51. Metamodern Christianity (w/ Brendan Graham Dempsey)

Here I lay out my conception of what a metamodern version of Christianity looks like. Drawing on the insights of all the previous cultural paradigms, the revelation of God's nature and the deepening quality of the relationship between God and man can be understood as progressing through a series of covenants/dispensations that map to a learning process unfolding through time. Such a perspective helps us non-arbitrarily coordinate tribal, imperial, traditional, modern, and postmodern conceptions of God that have manifested across sacred history. All of these are necessary and contribute to a coherent story of deepening understanding about and relationship with the ever-transcendent Divine.

0:00 Introduction

0:56 "Metamodern"

5:50 "Christianity"

9:00 Sacred History as Learning and Expansion

11:43 Dynamics of Learning: Assimilation and Accomodation

16:47 Learning as Complexification of Thought

18:04 The Revelation of God as a Learning Process

24:34 1. The Sacred Relationship in the Tribal Epoch

26:12 2. Relationship with God in the Monarchy

29:02 3. Deepening Divine Relationship in the Prophets and Gospels

31:10 Recap: The Arc of Learning God Better

33:41 4. Revelation in the Modern Era

40:05 5. The Way of Jesus in Postmodernity

42:09 6. Metamodern Christianity: Embracing All Stages of Revelation

53:37 Conclusion