MODERNITY'S LEGACY-A TWO-EDGED SWORD
Karl Lusk
MODERNITY: HISTORY AND THEOLOGY
HSST 2198, Spring Semester 2006
May 19, 2006
Purpose of this paper:
This paper will examine some of the key marks of modern church history in terms of the opportunities and challenges it poses today. It will do this in light of the course readings and lectures, but also will examine other sources, particularly those expressed by Stanley Hauerwas, PhD, Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University.
Preliminary Comments:
In the supplementary reading, "Why Modernity Matters," that began our work in this course, the question is asked, "what kind of account of Christian hope are we prepared to give," in light of a passage from the first letter of Peter: "Always be prepared to give an account of the hope that is in you." For Dr. Johnson and this writer, as well, Christian theology asks a simple, yet profound question: What is the hope of Christian people? Note that this is couched in terms of a group or community, not an individual. The church is the inheritor of modernity's legacy. What, indeed is that legacy?
Modernity's Legacy:
There are a number of items that could be listed as legacies of modernity. I would prefer, writing from a big-picture, wide-angle lens viewpoint, to express modernity's legacy to Christianity as one of offering hope and challenge. Modernity, whether in the thinkers coming from the Age of Enlightenment, the rise of the social gospel, liberation theology, or any of those topics, calls us to question our assumptions, and to not rely solely on dogma, doctrine, or tradition. Modernity called the church to probe, examine, and think about what it means to be Christian.
Some ...