europe and the United States into the great dominating social, cultural and political powers of the 18^th and 19^th centuries-often referred to as the great ‘Golden Age’ of the West.  But in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Modern destroyed the theology of the Reformation, creating instead the secular dispiriting dystopia of the 20^th century. And as we proceed into the 21^st century, having realized the emptiness of Modernism, humanity has embraced a new religion for its times, Post-modernism.

The consequence of this shift is even more frightening than that of the Protestant to the Modern, because while the Modern destroyed the theology of the Reformation which under girded the Western world, the Post-modern is actually destroying the outward institutions of Protestantism-including everything from the organized Protestant church to the rejection of constitutional representative government by the rule of law.  And all of this is happening as a result of the church’s and society’s embrace of the new Post-modern religion with its faith in human faith and its worship of the human ego.  And unless there is a swift and sudden reversal of these trends, we will very likely in our life times witness the complete and total collapse of those very institutions that we as Evangelical Protestants have all taken for granted for the last five centuries.  And all of this simply because of the great theological paradigm shift we are watching work itself out in our time.

Now as an aside, I should point out, not all professing Christians in our time are grieved by this shift.  In fact, there are many who profess to be Christians who would welcome the death of Protestantism as the next step in an Hegelian-like step of ecclesiastical progress that will once again unite Christendom into one institutional church.  And depending one’s theology and religious views, such an even might be a welcome triumph.  But as most of you already know, this author does not welcome the apparent death of Protestantism as a good thing for the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But I digress on that point, and will visit perhaps some time in the future.

Suffice to say this: As the modern age collapses into the ethereal smokey age of the Postmodern era (age sounds too sophisticated for our time), the radical change in philosophical thinking is also impacting the course of theology and church history in just as radical a change as our secular world.  And we cannot truly appreciate this change without understanding both the secular and religious elements of this epistemological revelation.

(The following essay is Part 1 of a 3-part series examining the rise of what I would call the Postmodern world and its impact on Protestant Christianity.  The original essay was close to 2,000 words. However, that length seemed to long for one blog post.  So I am posting the essay as a three-part series.  Nonetheless, you may wish to read all three parts consecutively to appreciate more fully the main thrust of the essay.  These observations were originally written in 2012 as part of an introduction to a sermon outline which I never completed. These thoughts really provide the philosophical and theological foundation for why I started this blog in 2013.)

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, proved to be the seminal event that defined the first decade of the 21st century if not for the entire century.  But it did not define that decade in geo-socio-political terms alone, but also in religious and theological terms. In the thirteen years since that attack on American soil, we have witnessed a significant shift in the philosophical, theological and religious paradigm of the 21st century world that may be regarded by future historians as the beginning of the new Post-modern world.  But what makes the post-modern world different from the modern world of the 20^th century?  The answer to that question is actually quite simple.  In the modern world, secularism was king, and religion was relegated to the status of a serf or a slave and was considered in the words of Karl Marx to be the “opiate of the people.” Throughout the better part of the 20^th century, economics, politics, cultural revolutions, science and philosophical enlightenment were the gods of the modern. Religion was considered out of date, passé, and most of all something to be discarded like the last vestiges of an old rag.  As a substitute for the religious convictions, experiences and paradigms that dominated the world up till the late 19^th century, the modern worshiped human reason, exalting it to the place of the supreme being of the universe.  This fact is actually quite ironic because while the modern worshiped reason, the modern was perhaps the most irrational of all the philosophical schools of the thought of the last 3000 years. But with the collapse of the great eschatological movements of the 20^th century-namely, Perfectionism, Progressiveism, Socialism, Communism, etc, the modern was left with nothing but empty shells of meaningless promises, failed hopes and empty dreams, and most of all, a world that seemed to have petered out of life, energy, vitality and purpose.  History had run its course according to the high priests of Modern religion, but humanity had still not yet reached utopia, the eschaton was not manifested, and we still had not regained Paradise.  Then, 9/11 occurred.

Suddenly the great hopes and aspirations of the modern which by the late 1990’s had obviously failed were now replaced with fear, terror, and the constant threat that our very way of life would be completely devastated in a short moment of time by an a small, but extreme group of militant religious terrorists.  For the first time since the world wars and the cold war of the 20^th century, Americans were faced with the full extent of their mortality, and hope was replaced with fear, optimism with terror, and confidence with despair. And in a sense, as the twin towers fell, their fall marked the final death of the modern, and out of those ashes, rising in the mist of the smoke of burning rubble, the foggy and ethereal post-modern age, and in particular, the post-modern’s rejection of a full orbed secularism in place of an inclusion of religion within the segmented world of human knowledge and understanding.

In one sense, this shift was a perfectly natural occurrence.  Just as an individual who suffers a life-threatening trauma will suddenly become aware of their mortality as well as their own spirituality, so the same principle is true with societies.  On September 11, 2001, our nation was suddenly, brutally and traumatically shaken from its lethargy and complacency, and brought face to face with the potential end of our existence as we knew it.  Hence, an embrace of faith in the post-9/11 world was perfectly normal.  But the real significance lies not in the embrace of the faith, but the peculiar nature of that faith which our society is now embracing.  That new type of faith marks the first major manifestation of our new Post-Modern religion that will very likely define the coming decades of the 21^st century.

What is this new object of worship for the Post-modern?  The Modern worshiped HUMAN REASON. The Post-modern worships HUMAN FAITH-faith in humanity, faith in some vague ill-defined spirituality, faith in experience, faith in secret knowledge, and ultimately, faith in subjectivism and its ultimate consequence, the human ego.  And faith in the human ego is perhaps the the SINE QUA NON of religion in our Post 9/11 world.

But this so-called religion is hardly new.  It is just another repackaging of the religion described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1.  Paul describes this religion as one that worships the ego and is manifested in self-pleasure, self-aggrandizement, and the assertion of one’s own will as supreme and sovereign over all things, including the Sovereign and Triune God.  In short, egotism is nothing more than the very sin that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were guilty of-the exaltation of oneself in the place of God.  And Egotism (whether in faith, knowledge or the human will) is now quickly replacing the Modern faith in secular reason and pure rationalism.  This is the death of the Modern which has given birth to the Postmodern.

With the escalating civil war in Iraq, Americans are once again asking if our military personnel and material will be called upon a second time to occupy this desert nation as was done in 2003-2012.  Some of you may know that I had reservations about the initial invasion in 2003, and as events unfolded in the subsequent years, my reservations were confirmed as it became clear this military endevour was an even greater mistake than the invasion and occupation of Vietnam in the 1960’s.  In December, 2008, I wrote the following letter to the editor of the Times Examiner newspaper here in Greenville protesting the invasion and occupation of of Iraq by our central government and its armed forces.  This past week, I looked at my copy of that letter and was reminded that the fears I had regarding the failure of American policies in Iraq were now coming to pass.  I offer this letter as statement of protest against the failed policy of the past and once again to remind the citizens of our great nation that if ever there was a time for making a radical change in our foreign policy now is that time. Politics and public policy change with the wind, but the moral truths and commands of the inspired and inerrant Word of God never change, and nowhere in Scripture can one find a “doctrine of ‘preemptive war'”.

(Editorial note: I wrote this letter in December, 2008.  At that time, Osama Bin Laden was still considered at large by the international community and American troops still occupied Iraq.  Since the writing of this letter, we now know that Bin Laden was assassinated by an American seal team and is no longer living. Also, American troops have not occupied Iraq since 2012.)

To the Editor,

Since March, 2003, Evangelical Christians have defended the United States’ invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq as a ‘just war,” warranted by Scripture.  Many point to God’s use of war in the Old Testament to judge evil rulers while some have even appealed to God’s commands to Israel to wipe out the Canaanites as a justification for the United States’ “war on terror” against militant Islamic forces in Iraq.  Unfortunately these arguments ignore other clear biblical teachings on warfare.

In Romans 13, God grants to civil government the power to avenge evil committed within a society.  Besides this power of capital punishment, this passage also teaches that the government possesses the right to wage defensive wars to protect its citizens against attackers.  On September 11, 2001, the United States was brutally attacked by the Islamic terrorist organization, Al-Qaida, and they used four American jetliners as weapons against our own citizens.  Based on this Scripture, this barbaric attack justified a military response by the United States government against our enemies to avenge the evil committed against our citizens. Immediately, a military force was dispatched to seek out Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and capture him for his barbaric attacks against the United States.  Sadly, in 2002, Bin Laden was never actually apprehended, and to this day, he still remains at large.  However, in 2003, two years later, the 9/11 attacks were used to justify an American military invasion of Iraq even though neither its government nor its citizens participated in those tragic events. (It deserves noting that though the terrorists who participated in the attacks were Saudis, the U. S. government never took any aggressive action towards the Arab kingdom in seeking justice for this attack). Nevertheless, the United States military invaded Iraq, toppled their government, and reduced a sovereign nation to colonial status under military rule which has continued to this day.

The Bible grants the power of the sword to governments to execute evil doers and to protect the innocent.  But justice must be administered justly.  Iraq did not attack or threaten the United States, but our President used cruel and excessive force against this nation to seek justice for Bin Laden’s crime.  Preemptive wars do not end conflict; they ignite them.  Warfare must come as a result of the curse of sin, but may God keep His church from defending unjust wars that result from sinful lusts leading only to bloodshed and to death.  I do not write these words to condemn the country I love.  Rather, I protest this war in the name of the Christian gospel, and utter the prayer of the hymn writer, “America, God mend thine every flaw; confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.” May God enable this nation to honor liberty and law by her practice, and not through sinful bloodshed that contradicts empty rhetoric.

Sincerely,

Stephen M. Cope

In my previous post, I traced the pattern of revival preceding national crises in American history from 1620 to 1945, and noted that prior to World War II, the United States experienced some manifestation of spiritual awakening prior to any national or international crisis. Before that post, I noted the “strange spirit” animating Post-modern Evangelicalism in our own time. My original intention was to make one long post from  those two posts, but I realized the topic was far too broad to condense into one article of a thousand words or less. I offer this third note as a conclusion to the thoughts stated in the previous two posts. After reading this observation, you may wish to go back and read the other two. But if you want the condensed version, here are the main points of my previous posts:

First, I noted that in the last ten years, a different spirit now animates Post-modern Evangelicalism than that which energized previous generations of American Protestants.

Second, I noted the cycle of spiritual revival preceding national crises in American history from 1620 to 1945.

I concluded my second blog by briefly noting the “New Evangelical” movement that sought to promote revival in the Post-World War II world, but they never saw the spiritual awakening for which they hoped. In a later blog, I may examine why I think their actions were not blessed with revival. But I will save those thoughts for another time. Nonetheless, since the close of the 1950s, consider the crises that have plagued our nation, and note carefully that none of these events were preceded or followed by any manifestation of true spiritual revival:

1960-Disputed Presidential election between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy

1962-Cuban Missile Crisis with the Soviet Union

1963-Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

1964-Gulf of Tonkin incident which led to the escalation of the Vietnam War (which continued until 1975)

1968-Assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; later that same year, riots broke out at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1960’s and ’70s-Cultural/Sexual Revolution

1972-1974-Watergate scandal and resignation of President Richard M. Nixon

1975-1980s-Inflation, monetary crisis, energy crisis, and a growing national debt by our Federal Government.

1979-Iranian hostage crisis

1987-Iran-Contra Scandal

1990s-first widespread public embrace of the “LBGTQ+” agenda

1991-First Gulf War

1995-Oklahoma City bombing

1998-President Bill Clinton is impeached by the U. S. House of Representatives; he is the second president in American history to have such charges brought against him.

2000-Presidential Election crisis resolved only by a strongly disputed decision from the Supreme Court.

2001-9/11 Attacks in New York City and Washington, D. C.

2002-American Invasion of Afghanistan (an occupation that continues as of this post)

2003-2012-U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq

2005-Hurricane Katrina disaster

2008-Great Recession, collapse of the housing market, and subsequent years of economic hardship

2012-the Benghazi terrorists on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

2013-Boston Marathon Bombing

Despite all these crises that have afflicted our nation, we have not seen one manifestation of true spiritual revival. Furthermore, there has been no great attempt by Christians as a whole to even seek the Lord’s favor and blessing upon the churches of Christ in this land. Instead, the people of God have grown obsessed over political power, cultural influence, religious polemics, gaining influence with unbelievers, and most of all, playing the game of infiltration within the ranks of religious apostates. Along with all these trends, we have witnessed a growing apathy towards doctrinal precision, towards the Biblical exercise of church authority and church discipline in regards to both doctrine and practice, and worse still, a blatant disregard for the Biblical teaching regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the absolute authority of the Word of God in all matters of faith and practice.

Based on this historical observation, here is my question:

Where is the heart of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the United States of America today?

That is a question I cannot answer, for only Christ can render a true judgement in this matter. But I can answer for what is in my own heart. And some day, each of us will be required to give an account to Christ regarding what is in our hearts and in our lives in this time in which we live.

And depending how each one of us answers to this question, our response could reflect what the future of the American church will look like for the rest of this century. And that is a question every true believer should consider carefully.

It is not an exaggeration of historical facts to state that the United States of America was founded as a result of true spiritual revival. I will never forget sitting in my Colonial American history class during my junior year of college as our professor asked us who we thought was the true founder of the United States. Most of us volunteered answers like “George Washington,” “John Adams,” “Patrick Henry”, and “John Hancock” among others. But he vehemently shook his head to all those answers. Once he had rightly humiliated us, this professor, a strong independent Fundamental Baptist, dogmatically asserted that the true founder of the United States, spiritually, theologically, philosophically, economically, and politically, was . . .

. . . JOHN CALVIN.

During the course of my undergraduate and graduate studies, I learned his assertion was correct and that the founding of our nation was intricately linked to the events of the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648). Among the first generation of Europeans who landed on these shores over four centuries ago, many came primarily for religious convictions, and those convictions also influenced their descendants for generations. But along with that theological heritage, the first three centuries of American history also experienced God’s special blessing of revival, and often before times of national crisis. While I don’t want to read too much into this “cycle” of revival and crisis in our past, for only God can render a true judgement of such matters, consider the following  pattern that occurs from the 1620s until the 1920s:

The 1620s and ’30s marked the arrival of the Pilgrim Separatists and later the English Puritans on the shores of New England. They came to establish a pure Christian commonwealth as well as to fulfill Christ’s command in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Thus, one might argue that American democracy was born as a result of spiritual revival. This revival was followed by a spiritual decline manifested in the Half-Way Covenant along with other crises such as Indian wars, colonial disputes with the English Monarchy and later the Salem Witch trials. This decline culminated in many New England churches embracing Unitarianism, Rationalism and Deism.

In the 1730s and ’40s, God again brought a spiritual revival to all the thirteen colonies through the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, the Tennants in Pennsylvania, Samuel Davies in Virginia and the itinerant ministry of George Whitefield among others. This “Great Awakening” raised up a godly population who endured the trial of the War for Independence (1775-1783) while guarding our nation from the bloody excesses experienced by later revolutions in France and other European nations.

In the 1790s, revival broke out on the frontier in places like western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, lasting until the early 1800’s and preceding the national trauma of the War of 1812 (1812-14).

In the 1820s, many college campuses in the Northeast experienced the Second Great Awakening. This revival continued until 1850, despite the fact that that its theology and practices were corrupted by the New School Presbyterians, most notably Charles Finney, who tried to produce revival through man-made techniques. This period of revival preceded the sectional crisis that resulted in the great Compromise of 1850, and prevented the War between the States for another ten years.

In 1857-1858, the famous Prayer Meeting revivals spread through the larger cities of the Northeast, as if to prepare the nation for the great blood letting of the War Between the States (1861-1865). Then during the last year of the war itself (1864), revival spread through the Southern armies as if to prepare the Southern people for the great tragedy known as Reconstruction, a darker chapter in American history than the war itself.

During the 1870s and ’80’s, an evangelist by the name of Dwight Moody was raised up, leading revival meetings around the nation. Though the doctrinal content of his preaching was not as deep as revivalists of earlier generations, nonetheless, his preaching softened hearts and brought many souls into Christ’s kingdom. This revival was followed by the Economic Depression of 1893 and later the Spanish-American War of 1898.

In the early 1900s, spiritual revival manifested itself through the Bible Conference Movement, which gave birth to numerous Bible institutes and later the Fundamentalist Movement of the early 1920s and 1930’s. This manifestation of revival was followed by the terrible tragedy of World War I.

In the 1920s and ’30s, a smaller manifestation of revival spread throughout parts of the United States under the preaching of men such Wilber Chapman, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Sr., Gypsy Smith and Dr. Harry Ironside. Like the Moody revivals, the doctrinal content was weak, and at times, their methods were unconventional when compared to previous generations. This manifestation of revival was perhaps the smallest and weakest yet experienced in our land. Nonetheless, a witness for Christ and His gospel was given, hearts were softened, and souls were saved. This spiritual awakening was followed by the tragic events of World War II.

In the aftermath of the second World War, some prominent Evangelicals professed their desire to see another spiritual awakening in the midst of the twentieth century. These men later took the title “New Evangelical” and included such preachers and theologians as Harold Okenga, Carl Henry, Harold Linsell, Wilbur Smith and their most prominent spokesman, Billy Graham. While they hearkened to the revivalist traditions of the New School Presbyterians of the nineteenth century, their movement soon divided over doctrinal disputes regarding Inerrancy, the authority of scripture, ecclesiastical separation, and social activism among other matters. They never saw the revival hoped for and by the late 1960’s, their influence had quickly waned.

And since that time, what have we witnessed in our nation? I will consider that question in a third post on this subject, but here is my final thought:

Prior to the 1950s, our nation experienced a series of revivals before major crises. But since the 1950s, in spite of many manifestations of the “Christian religion,” we have not witnessed spiritual revival like the kinds I have noted here. It is now 2014, and almost 90 years have passed since we have seen a true spiritual awakening in this country.

Again, I asked the question from my previous post:

What is Christ doing among His church in our land and in our time?

One unique theme in American history is continual periods of spiritual awakening among Protestant Evangelical churches. These periods of revival roughly span the first three centuries of our history (1620-1920), beginning in the colonial days when Europeans first landed on these shores. Many of those settlers were influenced by the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century-the greatest revival the Christian church has ever known since the time of Pentecost (See Acts 2). Any reputable historian, be they Christian or not, will acknowledge that these periods of spiritual revival gave Evangelical Protestantism such a prominent position in American society that one cannot understand the unique web of American history without understanding the character of American Evangelicalism.

Ten years ago (some time in late 2004), I was struck with a troubling observation regarding the current condition of American Evangelicalism:

The spirit animating Post-modern Evangelicalism is radically antithetical to previous generations of American Evangelicals who either experienced revival first hand or were positively influenced by the spiritual heritage of past revivals.

This “strange” spirit is now driving Post-modern Evangelicalism far beyond any traditional boundaries that Evangelical Protestants once held as non-negotiables of the Christian faith. Though this “new” spirit has been around for almost 6 decades, it is manifesting itself in in bolder ways and in two deeply troubling trends:

First, Post-modern Evangelicals are more engaged in political and cultural activism than at any other time in American history. It is true that in the past, Evangelicals were strong social activists who opposed many social ills (especially in the early decades of the nineteenth century). But in our time, the Evangelical influence in shaping public debate (both politically and culturally) is so strong that even non-religious entities now view them as their own separate voting bloc that needs courted, wooed and cajoled like every other clique in our diverse society.

Second, while Post-modern Evangelicals are proving themselves as skilled apologists and aggressive activists for Christendom at large, many of them have abandoned the language, belief systems and practices of both the Truth and Spirit of Biblical and Historic Christianity (See John 4:24, II Timothy 3:5).

For the last ten years, this observation lay in jumbled, disorganized mess in the back of mind until last summer, when I had a conversation with a young friend of mine about the condition of Post-modern Christianity and its striking contrast to previous generations of Evangelical Protestants. During our discussion, I remember struggling to find a Biblical manner to express what I was trying to communicate regarding the radical theological and philosophical changes I see unfolding within American Protestantism. Soon after that talk, the Lord drew me to a statement in Ezra chapter 3 that I believe expresses well what I was trying to communicate. Since this past summer, I have attempted to state those thoughts in written form. This blog is the result of those meditations.

The account in Ezra 3 records the dedication of the foundation of the second temple after Israel’s seventy years captivity in Babylon. But what is noteworthy is the description concerning the reaction of God’s people to this event:

“Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes.”

(Ezra 3:11b-12)

When I read these words, I asked this question: why did the older generation weep when they viewed this second foundation of the temple? The answer is stated verse 12:

The older generation had seen first hand the glory of the temple that Solomon had built generations earlier, and they had also witnessed the destruction of that temple by the Babylonians in 587 B. C. This second foundation was smaller and less glorious than the temple Solomon had built.

As I meditated upon these words, this observation strike home to my heart: this text expresses well the radical changes I have observed within Post-modern Evangelical Christianity for the past ten years.
A survey of the history of revival and crisis in American history (a subject I will examine in my next post) reveals that the last significant manifestation of a true work of the Spirit of God among the true churches of Christ that was not limited to region or few congregations occurred in the decade of the 1920s, immediately following the first World War (1914-1918) and preceded the historical crises of the Great Depression and the second World War (1939-1945).

I was born in 1977, and my formative years were the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Though I would argue that the spirit of Protestant Evangelicalism was already quite weak even then, nonetheless, I still remember a spiritual sensitivity among the people of God that I encountered during those years. But in the thirteen years of the post 9/11 world, I have observed more spiritual hardness among professing believers than at any time I remember in the years leading up to the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

Here then is my observation: Almost ninety years have passed with no wide spread spiritual awakening among the true churches of Christ in our land. I think this fact should move believers to meditate upon this question:

What strange work of providence is Christ doing among His church in our time?

This is a question to which I wish to devote more time in future posts.

A slow, almost imperceptible, and yet definite shift is currently unfolding within the civic life of the United States. Most observers have failed to noticed this shift for the simple fact that many political activists and commentators (like the rest of humanity) tend to live about twenty to forty years behind the times in which they live. It is a rare politician, activist or historical observer who actually is aware of the spirit of the age in which they live. The sad fact of the matter is that most people approach the public realm of ideas more as reactionaries, and seldom grasp what is truly happening in their world and time.

In my first blog, I wrote the obituary for that Socialism, and claimed that this particular political theory was dead. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a political scientist) to observe that the Left, politically, economically, socially, and religiously is totally bankrupt of ideas, policies and practical solutions for our world. But as I asked in my previous article, what killed the Left? My answer: Just as the Post-modern killed the Modern, so it has now slain Socialism.

Now before I continue, allow me make this one caveat. The death of any political theory always takes time, and the left will most likely continue to hold the socialist paradigm as their default position for next several years The reason is that humans are creatures of habit, time, and tradition, and we prefer to live with the devils we know rather than the devils we don’t know. But having said this, the noticeable trend is that not only has Post-modernism killed Socialism, but it is now driving public opinion in America to a right of center position. The explanation of this developing trend lies in the impact the death of the Modern has had on the Western world.

As I stated in my previous post, the Modern viewed mankind primarily as one unitary material organism not necessarily composed of individuals with immaterial parts (such as souls, spirits, minds, etc.), but as material beings united in a mystical and organic whole which was on the verge of reaching the climax of their evolutionary and dialectic march. Thus, the Modern was enthusiastically expecting mankind to enter imminently into the bliss of a materialistic paradise wherein all the corruptions of the past levels of the dialectic process would pass away. However, when mankind reached the twenty-first century, not only did that eschatological hope fail to materialize, but the Post-modern discovered that the dialectic process of human history wasn’t even happening in the first place. Mankind was not a unitary material organism moving towards some historic climax. Instead, the great “We” of humanity was nothing more than a bunch of subjective “I“‘s disconnected from one another while each one simultaneously created their own distinct realities that not only offered contradicting claims, but according to some had their own co-equal and co-existing ontological essences. Hence, for the Post-modern, reality is no longer a unitary whole, but millions (or dare I say, trillions) of disconnected realities all driven by the subject and the subject’s methods of interpretation or lack thereof. Ergo, the two buzz words for the Post-modern are these:

Contextualization and Paradox.

Now I shall not attempt to define the Post-modernist usage of those terms simply because I do not believe even the Post-modernist possesses coherent definitions for them. But I digress. My point is that this paradigm shift in the western world, the death of the Modern, and the rise of the Post-modern, is the simple explanation why Socialism and its Centralized State are dying and being replaced with a new geo-economic and political theory of society. What will be the dominant political and economic theory of the twenty-first century? A modified form of Localism or Libertarianism. But lest those on the political right get overly excited about this observation, this embrace of Localism is not because mankind has suddenly experienced an awakening to the value of individual liberty. No, for the most part, the world is still rushing full speed back to authoritarianism. But for the Post-modern who views reality as splintering apart into a trillion little pieces, entirely disconnected to each other, the only sensible political theory is a form of anarcho-Libertarianism which could be stated more succinctly this way:

Let every man, woman, child or whatever gender you prefer to identify as do what is right in their own eyes.

Thus, in my opinion, the United States will look something like this in the next ten to twenty years:

In government, the centralized state will be replaced with localism or tribalism.

In economics, Keynesian theories will be rejected for a form of anarcho-capitalism that will seek to break both the power of the centralized state as well as that of the centralized corporation.

In society, the family unit will be abandoned for the preference of the co-habitation unit which will involve the growing acceptance of the gay, lesbian, transgender, or alternative life styles. The traditional family unit will not cease to exist in spite of this change of social attitudes. Rather, more individuals will opt for a uncommitted habitation unit rather than a family bound by the Biblical definition of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.

In culture, the greater good and glory of the individual will celebrated over that of the unitary whole of the human race.

In the religion, the worship of the individual ego will be exalted over the worship of the collective unity of mankind.

And in theology, a sensory based experience will govern a person’s ability to know God, himself, others and the world, as individual professors of faith will reject both objective propositional truth from a supernatural source or a code of doctrine from a human ecclesiastical authority. Ergo, when the Post-modern era reaches its zenith, its adherents will look something like this:

The Post-modern, Gay (or Lesbian), Libertarian, Existentialist who craves a religious experience that is co-equal and contradictory to the experience of his, her, or its neighbor.

Now that vision of the near future does not scare me at all because that vision will be incredibly short lived for reasons I shall explain in a later post. But here is my point, this growing shift will not only move most of the American populace to the right of center; it will ignite a new political, economic and social conflict for the twenty-first century that will be radically different from the political, economic and social conflict of the twentieth century. This new conflict will not be between the political left and the political right. Instead, the new defining ideological conflict of the 21st century will occur between the Post-modern Libertine Libertarian and the Religious Institutional Authoritarian. And this is the paradigm that is killing Socialism.

Ever since posting my first blog, I have wrestled with what to post next.  Part of the challenge for me in this new enterprise called blogging is that brevity is not my gift. While I personally have no dissatisfaction living in the 21st century, in terms of writing and thinking, I probably would be more at home in a different era, when wordiness was not regarded as a sin, and complicated essays were welcomed rather than frowned upon.  But in the age of the sound byte, Twitter and other social networking sites, instant communication, and the 5 minute attention span (which I partially credit to the explosion of technology that now brings the entire world literally into our hands with all sorts of computerized devices), I am finding that my slower, deliberate and methodical approach to life is appreciated less and less.  But I digress, so permit me to return to my main point: Why did I decide to start this blog?

As I contemplated my answer to that question, I realized that I could sum it up into three basic reasons, all of which are intertwined one with another:

1. The historical significance of the events of 9/11 in 2001, particularly in the realms of philosophy and theology.

2. The historical significance of the Protestant Reformation upon both the rise and decline of the West in the last five hundred years.

3. The Pervasive spread of Post-modern thought into theology, economics, and politics.

Essays could be written on any one of those topics, and I know I cannot exhaustively treat them in my blog.  But neither do I intend to do to write exhaustive essays.  After all, this is a blog, not a book, or a series of book.  Rather, as I have entitled, these are the musings and observations of a Christian historian.  But having said this, these musings and observations are not entirely disconnected from one another.  Instead, they are primarily the result of a single observation that stuck me roughly 2 years ago. This observation was rooted in the last 15 years of my own personal historical, philosophical and theological studies, and relates to each of these three themes I just cited:

Right now, by my own historical observations, we are living at yet another convergences of ideas and historical events that could very likely once again radically alter our world in way we never would have imagined possible 10 or 20 years ago.  But all three of those events are contributing to yet another major shift-politically, economically, culturally, philosophically, and yes, even theologically-in the history of our world.

And as I contemplated this observation, I determined that since I was a historian, and particularly an historian of human thought, that it was my duty to note, observe and record what observations I could make regarding this historical shift and change that I see unfolding before my eyes.  And so, in the coming posts, I wish to expound on these three themes (as well as many other related and sub themes) in order to provide what I hope will be a small, but perhaps useful interpretation to what the major events and changes we see unfolding before our eyes.

To you, my readers, I would invite to accompany me on this journey to learn both about our past, and our present, and perhaps, have some preparation for what may await us in the future.