Postmodernism…

Standing on Feet of Clay

The Road Map

The postmodern era holds incredible potential for local and global ministry.  Never before have Christians been so open to personal involvement in ministry, nor has the Church been so receptive to non-traditional ministry paradigms…in particular, ministry paradigms that involve the use of technology.  This “openness” is not by accident.  God has been guiding the development of His Church through many historic eras and through many changes.  I now believe that we are in the final era of the Church: Postmodernism.

I would like to explore with the Christ community an alternative interpretation of Daniel’s vision of a statue found in Daniel 2.  I believe this vision may hold an explanation of how God intends His Church to expand its ministry impact in the postmodern era.

Theologians have always struggled with how to interpret the five segments of Daniel’s statue.  The primary theological issue is: if the vision is interpreted from the perspective of “financial value”, then each succeeding kingdom is inferior to its predecessor.  But when we look at cultural development, one is hard-pressed to say that the Western culture today is inferior to the culture of Babylon.  One needs only consider the quality of life today as compared to the quality of life in any pre-Christ era.

The alternate interpretation I propose for consideration does not suffer from the “degradation of society” issue, and describes for us the primary cultural trends within each era.  I believe we should view the various layers within the statue as the elements that drive the social-economic engine of each era.

The Era of GOLD – the root of the word Babylon means “Gates of Gold”.  These golden gates were a cultural icon depicting a period of 1,200 years of Babylonian dominance within the known world.  Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon during Daniel’s time, was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.  Within Babylon, however, he was responsible for a giant restoration campaign with the sole purpose of beautifying the city, temple and palaces.  It is believed that along with the Gates of Gold, some of the elite buildings were covered with Gold.  While the economy of Babylon was largely agrarian (the hanging gardens were considered one of the “seven wonders of the world”), it is Babylon’s use of Gold that depicts its era for the Biblical writer.  Babylon’s historical contribution was the establishment of the first societal codes and structures (i.e., the Code of Hammurabi).

The Era of SILVER- the Biblical text is clear that the dominion following Babylon would be inferior to Babylon.  This, however, does not mean that each succeeding dominion would also be inferior.  It is commonly considered that Persia was this inferior dominion.  The defining traits of this dominion era were the establishment of cross-cultural trade and the standardization of money values based upon silver coinage. 

The Era of BRONZE – The Bronze phase of the statue cannot reference the “Bronze Age” which occurred approximately 2,500 BC.  However, according to the Trade and Environmental Database (TED), the Roman Empire was unique in their practice of ‘bronze recycling”.  As the Romans would conquer new cities and territories, they would tear down statues and idols in an attempt to unify the new territories under a Greco-Roman philosophy.  These bronze images would be returned to Rome for recycling into weapons, household items, etc.  The key concept behind this recycling of Bronze was the goal of promulgating a Greco-Roman unification philosophy…a philosophy that impacts Western culture to this very day.  It is important to note that Roman philosophy was derived primarily from Greek thought, and perpetuated throughout the known world.  Just as bronze is an alloy…a blend of copper with almost any other metal such as tin, silver, lead etc….so the Greco-Roman empire borrowed the best ideas of conquered cultures and integrated those ideas into their philosophy.  In Daniel’s statue, the previous dominion eras were “pure” metals.  Starting with the era of Bronze, the concept of “cultural blending” is introduced.

The Era of IRON – The smelting of iron had been established prior to the Roman Empire, so this is not a reference to the “iron age”.  Rather, following the eras of societal law and structure (GOLD), the development of Inter-cultural trade routes and standardization of money values based upon silver coinage (SILVER), and the development of solid philosophic constructs necessary to expand societal rule beyond monarchism (BRONZE), we now encounter the era of Iron…the Industrial age…also known as the “Modern Age”.

Just as the era of Bronze was a mixture of philosophies and cultures, so now the era of Iron will crush and dominate all other kingdoms.  With the development of the Industrial age, sociologists began to refer to countries as having First world, Second World and Third World status.  It was the First World countries, those who fully adapted to the Industrial Age that dominated the rest of the world.  These same First World countries were responsible for the devastation of many of the Second and Third world countries through World War 1 and World War 2…and so Daniel refers to this dominion era as “crushing and breaking all the others”. 

This “crushing and breaking” was not restricted to militarism.  The dominance of the First World countries resulted in an economic disparity in which the First World countries would also use and deplete the resources of the lesser nations. 

Yet it was during the era of Iron that the cultures of the earth made many significant technological achievements that helped promote the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the World.  Achievements in communication and travel made this planet smaller than ever before.

The Era of IRON & CLAY – This is the era on which I would like to focus our attention, because I believe it is the era in which we now exist…the postmodern age...the age of clay feet.

The Era of Iron & Clay is a mixture of two societal dynamics that do not mix well…in fact, according to Daniel, after co-existing for a time, the two societal dynamics will indeed split in two…just prior to Christ establishing His Kingdom that shall never end.

Iron is clearly a remnant of the Industrial age.  In particular, those Second and Third World countries within the Modern era, which were largely agrarian in nature, have now adapted and established industrial capabilities.  Similarly, there is some industrial capacity still existing within the First World nations.  Yet the First World nations have moved on to another stage of development…the era of Clay.

The Hebrew word for “Clay” can also mean “dirt” or “ground”.  Until 1947, the reference to “clay” could only be interpreted a “brittle” or “weak”.  However, on December 16, 1947, just months prior to the re-establishment of Israel as a nation according to Biblical promise (May 14, 1948), Bill Shockley of Bell labs invented the first silicon transistor.   Silicon is sand…Daniel referred to it as “Clay” or “Dirt”.  The “dirt” of the Iraqi territory (location of historic Babylon) is largely desert sand.  It is the power of sand that has unleashed a communication and technical revolution throughout the world.  Every aspect of life today is significantly impacted by silicon.  But the advent of the computer age has, more than anything else, transformed First World nations from “Industrial giants” to “Information Giants”.  It is now the Age of Information…at least for some nations within the world.  For the world today is truly a “divided kingdom”. 

As an example of this division: the United States is presently experiencing the tension of mixing Industry (Iron) with Information (Clay).  Many thousands of American manufacturing jobs are being lost each month to Second World nations.  Meanwhile, the American government encourages Americans not to try to save their old industrial jobs, but rather challenges its people to adopt an entrepreneurial spirit and promotes technological innovation.  The Iron and clay is separating.  This separation will first be felt by the most progressive nations, but those not far behind will soon experience the tension of clay separating from iron.

Conclusion:

So what practical value can be gleaned from this re-interpretation of Daniel’s vision?  Primarily… the understanding that God has always used the significant societal and cultural stages of development to help accomplish His plans and purposes.   Secondarily, that if we want to be effective and relevant within our present culture for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom, we must learn to adapt our ministry methodologies to the current cultural trend.

Let’s now list how God used the cultural trends depicted in Daniel’s vision:

1)       God used the Babylon Age (Era of Gold) to discipline and train His people Israel.

2)       God use Persian Age (Era of Silver) to free Israel from slavery and to enable them to re-build the temple and their cities.

3)       God used the Roman Age (The Era of Bronze) in which to insert Christ into this world, and to use the Roman societal structures and mechanisms to promulgate the Gospel throughout the known world.

4)       God used the modern Industrial Age (Era of Iron) to shrink the world, providing advances in transportation and communication so that the Gospel of Christ could reach to the far corners of the world.

5)       God is using the present postmodern Information Age (Era of Clay & Iron) to enable global communication of the gospel as never before possible.

6)       Based upon how God used previous cultural eras to accomplish his plans, we can anticipate a full integration of ministry with technology in the era of pure Clay to help communicate the Gospel of Christ.

If a ministry seeks to have a powerful impact within the present postmodern culture, it must adopt and adapt the very societal engines that drive the present culture, and use those same engines for the sake of the Kingdom.  In the Information age, this means that it is now time to give birth to the eChurch.  The Church must embrace information technology, not resist it as “non-relational”.  Technology cannot, and should not, replace authentic Christ-centered relationships.  However, within the Information Age, the nature and forms that relationships may take will look very different than in the modern era.

Unfortunately, Iron and Clay cannot mix for long.  I fear that some ministries will move forward to becoming fully “Churches of Clay”, while many more will resist change and remain “Churches of Iron”.  Iron era Churches are appropriate within an Iron era culture.  But such churches are wholly irrelevant to a clay era culture.  How do you describe your ministry?  Are you…

1)       A ministry of Iron?

2)       A ministry of Iron & Clay?

3)       A ministry of Clay?

According to Daniel, Christ’s return will follow the separation of the Clay dominion from the Iron dominion.  In the short period between now and that time, what is your ministry doing to be more effective in the Era of Clay?  A truly postmodern ministry will stand on feet of clay.