Following Postmodernism

Read an article awhile ago on postmodernism.  Or on what comes after postmodernism.

It is not an uncommon question.  Answers also abound.  As do views of what postmodernism is.

But the article did make me think.  Not so much about its proposal, but my own.

For what it's worth then, I think that postmodernism, no matter what it is besides, is an epoch of thought defined by a certain moral ambiguousness or spiritual neutrality.   It is a time of undecidability.  Of not knowing how or what to decide or believe.  It is a time when decisions and defining beliefs are elusive or hard to come by. 

Under postmodernism leadership is uninspiring.  Morality is in need of rejuvination.  Religion is doubtful and of little significance. 

Postmodernism marks a time of spiritual void or vacuity.  Of complete and utter homelessness and hopelessness.  Of having nowhere to rest our head so full of confusion about what is good and what is evil.  About what is True and what is false.

 

Postmodernism has this quality because it comes after the end of modernism, after the many (anthropocentric!) idols and projects of modernism fell and failed.  Progress.  Reason.  The systematisation of reality.  Even modernism's typically steadfast commitment to God falls into disrepute under postmodernism.  Or at least the God of so-called "onto-theology" does, which Nietzsche, and Stirner before him, declared the death of.

(Modernism too struggled with religion but the point there was not that we shouldn't commit to God, which we should, but that we should rely on our own reason rather than the authority of others when it comes to discerning God's word.  This is why modernism gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, which advocated a personal relationship with Scripture versus a Church controlled one.)

As a critique of modernism's values postmodernism is effectively a time of having nothing left upon which we can rely.  Again, it is a time of moral ambiguity and spiritual void.

But as to what follows postmodernism this gives us a vital clue.  I think Nietzsche puts it well when he describes our possible responses to nihilism: Either we can give up any search for Truth, opting instead to play Nintendo and eat cheesy poofs all day, or we could be like explorers who look yearningly into the space opened up by postmodernism.

That is, we could commit to a neutered existence or we could be enheartened and emboldened by the vista  before us.  The space cleared of all of modernism's (humanistic!) errors and ready for us to begin hoping and desiring for something new.  A foundation upon which, and from which, we can live.

The epoch of thought that follows postmodernism then, or that should follow postmodernism, is a time defined by seeking out this new home.  It is a time of searching for a new religion and inspiration for decision and spiritual fulfillment.

It too is a homeless time but at least the restless wandering of postmodernism is replaced by a moving about with purpose.  The moral ambiguity, secularity and atheism accompanying postmodernism are replaced by a hint and promise of something True.  A promised land and day of rest after the long hard work and labour pains that define the epoch of thought we are currently in.

Thanks be to Job.

The Decimation of Israel

God doesn't always come across so good in the Bible.  One place where God's actions are especially questionable is Exodus 32.  Or the story of the golden calf.  For those of you who are unaware it goes something like this: Moses leads the people out of Egypt.  Moses then goes up into the mountains.  The people grow tired of waiting down below.  The people commission a golden calf for their worshipping needs.

When Moses eventually comes down, 3000 Israelites die because of the betrayal.  Moses' command after gathering those loyal to him gives us a good idea why:

"This is what the Lord our God says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'"

In other words, it is the word of the Lord that Israel be decimated.  Hence why God doesn't always come across so good.  Ordering things like genocide.  And of His chosen people no less!

But as always with the Bible we must be careful.  When we see something so contrary we need to look closer.  To see what's really going on we have to wind our way back up the mountain, to when God first discovered Israel's betrayal.  If we do so we indeed see that God is in a genocidal mood because of it, for God says to Moses:

"Leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

In other words, God wants to start fresh with Moses and to scrap the rest.  God wants to do precisely what Moses eventually commands those loyal to him to do.  Decimate Israel.

The problem is, this initial decision of God's is unacceptable to Moses.  Moses calls God to remember Egypt.  Moses asks God whether Israel was saved only to be destroyed.  Moses begs God to remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the (potential) glory of the people.  And as we see Moses succeeds:

"...for the Lord relented and did not bring on the people the disaster that had been threatened."

So what gives?  Why is Israel decimated in God's name? 

What is clear is that it is only after Moses descends from the mountain that the command is given.  It is only after Moses sees for himself the idolatry of the people that his own anger is incited against them and he gives the order to kill (in God's name).

To understand what is going on we have to see Moses as God's representative to the people.  Moses speaks in God's name.  He is to do exactly what God would do.  And as we see this is precisely what he does: He becomes angry and wants to smite the people upon seeing their idolatry.

The problem is that Moses didn't have someone like himself to soothe his anger.

Aaron, Moses' sidekick, who was to be to Moses as Moses was to God, failed to change Moses' mind as Moses changed God's.  Aaron failed to be the wisdom that we are all called to be and as a result Israel was decimated.

Thanks be to Job.

Introduction

There's a great debate taking place in the world today.  I believe that on some level we are all committed.

The debate has to do with the age-old question about God.  Whatever that question is.  Does God exist?  Who or what is God?  Can we say anything about God?  Or even should all Bibles be burned?

My 'position' in this great debate is that there is something in the Bible that needs to be unearthed.  For wisdom's sake.  For the sake of humanity.  For the sake of reconciliation and the possibility of moving forward as a maturing and prospering people.  That is my belief.  That is the position that I fight for and from in this great debate.

My life goal, if I define my life by the parameters of this dispute, is to unearth this mystery and to share it with the world.  Whether people care or not.  Whether I am equal to the task or not.

Each installment here will be in the effort to do just that.

In memory of Job.