The
Supremacy of Christ in a
Postmodern World
edited by John Piper &
Justin Taylor
2007 Crossway Books
Reviewed by Bruce MacPherson
Absolute truth is an elusive
dream—or even an absurd
proposition—for most people
in our postmodern,
multi-ethnic and religiously
diverse world. As good
missionaries, we need to
understand both scripture
and culture. I highly
recommend this book, edited
by Piper and Taylor, with
contributions from David
Wells, Voddie Baucham, D. A.
Carson, Tim Keller, and Mark
Driscoll. The chapters are
based on messages delivered
by these men at the 2006
Desiring God Conference,
with a bonus question and
answer session with the
contributors, moderated by
Taylor.
In Supremacy,
these theologians discuss
truth, joy, love, the
gospel, and the church, all
in light of our changing
world. They assure us the
bottom line must remain the
person and work of Christ,
and following his example:
Jesus was in the world but
not of it. He was criticized
for being a friend of
sinners, for partying, for
enjoying a good meal with
all sorts of people, for
participating in much of
culture—yet he did so
without sinning.
We can’t return to the
“good old days” of
monoculturalism, the world
of Niebuhr when he wrote
Christ and Culture. Every
major city in the world
today is increasingly
multicultural, with many
tribal people leaving their
ethnic regions. The U.S. is
host to increasing religious
and “spiritual” diversity,
exhibiting many varieties of
exotic religions and
resurgent paganism. And add
to those conditions the
global ambitions of radical
Islam. Postmodernism and
globalization clearly do not
mean everyone is on the same
page. The gospel—Jesus
Christ and him crucified—is
still foolishness to many
people, but it is still the
power and wisdom of God.
The chapters in this book
examine how we should relate
to this changed milieu.
Christian reactions to
postmodernism run the gamut
from syncretism to
sectarianism, from naïve
denial to an unquestioned
embrace. We can go to the
extreme of arrogance,
thinking we know everything
(even what God alone
knows!), or to the opposite
extreme of thinking we can
know nothing for certain, a
growing tendency in the
“Emergent movement.” This
book points out both
positive and negative
tendencies of this movement.
While a hallmark of the
Emergent movement is its
attempt to engage
missionally with our
postmodern world, this text
cautions that “the emerging
church represents a kind of
post-conservativism...it’s
moving away from evangelical
orthodoxy.”
In his chapter, Baucham
contrasts Christian theism
and postmodern secular
humanism as they deal with
life’s ultimate questions:
Who am I? Why am I here?
What is wrong with the
world? How can the wrong be
made right? Christ must be
supreme, not merely an
omnipotent power for me to
manipulate.
Piper calls us to return
to who God is, via
propositional revelation:
“God’s absolute,
independent, eternal being.”
He gives us “ten steps” that
highlight essential biblical
doctrine.
Carson examines Jesus’
five petitions for his
followers in John 17:
protection from Satan,
spiritual unity that
enhances evangelism,
sanctification via God’s
Word, fullness of joy, and
being with him forever so as
to experience his glory.
Ecumenical voices, denying
the supremacy and
exclusivity of Christ and
his role, return us to
“idolatry under a new
guise.”
Keller proposes six ways
the church must change in
order to “get the gospel
across in a postmodern
world,” a world of no truth,
no guilt and no meaning.
Keller sees parallels with
Jonah’s mission to Nineveh.
He gives a helpful,
historical overview of
today’s shift from a
Christian-thought framework
to a post-Christian secular
one that has become
increasingly immunized to
real Christianity.
Driscoll emphasizes ten
theological issues that are
at stake—starting with
Scripture as inerrant,
timeless truth—and contrasts
those with some of the
heretical ideas of emergent
church leaders. He charges
that we need to follow the
example of Jesus, who “lived
for God in culture, without
falling into the pitfall of
liberal syncretism or
fundamental sectarianism.”
All the contributors
challenge us to lovingly
confront and engage our
postmodern, pagan neighbors
with the supremacy of Jesus
Christ. The text wraps up
with a conversation between
these six contributors,
which in my estimation is
alone worth the price of the
book.
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