Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary
Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary
98 Many pluralists espouse a ‘soterio-centric’ concern for global humanity (Knitter, in Taylor, 2000:96). This supposes that the world’s major religions can come together to produce a moral - ethical foundation upon which societies can be guided. I believe this is a barren expectation, for the world’s major religions have proven just the opposite throughout history. Nothing has, or is likely to change to make this a reality. The past one hundred years have been a time of great conflict on earth, much of it rooted in interreligious conflict. The obvious reason the major religions have been, and are unable to come to agreement, is that their tenets are fundamentally different. Further, true adherents, especially of the fundamentalist variety, are not about to surrender their beliefs, even to have so-called ‘peace,’ for even world peace can be a fiction. Even Jesus said: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Mat. 10:34). Jesus was, of course, not suggesting, or permitting violence as a means of advancing the Kingdom of God -- contrary to other religions -- but instead acknowledging the reality that the true disciple would not surrender faith in Christ even to have peace (cf., Mat. 10). For the true disciple, even of some other religions, surrendering their faith to please the pluralists is tantamount to heresy, disobedience, and blasphemy. To embrace one faith over another suggests minimally that one religion is better than another, according to some standard of comparison. Many people are born and raised in cultural environments in which they are conditioned to preference one religion, or another. To be a Turk, for example, is to be Muslim -- and so forth. The pluralist agenda to bring the world religions together somehow, working toward common goals and world peace is noble -- and God does bless the peacemakers (cf., Mat. 5:9a) -- but naive. Religion is very important to most people on earth, but just what is religion’s proper place in society What if religion could be so marginalised as to have little or no affect on society What if religion could be replaced with humanistic sensibilities, for example, as the modernists have long wanted Would the world be a better place Would world peace then be attainable The short answer is ‘no’ to all. Lesslie Newbigin maintained that in Western cultures there has come to be a duality of public facts and private values, where all religions are relegated to the private realm -- University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
99 but hardly in entirety. Keeping the church out of the public realm has long been a particular focus of the Enlightenment agenda. “There are loud voices that insist that the church has no business meddling with matters of politics and economics; that its business is with the eternal salvation of the human soul; and that if it undertakes to give ethical advice at all, it should be confined to advice about personal conduct” (Newbigin, 1986:95). David Bosch said the Enlightenment paradigm “expected that religion would eventually disappear as people discovered that facts were all they needed to survive, and that the world of values -- to which religion belongs -- would lose its grip on them” (Bosch, 1991:475). Even religionists began to embrace and/or surrender to the humanist advance, evidenced by the strong naturalism now so deeply ingrained in so many streams of Western Christianity today. While Secularism has not produced the a-religious, secular society the humanists had hoped, it has still profoundly impacted the faith communities, making some so impotent they are little more than social gatherings. Rather than founding societies upon religious morals, humanists have long argued that non-religious philosophical constructs could adequately provide social foundations; but have they ever been able to deliver David Bosch said the “great ideologies of the twentieth century -- Marxism, Capitalism, Fascism, and National Socialism -- were only made possible by Enlightenment scientism” (ibid. 359). Yet, over the years these godless constructs have proven themselves horribly inadequate. The grandest, most recent example of this is the failure of the Soviet Union. These bogus utopianisms, and/or religions, of so-called secular humanity, predictably fall short, for they simply do not have the ability to transcend the countless shortcomings, limited thinking, and moral incapacity of humanity. This is why men must turn to religions to raise them above the morass of their existence; but again, to which religion should mankind turn This again brings people face-to-face with the moral and religious assertions of the pluralists, who argue that all roads lead to the same ‘god,’ and same ‘salvation.’ But do they University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Page 47 and 48: 47 The Mind of Sartre Sartre’s vi
- Page 49 and 50: ethical absolutes (Craig, 1994:67).
- Page 51 and 52: 51 Chapter II Postmodernity: The Es
- Page 53 and 54: 53 Postmoderns promote individualis
- Page 55 and 56: meaning and language. The postmoder
- Page 57 and 58: pointed out that science, far from
- Page 59 and 60: 59 Ferdinand de Saussure at the tur
- Page 61 and 62: considers the Greek logos (i.e., λ
- Page 63 and 64: 63 models and then try not to subve
- Page 65 and 66: marginalized and to the historical
- Page 67 and 68: without essential foundations (Khan
- Page 69 and 70: maximum voluntary community agreeme
- Page 71 and 72: 71 something akin to the virtual re
- Page 73 and 74: 73 During the 1960’s, Foucault wa
- Page 75 and 76: generally agreed that his views wer
- Page 77 and 78: had been trapped. Through Nietzsche
- Page 79 and 80: Foucault also seemed to delight in
- Page 81 and 82: elieve the conventions of modernity
- Page 83 and 84: 83 Will 'Po-Mod' Endure Ernst Gelln
- Page 85 and 86: 85 referentially incoherent. That i
- Page 87 and 88: 87 the second postmodern wave, whic
- Page 89 and 90: action. During the colonial period,
- Page 91 and 92: interpretation. It again gives sugg
- Page 93 and 94: 93 There are three basic forms of (
- Page 95 and 96: diverse immigrant populations becom
- Page 97: desperate population to believe tha
- Page 101 and 102: salvation. Here again we see how Go
- Page 103 and 104: 103 and sick, conquered ignorance t
- Page 105 and 106: with relativism, pluralism and no a
- Page 107 and 108: 107 our first love -- Jesus Christ
- Page 109 and 110: 109 and the life. No one comes to t
- Page 111 and 112: Those who truly know Jesus Christ a
- Page 113 and 114: future was no longer heaven, but a
- Page 115 and 116: 115 An Apologetic Response Beyond t
- Page 117 and 118: uilding constructed on a shifting s
- Page 119 and 120: component of the overall package, b
- Page 121 and 122: irrelevant. The postmodernist, like
- Page 123 and 124: 123 terminate this inquiry with the
- Page 125 and 126: consider the spiritual truths the B
- Page 127 and 128: people are to effectively participa
- Page 129 and 130: witness among the Gentiles, by usin
- Page 131 and 132: 131 Chapter VI Postmodernity and th
- Page 133 and 134: Postmodernism enhances the process
- Page 135 and 136: 135 Yet, with few exceptions, the W
- Page 137 and 138: 137 Rome, ‘The Way’ (i.e., Chri
- Page 139 and 140: were the changes made to the clergy
- Page 141 and 142: of transforming it... Christendom i
- Page 143 and 144: society. State authorities quite of
- Page 145 and 146: “The subtle assumption of Western
- Page 147 and 148: The church should instead take a Ch
99<br />
but hardly in entirety. Keeping the church out of the public realm has long been a<br />
particular focus of the Enlightenment agenda. “There are loud voices that insist that the<br />
church has no business meddling with matters of politics and economics; that its business<br />
is with the eternal salvation of the human soul; and that if it undertakes to give ethical<br />
advice at all, it should be confined to advice about personal conduct” (Newbigin,<br />
1986:95).<br />
David Bosch said the Enlightenment paradigm “expected that religion would<br />
eventually disappear as people discovered that facts were all they needed to survive, and<br />
that the world of values -- to which religion belongs -- would lose its grip on them”<br />
(Bosch, 1991:475). Even religionists began to embrace and/or surrender to the humanist<br />
advance, evidenced by the strong naturalism now so deeply ingrained in so many streams<br />
of Western Christianity today. While Secularism has not produced the a-religious,<br />
secular society the humanists had hoped, it has still profoundly impacted the faith<br />
communities, making some so impotent they are little more than social gatherings.<br />
Rather than founding societies upon religious morals, humanists have long argued<br />
that non-religious philosophical constructs could adequately provide social foundations;<br />
but have they ever been able to deliver David Bosch said the “great ideologies of the<br />
twentieth century -- Marxism, Capitalism, Fascism, and National Socialism -- were only<br />
made possible by Enlightenment scientism” (ibid. 359). Yet, over the years these godless<br />
constructs have proven themselves horribly inadequate. The grandest, most recent<br />
example of this is the failure of the Soviet Union. These bogus utopianisms, and/or<br />
religions, of so-called secular humanity, predictably fall short, for they simply do not have<br />
the ability to transcend the countless shortcomings, limited thinking, and moral incapacity<br />
of humanity. This is why men must turn to religions to raise them above the morass of<br />
their existence; but again, to which religion should mankind turn This again brings<br />
people face-to-face with the moral and religious assertions of the pluralists, who argue<br />
that all roads lead to the same ‘god,’ and same ‘salvation.’ But do they<br />
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, <strong>South</strong> Africa
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