Postmodern man as a basic problem of new evangelization Cover Image

Człowiek ponowoczesny jako podstawowy problem nowej ewangelizacji
Postmodern man as a basic problem of new evangelization

Author(s): Edward Sienkiewicz
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Theology and Religion, Systematic Theology, Pastoral Theology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: a new apology; ancient Greek thought; deconstruction; modernism; narrative; new evangelization; pessimism; postmodernism; re-engineering; relativism; skepticism; the reign of God; truth

Summary/Abstract: The basic criterion for understanding new evangelization is the work of Jesus Christ. Announced by Him the close reign of God prejudges the novelty essence of His event to the Old Covenant and in the universalist sense. Another aspect of this novelty is every-time context that postmodernism belongs to and that is as a unique challenge to the mission of evangelization. For better understanding of the context we have to, first and foremost, carry out a historical investigation of Jesus, and then His disciples and the first teachers of the faith, that go out tomeet the ancient world with its culture which is characterized by universalistic aspirations. The most effective basis for the meeting of cultures and the Western civilization was Christianitythat puts in the center of learning the all requiring objective truth. The postmodernism that favours relativism and recognizes that truth impossible to determine, and the desire to knowher as dangerous, calls for a radical redefinition – the reconstruction of the image of reality. Its beginning is to be deconstruction understood as a negation of the existing cultural andcivilizational achievements. Unfortunately, postmodernists just stop at that point without offering any systematic and competitive vision of the world and of man. Postmodernism shouldtherefore be defined as a radical form of modern skepticism and the collapse of the meaning of pessimism which Christians must still resist still the current apologia – as a defense of faithand evangelization – as her testimony. The adjectival clarification – „a new apology” and „new evangelization” is dictated by their new context.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 22
  • Page Range: 145-163
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Polish