next-wave > church & culture: Engaging our postmodern culture: An Interview with Stanley Grenz (1950-2005) by Rogier Bos

Stanley Grenz passed away today. Shocking news. Here is a quote from an interview posted today in honor of him. I really respect his critical engagement with postmodernism and think there is much to learn from him.

Christians tend to fall into two opposite and equally unhelpful responses to cultural expressions such as postmodernism. Some simply 'baptize' every new development. They jump on the latest bandwagon thinking that this is the way to stay relevant. Others 'demonize' what they see happening around them. In their estimation, the 'new' is always dangerous or evil, whereas the 'old' is safe and good.

I seek to promote a third response, critical engagement with culture. I believe that like the modernism that emerged from the Enlightenment the postmodern ethos is a mixed bag, containing much useful material, but also harboring certain potential pitfalls. Our task as Christians, therefore, is neither to hail the arrival of postmodernism as the savior of humankind nor to fight against it in the name of a return to modernism. Rather, our goal ought to be to understand how we can bring the gospel to postmodern people in ways that communicate meaningfully to them.