Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

affles the postmodern being (Khan, 2000).
The decline of Western Christianity is not wholly attributable to secular cultural
forces. Over the centuries, Western Christianity developed a deep-rooted arrogance that
pervaded all streams of the faith to some degree. It came to be widely assumed that the
Western cultural expression of the faith was the only right and proper expression. This
attitudinal carry-over from Christendom, is sadly, still very much alive today.
If the postmodern cultural wave has done anything positive for the church, it has
challenged it to consider (a) how deeply it has embraced modernity; (b) how much it
needs to reconsider its proper place in society, as a prophetic community committed to
Christ first; and (c) how truly arrogant it has become over the years, in many ways thanks
to the socio-cultural privilege it has long enjoyed. In this regard, Deuteronomy 8 is an
accurate prescription that speaks to contemporary [Western] Christianity. As
Deuteronomy 8 suggests, even God’s own tend to forget where their blessings come from
in time, and for our own sake, God’s disciplines those He loves (cf., Heb. 12:1f). “I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent”
(1Co. 1:19b, c; cf., Deu. 8; 1Co. 1:18f).
The late Lesslie Newbigin spoke in 1984 of the church’s need for “missionary
encounter with our own culture.” As is so true for diagnosing individual and
organizational dysfunctionalities, an outside perspective can be enormously helpful -- that
is, if the subject is willing to listen. Very often consultants are brought in to help an
organization diagnose its problems, but the verdict rendered is of little use if the
organization under scrutiny will not at least consider the recommendations. Newbigin
suggested that the fast-fading Western church enlist the help of non-Western Christians,
who could provide an outside, objective, yet intimately concerned opinion.
We need their witness to correct ours, as
indeed they need ours to correct theirs. At this
moment our need is greater, for they have been
far more aware of the danger of syncretism, of
an illegitimate alliance with false elements in
their culture, than we have been. But... we
imperatively need one another if we are to be
faithful witnesses to Christ (Newbigin, in
Walls, 2002:69).
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa