Two McLaren posts in one week? Anyway, this is a helpful article by Brian McLaren on why he continues to use the term postmodern even though it’s out of vogue with so many proponents and opponents.

I have to agree with Brian that I think postmodernism is a very young paradigm, and it’s foolish for anyone to judge it’s extent or impact to the point of doing away with terminology. It’s a helpful and descriptive term that distinguishes the current shift in thinking from the previous four hundred years:

n many ways, the modern era didn’t fully arrive until the Enlightenment in the mid-1600’s. It emerged gradually but surely over time, and continues growing and developing until today.

In some ways, we have three worlds coexisting on our planet today, even four. 1. There are still prehistoric pockets in a few rainforests (where it might become common to see naked tribesmen talking by cell phones or playing video games before they can read or write … or even before they have a written language!). 2. There are (or have been until very very recently) medieval warlords and feudal economies in places like Afghanistan. 3. There are, of course, huge modern economies and institutions and governments. 4. And … there are these signs of something beyond modernity too.