Customer Reviews

Live to Tell: Evangelism for a Postmodern Age

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is superb. Unlike many who write about postmodernism in the church, Kallenberg truly understands it. He does not describe it in sweeping generalizations and half-truths. Rather he explains it clearly and (most importantly) accurately. If you have no idea what postmodernism is, or are confused by books that you have read, then this book is for you. If you are a postmodernist, and are tired of books on postmodern evangelism that try to convert the unbeliever to modernism before converting them to Christianity, then this book is for you.

Especially excellent are his thoughts on Kuhn's paradigm shift, and evangelism as learning a new conceptual language.

This however, is not for the faint of heart. It is a book whereby the author proposes to look at postmodern philosophy as a background to understand how to evangelize postmoderns. He is heavy on theory in the beginning of the book and for some folks that's a trip they'd rather not make. However, it is a necessary one.

The author emphasizes the importance of narrative and participation in the evangelism process - and for the author, it is a process. He would agree with Calvin that we were saved, we are being saved and we will be saved.

The only concern I have about the book is it's treatment of implicit faith, which the reformers have rejected. An example of implicit faith is the story of the paralytic man lowered through the roof where Jesus states that because of the faith of his friends, the man's sin was forgiven (Mark 2:5 NAS). It is something that I haven't thought about, but something I will consider.

Otherwise, great book!

I always give high ratings that challenge my beliefs. The book advocates bringing people into the community and then teaching them doctrinal beliefs. Getting a point-in-time decision is not as important as incorporating the non-believers into the church and slowly teaching them to live as a Christian and learn our language. A Faithful life is more important than a point-in-time questionable decision. Correct doctrine is important, but teachng them the whole truth as they grow in a Christian community is the better way to go. This book help me to think through the theology of outreach that a church should have.

In Live to Tell, Brad Kallenberg has written a profoundly insightful little book about the intersection of recent postmodern philosophical innovations and Christian theology. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment is that he has written a book that deals with these two subjects in a manner that is both intellectually rigorous and consistently interesting to the lay-person. Kallenberg begins with a brief description of three major holistic movements in postmodern philosophy. First he describes the holist metaphysical position that social groups may display behaviors that cannot be explained merely by examining the characteristics of their individual members. Second he outlines a postmodern philosophy of language that analyzes language not in terms of words and the objects, actions, and ideas to which they refer, but rather as social activities of meaning making. Thirdly he summarizes a postmodern understanding of knowledge wherein beliefs form inter-related networks that flex according to new experiences.
Kallenberg attempts to use these philosophical tools to re-envision theological notions of conversion, evangelism, community life, and fluency in the grammar of Christian faith. So conversion becomes less about verbal assent to a series of doctrinal propositions and more a description of the time-consuming process of being enfolded into the story of a Christian community with its distinctive way of being, seeing, and speaking. Similarly, evangelism is found to be bound up with the public character of that community in all its distinctiveness and the process by which outsiders brush up against the faithful articulation of the Christian story.
Kallenberg's investigation of the possibilities postmodern philosophy opens up for Christian praxis has major implications for church leaders and lay-people alike. Conversion becomes far less easy to quantify, faith resists compartmentalization, and foundations (be they scriptural, traditional, or experiential) become more malleable. These will represent welcome developments for some and disorienting movements for others. But at the very least, Kallenberg's work in Live to Tell orients Christians and those interested in postmodern philosophy towards conversations worth having as postmodern conventions continue to occupy a prominent place in Western cultural discourse.

Kallenberg's treatment of paradigm theory in conversion is especially insightful. Thanks, Brad, for one of the best books on faith witness in my collection on postmodernity.

Pretty darn good product. No complaints. It was shipped promptly in the condition advertised. Yup.