Belief in God per country (Eurobarometer 2005)

Postchristianity,^[1] postchristendom or postchristianism are variants of a term used to describe a contemporary cultural attitude strictly linked to postmodernism. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Postmodernity (also spelled post-modernity or the pejorative postmodern condition) is generally used to describe the economic and/or cultural state or condition Postmodern philosophy' is a philosophical direction which is critical of the foundational assumptions and structures of philosophy Postmodern architecture was an international style whose first examples are generally cited as being from the 1950s and which continues to influence present-day Architecture Postmodern art is a term used to describe art which is thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of Modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath Postmodernist film describes the articulation of ideas of Postmodernism through the cinematic medium. The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post- World War II literature Postmodern music is music which follows the postmodern ideology Postmodern theatre is a recent phenomenon in world Theatre, coming as it does out of the postmodern Philosophy that originated in Europe in the In the Humanities and Social sciences, critical theory is the examination and critique of Society and Literature, drawing from knowledge across Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones Consumerism is the equation of personal Happiness with the purchase of material possessions and consumption. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism It may include personal world views, ideologies, religious movements or societies that are no longer rooted in the language and assumptions of Christianity, though it had previously been in an environment of ubiquitous Christianity (i. A comprehensive world view (or worldview) is a term Calqued from the German word Weltanschauung ( Welt is the German An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions e. , Christendom). Christendom usually refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon Neopaganism and its cultural backgrounds, are the most notable examples of this kind of postchristian new religious movements. Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical A new religious movement or NRM is a term used to refer to a religious faith or an ethical spiritual or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part

Thus defined, a post-Christian world is one where Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion, but one that has, gradually over extended periods of time, assumed values, culture, and worldviews that are not necessarily Christian (and further may not necessarily reflect any world religion's standpoint). The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic A comprehensive world view (or worldview) is a term Calqued from the German word Weltanschauung ( Welt is the German A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth This situation applies to much of Europe, in particular in Central and Northern Europe, where no more than half of the residents in those lands profess belief in a transcendent, personal and monotheistically-conceived deity. Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland

In his 1961 The Death of God, the French theologian Gabriel Vahanian argued that modern secular culture in most of Western Civilization had lost all sense of the sacred, lacked any sacramental meaning, and disdained any transcendental purpose or sense of providence, bringing him to the conclusion that for the modern mind, "God is dead". Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Gabriel Vahanian (born 1927 is a French-born Protestant Christian Theologian who is most remembered for his pioneering work in the theology of the " " God is dead " ( German:; also known as the death of God) is a widely-quoted and sometimes misconstrued statement by German philosopher

Other thinkers, namely Thomas J. J. Altizer and William Hamilton, two theologians on the faculty of Emory University, drawing upon sources dating back to some of the aphorisms in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, would bring this line of thought to public attention in a short-lived intellectual fad that occurred in the mid-to-late-1960s among some younger Protestant theologians and ministerial students. Thomas Jonathan Jackson Altizer (born September 28, 1927) is a radical Theologian who postulated in the early 1960s the " death of God Emory University is a Private university located in the metropolitan area of the city of Atlanta and in western unincorporated DeKalb County, Dietrich Bonhoeffer ˈdiːtrɪç ˈboːnhøfɐ ( February 4, 1906 &ndash April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran Conservative reaction on the right and social advocacy efforts on the left blunted its impact, however, and it quickly became forgotten in favor of more ethically-oriented movements such as liberation and feminist theologies, within the Protestant mainline at least. Liberation theology is a school of Theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Feminist Theology is a movement generally in Christianity, Judaism and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions practices Scriptures

Demographics of Neopaganism in the modern day countries of the world.

Some American Christians (primarily Protestants) also use this term to discuss evangelism to unchurched individuals who may have grown up in a non-Christian culture where such traditional Biblical references may be unfamiliar concepts. Evangelism is the Christian practice of proselytisation. The intention of most evangelism is to effect Eternal salvation to those who do not follow the " Unchurched " or " The Unchurched " or " unchurched people " is defined by the Barna Group as "an adult (18 or older Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The argument goes that in previous generations in the United States, such concept and other artifacts of Christianese would have been common cultural knowledge and would not have needed to be taught to adult converts to Christianity. See also Christian figures of speech The following is a list of terms used in Christianity. Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religious identity or a change from one religious identity to another In this sense, post-Christian is not a negative term, but is used to describe the special remediative care that would be needed to introduce new Christians to the nuances of Christian life and practice. Generally remediation means providing a Remedy, so environmental remediation deals with the removal of Pollution or Contaminants from environmental For other uses see New Christian (Swedenborgian. New Christian ( Spanish: cristianos nuevos; Portuguese,

Some groups, mainly liberal or radical ones, even use the term "post-Christian" as a self-description, not regarding it as an epithet whatsoever. Dana McLean Greeley, the first president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, described Unitarian Universalism as postchristian insofar as Christians no longer considered it Christian, while persons of other religions would likely describe it as Christian, as least historically. Dana McLean Greeley ( July 5 1908 &ndash June 13 1986) was a Unitarian minister the last president of the American Unitarian Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association Unitarian Universalism ( UUism) is a theologically liberal Religion characterized by its support for a "free and responsible search for truth [1]

See also

• Christian existentialism
• God is dead
• John Shelby Spong
• John Dominic Crossan
• Neopaganism
• Postmodernism
• Postmodern Christianity
• Post-theism
• The Jesus Seminar

Notes

References

• Liberal Religion in the Post Christian Era, Edward A. Cahill, 1974
• The Post Christian Mind: Exposing Its Destructive Agenda, Harry Blamires, Vine, 1999 (ISBN 1-56955-142-1).
• "The Death of God: The Culture of Our Post-Christian Era", Gabriel Vahanian, George Braziller, NY, 1961
• Dana MacLean Greeley, 25 Beacon Street, and Other Recollections (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), pp. 11-12.
• Thomas J. J. Altizer, The Gospel of Christian Atheism (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966). Thomas Jonathan Jackson Altizer (born September 28, 1927) is a radical Theologian who postulated in the early 1960s the " death of God
• Thomas J. J. Altizer and William Hamilton, Radical Theology and the Death of God (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966).
• Bernard Murchland, ed. , The Meaning of the Death of God (New York: Random House, 1967)

External links

• Anabaptist Network (UK) - After Christendom