Metamodern Christianity | 4. The Metamodern Christ

Who is the Christ of faith? What if he is the telos of existence itself? the direction to which all of thought and action tend? What if Christ Consciousness is the goal of a more comprehensive, open, de-centered, contextualized, and other-sensitive perspective? What if we (you and me) actually participate in the unfolding of God in the world?...

0:00 "After Deconstruction Must Come Reconstruction"
6:34 Metamodernism and Relating to the Christ of Faith
9:18 Moving Beyond Postmodern Relativistic Perspectivalism
19:43 Metamodernism: Seeing the Pattern of Perspectives
34:28 Christ as the Aim of Sacred History
48:13 "Christ" as Expanding Consciousness
54:10 Idols vs. Icons: The Death and Resurrection of "God"
1:00:19 Metamodern Informed Naivete
1:03:07 Forking the Lightning of God

[das]

Brendan, I was skeptical but you have proved to me that metamodernism has some contribution to make esp. treating to mystical Christianity, quite humbling, thank you

[briancredo]

I'd like to ask how, if at all, you might speak about your project in relation to Radical Orthodoxy, the movement founded by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, et al. Like your Metamodernist Christianity, RO seeks to pass through seemingly impenetrable postmodern aporiai by recovering the symbols of premodern Christianity. The difference, I think, lies in the fact that they actively rehabilitate the premodern--for instance, they say that Derrida got Plato wrong--while you suggest that intellectual history can never depart completely from the ideas of previous epochs to begin with, much as it might try. Might your concentric circles themselves expand outward only to come "full circle" and find the premodern again? Or is Wilber's "Clearlight" a definitive improvement over the "Amber" of traditional Christian forms? Or might these perspectives not be so different as they appear?

[newtonfinn]

Albert Schweitzer, who suffered greatly from the fact that his allegiance to historical truth, as he saw it, required him to reveal an eschatological Jesus who was wrong about the immanent end of the world, also indicated that never for a single moment did he waiver in his allegiance to this same Jesus as his lord and master in the realm of ethics, leading him ever onward to the sublime mysticism of reverence for life. We would do well to explore how, in Schweitzer and in other deep Xian thinkers like Pascal and Teilhard, Christ-consciousness remains firmly rooted in the historical Jesus, as best we can glean him, in a manner much more direct and powerful than myth or metaphor. Otherwise, I fear, we will only repeat the Gnostic mistake in metamodern dress. For a recent example of this kind of theological dexterity, check out Dale Allison's The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus, in which Allison further explains and develops Schweitzer's apocalyptic Jesus, only to drop the scholarly lens and speak in the last chapter as a perplexed but passionate believer. That last chapter is so good that I read it devotionally.

[MorrolanTV]

Around 56:00 you talk about our understanding being necessarily limited - but I wonder if this is only true regarding propositional understanding. It seems that through emptying ourselves and allowing ourselves to be filled with the spirit of Christ, we can now act in ways that are loving and "complete" towards others. Obviously most of us will never reach a point where we are in this state 24/7, but I do wonder if there is a way that a FULL embodied understanding of Christ, even if it couldn't be consciously articulated or described mechanically, can exist right now.
I could imagine this being done by a person that has no propositional knowledge of Christ whatsoever, and maybe doesn't even have the word or concept of Christ, and yet still manages to achieve a type of self-sacrificing unity with everyone they encounter that allows the ideal Christ to come through them in fullness, even if limited in expression by that person's particular idiosyncrasies.

[christianbaxter_yt]

I feel like I resonate with this. And am happy to remain a metamodern Christian. If there is to be a metamodern religion that transcends a metamodern Christianity, it’s going to need to be more robust metamodern Christianity to spring board from, imo. Christianity, objectively has a more robust history of practices to draw on and incorporate in the now. From the personal all the way up to the universal reality. And ways to embody this subsidiarily. That may be my own naïveté though. All the same, I really really appreciated this video.

[aeonian]

Great. What I didn't here in this video too much is a more experiential, spiritual component that might be more emphasized by authors like Paul Smith. Jesus, the non-historical Christ of faith, is not just the great exception in the Christian tradition, but the great example. Meaning people can have the same or a very similar experience of Christ-Conciousnes as Jesus had - and that spiritual/mystical aspect might be greater part in a methamodern understanding of the Christ figure. There is a famous quote by Karl Rahner talking about the future Christian being a mystic, someone who experienced something, or he will not be at all.

[narcowake]

This is a lot of sophisticated and dense information but slowly digestible for novices such as myself …I see an intersection here between my favorite two theological thoughts of radical theology and process thought … I’m trying to see if there is now room to dialogue in analytical idealism ? Maybe not but nonetheless very well done Brendan !! I’m loving your channel and thoughts !! I hope Tripp Fuller interviews you on the HBC soon one day !!!

[Degtras]

I feel you really have your finger on the through line of this topic. Keep at it. I resonate with your reference with the tree rings as a experiential record of our understanding of the plurality of perspectives in reality. In my project, I relate the trunk of the tree and all of its rings to the Agrowright, one of the stewards of the Lunar Lodge that exemplifies participatory knowing. He is the regenerative farmer, bound to saturnian forces, has hopes that his diligence will yield a bountiful harvest. You can break apart the term into three parts. A is indicative of the snow capped mountain we must climb. This is symbolic of hero's journey. The second and third parts form a phrase, grow right, which is indicative of aligning yourself to this metamodern perspective.

[tuckeroliver]

Now we’re talking.. Been waiting for this moment. Your best video yet. Keep following the logos! 🙏🏻

[amurdo]

I concur with most of your thoughts. It takes some bravery to lay out these kinds of ideas about foundational religious topics. I would add that Christ consciousness cannot be just openness and acceptance. God is both openness and narrowness. Love your enemies is openness. Goodness and truth are narrowness.

[williambranch]

I think of Christ first and Jesus second. It is only the tie-in of Jesus to Christ that makes Jesus relevant, hagiographical or historical.

[spencer]

"Is it true that where the danger lies, deeper within the heart of cosmic darkness, at the uttermost extreme of modern disligation, there grows the plant that heals, the pharmakon that re-ligates us to the 'wild heart of life'?"

Thanks for recording this. Start to end, it feels super convergent with the 'absolutely modern' sense of Christianity laid out in Gabriel Catren's book on speculative absolutism (source of the quote above). He proposes reading philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, Whitehead, Deleuze, Heidegger, etc. through sheaf theory to understand experience in terms of the 'transcendental structures' that filter the impersonal absolute into personal experience, structures we must extend, 'glue' together, and navigate between in our struggle with 'the arche-disease of disligation'.

Viewed through this lens, the ultimate aim of our development becomes something like knowing the limit point where these transcendental structures and all their different worldings are (pre-)glued in one shared structure -- a pattern of patterning, or 'life' in the widest sense. For Catren (and Fichte, Schelling, Deleuze) this last bit is what makes the whole process possible. We live the unfolding of the divine plan simply because the unfolding of the divine plan lives us. It is possible, in theory, to extend, glue, and navigate through transcendental types because, in practice, we actually extend, glue, and navigate through transcendental types in the course of life. As you put it, the progressive revelation of development is, itself, 'Christianity' (or maybe even 'Christfulness', 'Christishness', 'Christicality', etc). In that sense, I think the reason we can make these sweeping claims about Christianity is strictly that what we're calling 'Christianity' here is, non-metaphysically, the 'religion' of life itself, the pattern through which life 'religates' itself to itself.

[IAMLiamwalker]

Just found Myth and ritual in Christianity by Alan Watts❤️Absolutely one of the best books ever, I highly recommend it

[willgiorno]

Thankyou.
Whether within modern, post m, or meta m, there are many versions of Christianity so it would be interesting to hear u flesh out what u think yr Christianity would involve in yr life ie how would u behave, what would you be working towards, what is of value and what not (there are many possible subtle particulars within 'loving and inclusive', could u burrow in a bit?)..the psycho cultural path of the past 2000 yrs has produced many wonders and kookyness; which would u choose?
Also, what becomes of the personal aspect, the 'relationship' with God aspect (these seem a little unfashionable)..this and its nature is very mysterious and fascinating it seems to me once u discount the old man in the sky and put on the contemplative hat ... any thoughts?
Thanks again.

[GreenManorite]

Good stuff, I agree on the idolatry/icon distinction. There is a key tension between the necessity of mediation of the Fullness to the finite and the conceptualization being necessarily inadequate. I think the religious claim is that this is a good and honest mediation of the Truth, but it is not exhaustive.

I think there are key "God" insights/upsights: gods, "I AM", Incarnate God/Logos, Trinity... Essentially fundamental/source of being, made manifest within reality and in relationship. If this notion of "God" is consistent with reality, the Incarnation is necessary. Basically Jesus is essential and inevitable part of my/our/humanity's emerging relationship with God.

For what it's worth the Catholic position on Teilhard appears to have softened. It takes a couple generations to incorporate disruptive interpretations. I plan on picking up the Phenomenon of Man and add it to my to read stack.

[StevenPetermann]

What you outlined seems like a viable scheme for a Christianity going forward. I would take issue with the eschatology but as a newbie in metamodernism I'm curious what makes this metamodern. I can see the embracing of the historical-critical method but what I don't understand how the relativism of post-modernism is overcome. To be viable for contemporary culture it seems that some rationale should be offered for why this particular take should be accepted for Christianity over against the many other alternatives that have tried to address modernity and post-modernism.

[ClayB]

This whole metamodern thing is ridiculous. This guy is going so far out of his own way in trying to complicate what St. Paul said 2000 yrs ago. Only Paul was truly profound and all encompassing. And also, when you read Paul’s epistles, you feel true love and fully loved. You’ll never get that with this robotic philosophy. Feels like asking AI to explain Christ through the eyes of a Kantbot. Dude is saying nothing at all. If you’re not participating in Christ through his church and acting as you have faith, the project will always end in some sort of degeneracy. Most likely Silicon Valley style polycules with dysgenic bug people.

[aphiggs]

Yep. The heart of your work (from what I've seen), and my favourite piece yet. I will be returning to this.
I would greatly cherish a dia-logos between yourself and a sympathetic, institutionally-grounded Christian clergy. I wonder, how does the church begin to actualize the metamodern?

[Sheepgoat]

Have you ever read the God Who May Be by Richard Kearney? Theres seems to be some similarities between his thought and Gods unfoldingness you deacribe here

[IsoMorphix]

How does one maintain the Not-Godness of God/Christ without falling into outright Gnosticism?

I don't know man.

Even John Calvin was like "the human heart is a forge of idols".