Argument Essay: Enlightenment
RUNNING HEAD: ENLIGHTENMENT ESSAY
Enlightenment Essay
Felicia Troublefield
Grand Canyon University
HTH 469
March 28, 2013
Enlightenment Essay
Ever since God created the world it has been filled with activity, and for three hundred years until about fifty years ago we have been under the influence of the age of modernity. However, modernity is fast giving way to postmodernism and again the force this change will undoubtedly cause people to once again change their perspective of the world and how they see truth and respond to the basic issues of life [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ]. This will also have an enormous effect on Christianity. The Church was organized during the antiquity of the pre-modern Mediterranean worldview. This viewpoint …show more content…
is distinctive because in those days the people were told what to do by the king and the religious leaders and the people did not question their influence. The King ruled but the church leaders endorsed the king amd the people had relied on them to rule justly [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
The Bible was written in these ancient times, a time when Scripture was not questioned and those who were chosen by God to; lead His people were respected and were expected to do what the Lord ask them to do. The people listened and obeyed because they believed their leaders were under the influence of God. Ome believe that because Christianity has beensluggishly moving toward modernism, the church will struggle in this post-modern era [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
The Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) ushered in a “golden age” this usally occurs in times of peace and is a time of elevated success in the areas of art.
literature, and science. During this time Rene’ Descartes a French scholar advocated for human reason. He believed that the human rational was proficient enough to ascertain and clarify the the laws of nature and man. Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” characterizes the start of the Enlightenment. God’s Ward was no longer the truth by which mankind responded to the issues of life, it was replaced by the autonomous understanding of each individual [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) …show more content…
]
Modernism got its start during the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The premise of this worldview is portrayed by its’ perplexity of authority and tradition. To the modernist truth is purely rational, based on facts. Truth is tangible and can be examined or studied. Modernist put their confidence in human reason and critical thinking to work out the problems of the world.
The Enlightenment was in a sense a yoke around the neck of all facets of absolute truth, with its assertion that only scientific statistics can be impartially deciphered, “defined and defended and the truth of the Bible was rejected [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].” Immanuel Kant a Prussian philosopher explained in his writing “The Critique of Pure Reason (1781),” that it is not possible to understand God and this caused a barrier between the understanding of “facts and faith.” Kant further exclaimed that “Fact had nothing to do with religion [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ]. ‘ Spiritual concerns were looked upon as opinion while the experimental disciplines were permitted to address truth [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].
When German theologians began to examine the Scriptures some Christians’ became intimidated by their superior understanding and adopted a liberal way of thinking. They began to doubt certain aspects of the Bible such as the dreams, miracles, visions, the virgin birth and Jesus Christ. The faithful Christians became troubled regarding this turn of events and began to call the church back to its fundamental beliefs. This was the start of Evangelical Fundamentalism in reaction to liberalism.
During the 19th and early 20th century the Fundamentalism Movement was organized vy a few conservative Christians who were apprehensive about the morality of society.
They felt that ethical values were being abandoned by modernism. If Modernist’s wanted facts the Fundamentalist would give them facts and they decided to let it be known that the Scriptures spoke the absolute truth and they challenged Christians to return to the truth of the Bible. The conflict between the pre-modern worldview of the church and modernism created a crisis in the church, predominantly over evolution and the accurate recognition of the Creation Story as told in Genesis [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
Consequently, the rejection of objective truth has affected the present times and will undoubtedly affect future generations (if Christians don’t wake up!). In the postmodern world that we now live in a majority of society has an unfavorable outlook when it comes to absolute truths and discards everything that resembles the unadulterated truth, like the Bible [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013)
].
Additionally, it will becthe daners of relative truthome increasingly difficult to decide right from wrong within the different religions. This will authorize all religions because the truth will be unrecognizable, partigu;arly to those who have never heard the truth before. “Postmodernism already declares that it is not possible to impartially pass judgment on any declaration of truth. [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].
The continual progression of relative truth, loss of discernment and pluralism poses a constant threat to Christian Orthodoxy because together they disrespect God’s Word and believe that the Bible has no power or capabilities to prove that it is true or superior to the other competing religions of the world [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
Although the pre-modern era has progressed to modernism amd modernism is quickly progressing towards postmodernism, there aremnants of all three eras which are embodied within our churches. Several still believe what their spiritual leaders tell them, while a few put their trust in their own religious experiences. This is significant because pluralism may be okay when choosing an outfit or a book or whether strawberry taste better than butter pecan but, it is not good enough when it comes to the truths of religion [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
As the world around us continues to change from generation to generation, Christians should boldly but lovely share the Gospel with others and if there are any liberals within ear shot and they become frustrated with the excusive assertions of Christianity, the Christian should ask “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].” (Galatians 4:16)
References
Struckmeyer, K. (2007). The Post-Modern World. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://followingjesus.org/invitation/postmodern_world.htm: http://followingjesus.org/invitation/postmodern_world.htm
What are the dangers of postmodernism? (2013). Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://www.gotquestions.org/postmodernism-dangers.html: http://www.gotquestions.org/postmodernism-dangers.html
Enlightenment Essay
Felicia Troublefield
Grand Canyon University
HTH 469
March 28, 2013
Enlightenment Essay
Ever since God created the world it has been filled with activity, and for three hundred years until about fifty years ago we have been under the influence of the age of modernity. However, modernity is fast giving way to postmodernism and again the force this change will undoubtedly cause people to once again change their perspective of the world and how they see truth and respond to the basic issues of life [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ]. This will also have an enormous effect on Christianity. The Church was organized during the antiquity of the pre-modern Mediterranean worldview. This viewpoint …show more content…
is distinctive because in those days the people were told what to do by the king and the religious leaders and the people did not question their influence. The King ruled but the church leaders endorsed the king amd the people had relied on them to rule justly [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
The Bible was written in these ancient times, a time when Scripture was not questioned and those who were chosen by God to; lead His people were respected and were expected to do what the Lord ask them to do. The people listened and obeyed because they believed their leaders were under the influence of God. Ome believe that because Christianity has beensluggishly moving toward modernism, the church will struggle in this post-modern era [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
The Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) ushered in a “golden age” this usally occurs in times of peace and is a time of elevated success in the areas of art.
literature, and science. During this time Rene’ Descartes a French scholar advocated for human reason. He believed that the human rational was proficient enough to ascertain and clarify the the laws of nature and man. Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” characterizes the start of the Enlightenment. God’s Ward was no longer the truth by which mankind responded to the issues of life, it was replaced by the autonomous understanding of each individual [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) …show more content…
]
Modernism got its start during the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The premise of this worldview is portrayed by its’ perplexity of authority and tradition. To the modernist truth is purely rational, based on facts. Truth is tangible and can be examined or studied. Modernist put their confidence in human reason and critical thinking to work out the problems of the world.
The Enlightenment was in a sense a yoke around the neck of all facets of absolute truth, with its assertion that only scientific statistics can be impartially deciphered, “defined and defended and the truth of the Bible was rejected [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].” Immanuel Kant a Prussian philosopher explained in his writing “The Critique of Pure Reason (1781),” that it is not possible to understand God and this caused a barrier between the understanding of “facts and faith.” Kant further exclaimed that “Fact had nothing to do with religion [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ]. ‘ Spiritual concerns were looked upon as opinion while the experimental disciplines were permitted to address truth [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].
When German theologians began to examine the Scriptures some Christians’ became intimidated by their superior understanding and adopted a liberal way of thinking. They began to doubt certain aspects of the Bible such as the dreams, miracles, visions, the virgin birth and Jesus Christ. The faithful Christians became troubled regarding this turn of events and began to call the church back to its fundamental beliefs. This was the start of Evangelical Fundamentalism in reaction to liberalism.
During the 19th and early 20th century the Fundamentalism Movement was organized vy a few conservative Christians who were apprehensive about the morality of society.
They felt that ethical values were being abandoned by modernism. If Modernist’s wanted facts the Fundamentalist would give them facts and they decided to let it be known that the Scriptures spoke the absolute truth and they challenged Christians to return to the truth of the Bible. The conflict between the pre-modern worldview of the church and modernism created a crisis in the church, predominantly over evolution and the accurate recognition of the Creation Story as told in Genesis [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
Consequently, the rejection of objective truth has affected the present times and will undoubtedly affect future generations (if Christians don’t wake up!). In the postmodern world that we now live in a majority of society has an unfavorable outlook when it comes to absolute truths and discards everything that resembles the unadulterated truth, like the Bible [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013)
].
Additionally, it will becthe daners of relative truthome increasingly difficult to decide right from wrong within the different religions. This will authorize all religions because the truth will be unrecognizable, partigu;arly to those who have never heard the truth before. “Postmodernism already declares that it is not possible to impartially pass judgment on any declaration of truth. [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].
The continual progression of relative truth, loss of discernment and pluralism poses a constant threat to Christian Orthodoxy because together they disrespect God’s Word and believe that the Bible has no power or capabilities to prove that it is true or superior to the other competing religions of the world [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
Although the pre-modern era has progressed to modernism amd modernism is quickly progressing towards postmodernism, there aremnants of all three eras which are embodied within our churches. Several still believe what their spiritual leaders tell them, while a few put their trust in their own religious experiences. This is significant because pluralism may be okay when choosing an outfit or a book or whether strawberry taste better than butter pecan but, it is not good enough when it comes to the truths of religion [ (Struckmeyer, 2007) ].
As the world around us continues to change from generation to generation, Christians should boldly but lovely share the Gospel with others and if there are any liberals within ear shot and they become frustrated with the excusive assertions of Christianity, the Christian should ask “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? [ (What are the dangers of postmodernism?, 2013) ].” (Galatians 4:16)
References
Struckmeyer, K. (2007). The Post-Modern World. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://followingjesus.org/invitation/postmodern_world.htm: http://followingjesus.org/invitation/postmodern_world.htm
What are the dangers of postmodernism? (2013). Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://www.gotquestions.org/postmodernism-dangers.html: http://www.gotquestions.org/postmodernism-dangers.html