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Facing the Challenge

Postmodernity in Europe (continued)

Following up my brief paper on Postmodernity in Europe, I received a request to fill out the picture regarding the different forms postmodernism takes in various Western European countries.

What follows is a tentative attempt to answer this question. I really do want to emphasize its provisional nature. I would appreciate any feedback, especially from missionaries and church-planting practitioners working in any of the situations described here. This feedback could take the form of confirming the outline described, or contradicting or qualifying it. Specially helpful would be any evidence one way or the other, whether systematic or anecdotal. (NOTE: If you give this kind of evidence, I will assume that this includes permission to use it on this site, unless you specifically state to the contrary.)

Three stages

Contemporary societies have moved through three main stages, which we can loosely call traditional (or pre-modern), modern, and postmodern. I have sketched out the differences elsewhere, and do not want to repeat that here. (See, for example, the Background Briefing to session 2 of 'Facing the Challenge')

In seeking to understand the different forms that postmodernism can take, the two key questions we can ask are:

1. What form did traditional society take for this culture? (E.g. Islamic, Christendom, animist etc)
2. Has there been a modernist epoch for this culture, and if so what form did it take?

In any given situation, postmodernism is likely to be a reaction against the traditional and modern cultures.

Postmodernism in the countries of Western Europe:

So what different shapes does postmodernism take in the countries of Western Europe?

Traditional society, across Europe, took the form of 'Christendom.' It was shaped by the Roman and Byzantine empires, and by the mediaeval Roman Catholic world view. This was pretty much the same across Europe (indeed its similarity is what gives 'Europe' its common identity today, to whatever degree this actually exists.)

The second key question is: what form did modernism take? We can discern several different strands:

1. Some countries never had a major modernist epoch. Ross Rohde in 'The Gospel and Postmodernism', identifies Spain as one such country. We can probably add Portugal and Ireland.
2. In some countries, the modernist / enlightenment movement was linked with the Reformation. These became largely Protestant countries, including the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, perhaps even Iceland), Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Flemish Belgium, and the Protestant cantons of Switzerland.
3. In a third group of countries, there was never a Reformation, but modernism took the form of a radical humanist rejection of traditional society: France is the clearest example of this, but we would also include Italy, the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and Walloon Belgium.

There are two general principles that describe the movement to postmodernism in each of these country groups. The first principle, applicable everywhere, is an age-related spectrum: the younger a person is, the more thoroughly postmodern they are likely to be.

Secondly, postmodernism is a reaction against modernism: depending on the modernist roots of their society, someone's postmodernism is likely to take one of two forms:

• In countries that did not have a major modernist epoch, a young person today is likely to have a mixture of modernist and postmodernist thinking, combining together as a reaction against traditionalism.
• In countries with a strong modernist tradition, whether religious (Reformation) or non-religious (Enlightenment), a young person today is likely to be more thoroughly postmodernist in their thinking, and to react against both traditionalism and modernism (whatever form that took in their culture).

Taking the three main groups of countries identified above, let's consider how this might work out, if this model is true:

• A contemporary young person in Spain is likely to hold a mixture of modernist and postmodernist views (the younger they are, the more postmodernism and the less modernism), and to react against traditional Catholicism. (Yet also, in a somewhat schizophrenic way, to see Catholicism as being an important element of their cultural history - to be Spanish is to be a Catholic).
• A contemporary young person in France is likely to hold more thoroughly postmodern views, and to be reacting against both Catholicism and Enlightenment humanism
• A contemporary young person in Germany is likely to be more thoroughly postmodern, and to react against both traditional religion and reformation Protestantism

How would this model apply to other cultures, or other parts of the world?

1. All cultures have traditional roots, whether Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, animist or other.
2. Western (modernist) culture has now spread throughout the world. However, this spread is at a fairly superficial level. American TV programs are shown all over the world; the same technology is shared worldwide; the same models of international trade and commerce, and the same means of communication. (Anyone who has traveled widely will testify that there is really not that much difference between an airport departure lounge whether its in Bangalore, Bukhara or Boston). However, this westernization of the world does not operate at the deeper level of worldview and values, which often remain traditional
3. As well as the turn to postmodernism, many societies are also seeing a turn back to their traditional cultures, in the rise of fundamentalist forms of Hinduism, Islam - and Christianity
4. In many parts of the world, there is now a cultural spectrum, between the following poles:

Rural	Urban
Older	Younger
Speak only the 'mother tongue'	speak at least one major trade language
less educated	more educated
less westernized	more westernized

 

Those at the 'rural' end of this spectrum are likely to fit more with the Spain/Ireland type model from above - a traditional culture that is moving towards postmodernism without a significant period of modernism in between. Postmodernism and modernism together become a reaction against traditionalism.

Those at the 'urban' end are likely to fit more with the France/Italy model, of postmodernism being a reaction against both traditionalism and modernism

Implications for Christian witness

What does all this imply for the way we seek to share our faith with people, and the way we seek to plant churches among them? Whoever we are communicating with, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:

1. What is the traditional culture of this person? This may well be the easiest question to ask, because this is what missionaries have conventionally understood the culture of the person to be. (She is a Moslem, He is a Roman Catholic, they are Hindus). However, we now see that we need a more nuanced approach.
2. What form has modernism taken for this person? For example,was it the Protestant Reformation? (e.g. in Germany or Scandinavia) Was it enlightenment humanism? (France) Was it the lack of a major modernist epoch at all? (Ireland)
3. How far does postmodernism form their worldview, and what shape does that postmodernism take? The first question is likely to depend on how young they are, and the second is likely to be at least partly determined by a reaction against our answers to 1 and 2

The answers to these questions will also have major implications for what kind of church-planting initiatives are most likely to meet with success in a particular cultural setting.