2.5 Pluralism

The pluralism of society is seen as a positive feature of postmodernism. This is prevalent throughout their literature. The content of some of their books is organized in a very fragmented, unstructured way, which sometimes makes it very difficult to discover the essence of what they write about. The writers are completely aware of that, read for example this introduction to The Out of Bounds Church, by Taylor:

You can read this book much like a magazine, browsing each postcard as it catches your eye. You can read either down or across. (…) I invited a number of people to comment on the book … Their instructions were to “to disagree, to provide an example, to add a prayer or a ritual, to provide another perspective.”[1]

Sweet, Mclaren and Haselmayer choose for a lay-out in which ‘you will go trough this text at your own pace, starting where you need to, ending where you want to. We hope you will read it any way except from A to Z.’[2] (The book follows the letters of the Alphabet, introducing a few words starting with that letter that, according to the writers, tell us things about Postmodern culture.) And they acknowledge:

Perceptive readers will notice that there are apparent contradictions within these pages. Be assured that most, at least, are not accidental. Where such plural versions of postmodernity are found, the reader is invited to ponder the mystery (or laugh) rather than resolve the tension.[3]

Another result of this appreciating pluralism is their concern to communicate the gospel in different ways, depending on the context into which is spoken. ‘It is absolutely vital for the gospel to be incarnated into the thousands of subcultures that now exist in our complex, postmodern, tribalized, Western context.’[4] When reading about different faith communities all over the world it’s quite striking to see how they all have their unique features, mainly determined by the indigenous communities in which they are working.

[1] S. Taylor, The Out of Bounds Church, Learning to create a community of faith in a culture of change, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids; 2005) p.12
[2] Leonard Sweet, Brian D. McLaren, Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive p.29
[3] Leonard Sweet, Brian D. McLaren, Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive p.28
[4] M. Frost, A. Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come p.27