Emerging Africa

Modernism: The predominant worldview of the 20th Century, comprising of:

1. The culmination of the Individual as Ideal, at the expense of Community.
   
2. A belief in "Progress": Man's indominitability and superiority in the Order of Things, as represented in his unsustainable exploitation of the Earth.
   
3. A faith in technology - abstraction from nature - to provide man's needs.
   
4. A hope in a final, universal, and therefore static, solution to mans problems.
   
5. A denial that the creative process is ongoing, and that we will forever be faced with the unknown.
   
6. An epistemology (theory of knowledge) based in rationality at the expense of emotional intelligence and intuition.
   
7. Communication methods based on broadcasting, one to many, one way, rather than through conversation, many to many, many ways.
   
8. A thorough quid pro quo economic sense, in a comprehensively monetarised culture, in which the possibility of true giving is eradicated.
   
9. An emphasis on Law as opposed to Grace, and the breakdown of trust, as witnessed in obsessive rights protection, overbearing legislation, and litigation.
   
10. A misunderstanding and rejection of myth (which is seen as falsehood) whilst at the same time propagating a myth of "Objectivity".
    
11. The domination of Literalism and Fundamentalism and an inability to read life and the world poetically and metaphorically.
    
12. Is riddled with dualisms, creating false either or dilemmas.

Modernist christian theology therefore:

1. Places individual salvation above full, cosmic salvation.
   
2. Has a domination mentality in terms of church growth. Growth expressed largely in market terms; headcount and income.
   
3. Does not have a thorough critique of technology or industry, but accepts its norms without question.
   
4. Believes in a systematic, "final" view; this is apparent in an inability to view truth beyond the cannonical Bible.
   
5. Harbors hostility towards evolutionary theory or evidence.
   
6. Emphasises the bible, doctrine and the pulpit above many other life-giving sacred activities.
   
7. Believes in the superiority of the preacher, who broadcasts his teaching in a lecture format, as well as total buy in to television as an appropriate vehicle for spiritual growth.
   
8. Buys in to a system of conditional giving, where true generosity of spirit is lost under the defensive politics and economics of orthodoxy.
   
9. Places the knowledge of and adherence to doctrines, above all things. A morality of piety undergirds relationships.
   
10. Fails to read the Bible as a mythical text, instead presents it as an historical textbook, which it is not, (despite containing many historical references).
    
11. Breeds literalism and stifles imagination, defining faith as adherence and conformity to one interpretation rather than authentic, revealed knowledge.
    
12. Upholds damaging dualisms: Heaven/Hell, Heaven/Earth, Redeemed/Damned, and Sacred/Secular, which undermine true spirituality.