Synthesis

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am going to do a recap of some thinking I have been doing lately. There is no way to say clearly where I am going with this thing, just that it will combine some thoughts on values, postmodernity, psychology and spirituality of personality, to name a few threads I will try to tie together in some meaningful way.

Much of what we think about God and the church is affected by the way we view the world God has created. Of these three the most important is our view of God. If we think we cannot possibly know God in our limited, human state (agnostic) the way we treat the world, the church - really, our whole lives will be affected. If we believe in an apersonal, set-the-world-in-motion-and-let-it-be, anti-miraculous sort of God (deism) we will necessarily react in certain ways to the idea of God, our families and cultures familiar and foreign.

In much the same way our personalities are large factors when it comes to how we behave as spiritual beings. Spiritual giants such as Thomas a Kempis such as Evelyn Underhill have been talking about the role of Spiritual Direction in the life of mentees Modern Psycho-social research on personality suggests that within the first few years of life we have already adopted a paradigmatic way of relating to the world. Myers-Briggs researchers identify four main avenues: feeling, thinking, sensing and intuition. It is observed that over the next few stages of life we learn to use the other three modes. I think (along with several personality and spirituality experts) that the person God created you to be will a large factor in how you relate to God. Thinkers will tend to think about God, just as they will do to every other relational situation. I think you get the idea.

In much the same way I believe communities tend to share similar approaches to God. Certain things can be said of the faith of the Amish, Methodists, Anglicans, Catholics and Charismatics. The way people view God's imminence, transcendence, the role of the Spirit, etc.

Thinking still larger, people across certain periods in history (within the same culture) can be said to think in similar ways. Nowadays Americans, Western Europeans, Australians and a few others could be said to have similar world views. We share similar cultures, cultural origins and economic conditions. One of the reasons institutions like Asbury Theological Seminary are blessed is because of the Beeson International Center which brings Christian leaders from all over the world to our campus. We are blessed to study and worship together - to share life.

People from other parts of the globe have a very different way of looking at the world. Their frames of reference are totally different than ours. This differing world view has repercussions with regard to the way these guests of ours relate to God.

Now we have come full circle to the modern - postmodern thing. Beginning with art critics and historians a movement has arisen to describe a shift of paradigms going on in our culture. Unlike any other period in history we are trying to describe the shift while it is happening and even forecast where we may be headed. These are educated people to be sure. They are, however, in among this shift as we all are. Some people claim the future can be forecasted to some degree by following trends in Europe, Australia and New Zealand which have tended to be anywhere from 20 to 50 years ahead of the US in similar shifts. These and other techniques can only be so helpful, however, since the period we are in can only truly be considered once we are out of it.

So here is a twist to our normal conversation: To what degree does talking about the direction our society is taking actually determine where its course?