08.29.04
Posted in faith at 9:37 pm by
It’s become a tradition of sorts to offer a few thoughts about my experience in Church on Sunday. Today we watched a little video about evangelism. It was really only loosely related to the topic of the message. Nonetheless, something in that video really struck me.
The video portrayed many different caricatures of evangelism. There was the rich televangelist who sang the tune that Jesus is the way to riches–earthly and otherwise. Then there was the fundamentalist (who happened to be a southerner) who said the only way to win folks to Christ was to tell them they were going to hell. But there was another caricature–one that I was less careful making fun of. The postmodern evangelist.
The postmodern evangelist was portrayed as not really saying much of anything. Uncomfortable approaching anything that resembled truth. Of course, any of you who know anything about the Christian post-modern movement know that this caricature is blatantly ludacris. Perhaps a few British early-post moderns held the claim that there was no absolute truth, but most clearly affirm not that there is no truth but that truth is not easily or as scientifically explainable as most folks have become comfortable with.
The easy argument against this straw man version of post-modernism goes something like this.
1. Post-modernism says there is no truth.
2. Post-modernism is true
Therefore…
3. Post-modernism must not be true
Of course, the above commits the logical fallacy known as the “straw man” fallacy. It oversimplifies post-modernism and then tears down that oversimplification that it has built itself–rather than attacking the truth of post-modernism.
Perhaps best described by Stanley Fish. Post-modernism holds that all people regardless of anything else look at truth through lenses. Since they have lenses, they are unable to percieve the truth in a way other than the way that they see it. Make no mistake though–postmodernism affirms that there IS truth, but that we as creatures that view that truth through lenses see that truth imperfectly. (For the record, that sounds pretty Calvinist.)
Of course this video didn’t only commit the straw man fallacy on post-modernism. It’s simply that I as a postmodern person (I fear that to deem myself a postmodern thinker may be a bit rash) am taken aback by the blatant misrepresentation of my group. It would be equally fair for the fundamentalist to be irritated by their misrepresentation in this video.
Why misrepresent groups in order to caricature them? What good does what is essentially misleading people do? For what purpose do we do this? Does it make a good point? Let’s talk about evangelism if we want to talk about evangelism. I’m even okay if we want to talk about why we think our view of evangelism is right. But at least take the time to get the facts straight before you slander a whole group of people that you’ve done a piss poor job of researching their views.
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Posted in faith at 9:37 pm by
It’s become a tradition of sorts to offer a few thoughts about my experience in Church on Sunday. Today we watched a little video about evangelism. It was really only loosely related to the topic of the message. Nonetheless, something in that video really struck me.
The video portrayed many different caricatures of evangelism. There was the rich televangelist who sang the tune that Jesus is the way to riches–earthly and otherwise. Then there was the fundamentalist (who happened to be a southerner) who said the only way to win folks to Christ was to tell them they were going to hell. But there was another caricature–one that I was less careful making fun of. The postmodern evangelist.
The postmodern evangelist was portrayed as not really saying much of anything. Uncomfortable approaching anything that resembled truth. Of course, any of you who know anything about the Christian post-modern movement know that this caricature is blatantly ludacris. Perhaps a few British early-post moderns held the claim that there was no absolute truth, but most clearly affirm not that there is no truth but that truth is not easily or as scientifically explainable as most folks have become comfortable with.
The easy argument against this straw man version of post-modernism goes something like this.
1. Post-modernism says there is no truth.
2. Post-modernism is true
Therefore…
3. Post-modernism must not be true
Of course, the above commits the logical fallacy known as the “straw man” fallacy. It oversimplifies post-modernism and then tears down that oversimplification that it has built itself–rather than attacking the truth of post-modernism.
Perhaps best described by Stanley Fish. Post-modernism holds that all people regardless of anything else look at truth through lenses. Since they have lenses, they are unable to percieve the truth in a way other than the way that they see it. Make no mistake though–postmodernism affirms that there IS truth, but that we as creatures that view that truth through lenses see that truth imperfectly. (For the record, that sounds pretty Calvinist.)
Of course this video didn’t only commit the straw man fallacy on post-modernism. It’s simply that I as a postmodern person (I fear that to deem myself a postmodern thinker may be a bit rash) am taken aback by the blatant misrepresentation of my group. It would be equally fair for the fundamentalist to be irritated by their misrepresentation in this video.
Why misrepresent groups in order to caricature them? What good does what is essentially misleading people do? For what purpose do we do this? Does it make a good point? Let’s talk about evangelism if we want to talk about evangelism. I’m even okay if we want to talk about why we think our view of evangelism is right. But at least take the time to get the facts straight before you slander a whole group of people that you’ve done a piss poor job of researching their views.
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James said,
August 29, 2004 at 10:44 pm
Doesn’t just sound Calvinist. “Now I see through a glass darkly” and all that
What many fail to take on board when discussing (or caricaturing, more likely) postmodern thinking is the way in which the French philosophers who dominate the field write. Their writing presumes a huge amount of context, they expect that their readers will be able to identify and are familiar with those to whom they are responding. As a result we lose the post-colonial and post-structuralist labels that should sit alongside post-modern, and tend to miss the fact that for many it is far more about who gets to dictate what truth is (science, government, colonial power, religious leadership), than whether there is a truth in the first place.
You could almost argue that Jesus made similar critiques of the power structures of his day…
Brandon said,
August 29, 2004 at 11:24 pm
I think one just did argue that. It was you. And you did it well.
Paul (lull) said,
August 30, 2004 at 8:48 am
Why caricature? - I think you answered it — using the straw man fallacy is the most overused, easiest device to render an (unattented) opponent to whatever means you wish (to make them your bitch, so to speak). It happens on all political fronts in this day an age. Logic just isn’t taught (nor respected), thus it’s incredibly easy to use any number of fallacies to convince “the masses” of your point of view. Society is run on emotive responses. Ugh.
And truth — truth is not easy nor black and white; nor always an absolute - there are certain absolutes and certain situational truths. The distinction is where many disagree heartily.
Just Pat said,
August 30, 2004 at 9:37 pm
Great post, BC. Hope the loosely associated sermon had more value, although the film provoked some good thought.
Brandon said,
August 30, 2004 at 9:40 pm
Actually, Pat, the sermon was pretty good. Best one in a while. I haven’t really had many complaints about the sermons of late…just the poorly thought out videos that are at best loosely connected ideologically to those sermons.