DGC06: Session 5 - D.A. Carson

Session 5 || Saturday Evening || D.A. Carson – The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World

"Neither modernism nor postmodernism is easy to define. Even experts in intellectual history disagree on their definitions.

The majority view, however, is that the fundamental issue in the move from modernism to post modernism is epistemology – i.e., how we know things or think we know things. Modernism is often pictured as pursing truth, absolutism, linear thinking, rationalism, certainty, the cerebral as opposed to the affective which in turn breeds arrogance, inflexibility, a lust to be right, the desire to control. Postmodernism, by contrast, recognizes how much of what we ‘know’ is shaped by the culture in which we live, is controlled by emotions and aesthetics and heritage, and can only be intelligently held as part of a common tradition, without overbearing claims to being true or right.

Modernism tries to find unquestioned foundations on which to build the edifice of knowledge and then proceeds with methodological rigor; postmodernism denies that such foundations exist) it is ‘anitifoundational’) and insists that we come to ‘know’ things in many ways, not a few of them lacking in rigor. Modernism is hard-edged and , in the domain of religion, focuses on truth versus error, right belief, confessionalism; postmodernism is gentle, and in the domain of religion, focuses upon relationships, love, shared tradition, integrity in discussion.”

NOTES (stuff that grabbed me):
Carson's mode of theologically thinking is way beyond me. I mean that in a good way. Carson taught through John 17, Jesus' high priestly prayer. Although the depth and bredth of his teaching far exceed my meager notes here, Carson brought out 5 petitions Christ makes:

He asks that His followers be kept safe
He asks that His followers may be one (unified)
He asks that His followers may be sanctified
He asks that His followers would experience the full measure of His joy
He asks that His followers would be with Him forever

Carson's amazing exposition of John 17 roots every request in intratrinitarian love - that is, the love the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have for each other. Christ himself is the supreme Mediator of God's love, exclusive in every way. Go get the mo' bettah notes.