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Champions Fax Archiveby Brad Sargent Volume 4, Number 6, March 22, 1999 The barometer subculture for "hard-core" postmodernism is the cyberpunk movement. It emerged with William Gibson's science fiction novel, Neuromancer, which was released (appropriately) in 1984, and has become increasingly more mainstreamed since the mid-to late-1990s. Gibson is credited with coining the term cyberspace in that new-genre novel. Cyberpunks do not limit themselves to categories created in the past, and their gritty, realistic projections of how the future could plausibly look have remained one of their hallmarks. In fact, literature and film critiques have said that cyberpunk writers constitute the first generation of sci-fi authors to see what they write come into being. (Yet cyberpunk authors frequently comment that they see themselves writing about the present.) More than anything else, as a barometer of change, cyberpunk capsulizes the shift to what seems to be the essential postmodern style of processing information: Holistic thinking (having a comprehensive framework of categories that are interlinked). Chunking (processing clusters of information by sticking them into a large, pre-existing framework). Divergent thinking (working under the notion that a problem may have multiple "correct" or acceptable solutions). Multi-tasking (performing several thinking/activity tasks simultaneously). Complexification (recognizing that solutions to problems tend to be multifaceted, with interactive layers of factors). Paradoxicalism (accepting that two apparently contradictory things can/do co-exist). Intuition (trusting "gut-level feelings" and conclusions, even if there is no traditionally logical explanation to how you arrived at that conclusion). Note: postmodernists don't necessarily have short attention spans; it's probably that they have "Pentium processors" in their brains. I know of no single book that addresses all the thinking issues, but for a great read on cyberpunk and related subcultures, get Mondo 2000: A User's Guide to the New Edge -- Cyberpunk, Virtual Reality, Wetware, Designer Aphrodisiacs, Artificial Life, Techno-Erotic Paganism, and More by Rudy Rucker, R. U. Sirius, and Queen Mu (1992, HarperPerennial, ISBN 0-06-096928-8). So what? Like the cyberpunks, Far Edge Christians consider most past categories shattered (or at least non-binding) and see themselves as creating the future. They tend to be more radical. For instance, their emphasis seems to go toward church replication models and church planting movements rather than the church growth models that New Edgers promote for individual churches. For Far Edgers, church community seems to require a much stronger sense of covenant: "These are the people I choose to live my life in front of. We hold each other accountable, and commit ourselves to stick with each other long-term through thick and thin." Creativity is a high value, and Far Edgers tend to be more willing to experiment with the ways they "do" theologies and/or churches. However, Christian futurist Cassidy Dale suggests that East Coast postmodernists are more likely to be experimental in their theologies and conservative in their church structures, while West Coasters are just the opposite. Part III will discuss "Over the Edge Postmodernism." Brad would love to dialogue via e-mail at BradSargent@ggbts.edu. Brad has also written several case studies of Postmodern ministries. They are available for sale by calling 415.380.1480. These case studies bring to life the ways congregations are reaching postmodern generations.
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