Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 20:38 (Spring 2007)
Article: The Gospel According To Evangelical Postmodernism
Author: Robert N. Wilkin

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JOTGES 20:38 (Spring 2007) p. 3

The Gospel According To Evangelical Postmodernism

Robert N. Wilkin

Editor
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Irving, TX

I. Introduction

Evangelical Postmoderns embrace doubt. They aren’t sure God exists. Hence they aren’t sure the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus is the Savior, that there is life after death, that they have everlasting life, etc.

Evangelical Postmoderns put a high premium on experience. Indeed, it is not surprising that many Evangelical Postmoderns are Charismatic in their worship and practice.

This emphasis on experience invades the way in which they evangelize and in their understanding of assurance.

Before we tackle the gospel according to Evangelical Postmodernism, let’s first review what Postmodernism and Evangelical Postmodernism are.

II. Postmodernism Is Doubt

The modern era, the one before the Postmodern era, was an age of reason and rationalism and experimentation.

Generally the modern era is held to have started with the Industrial Revolution (or the Enlightenment) and to have ended around 1945 with the end of WW2.

A person with a modern mindset believes that there are lots of absolute truths today.

The modern would say that 2 plus 2 equals 4, the earth is not flat, the boiling point of water at standard pressure is 100 degrees Celsius, that George Bush is President of the United States, etc.

Postmoderns do not think that way. Nothing is certain except that nothing is certain.

Nihilism, the idea that life makes no sense and that there is no real meaning in life, is the philosophy of Postmoderns.

JOTGES 20:38 (Spring 2007) p. 4

III. Evangelical Postmodernism Is Experiential, With All Our Doubts Supersized

Evangelicals with a modern mindset still believe that God exists, that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, that the Bible is without error, that there is life after death, that there is heaven and hell, etc.

Evangelicals with a Postmodern mindset are not sure if God exists. They aren’t sure if Jesus rose bodily from the dead. They believe the Bible is a human book with errors in it. They are not sure if there is life after death.

In his book, The Next Reformation, Dr. Carl Raschke urges Evangelicals to embrace Postmodernism. Indeed, that is essentially the subtitle of his book: Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity. 1

Raschke has the academic credentials for his quest, having a Ph.D. from H...

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