Let's begin at the end of Wright's book. He applies his discussion about the commission of John 20 to the postmodern context, so it is important to first understand what he means by postmodernity. As usual, Wright provides a brilliant analogy that clearly conveys his understanding of the subject. He tells about the first visit that he and his wife took to the Louvre in 1998; they were excited to see the Mona Lisa, but when they found themselves in front of the great masterpiece, they were greatly disappointed to find that it was hidden behind a thick layer of glass. Wright describes the difficulty that he and his wife had as they tried to study the painting. The wry smile of the Mona Lisa was obscured by both the glass itself and by the tremendous glare that the glass gave off--the Mona Lisa's smile became just one of many smiles in the room because of the reflections in the glass. Wright says that this is also the tale of postmodernity. He explains it this way:
"Ah, says postmodernity, that's what all of life is like. What seems like knowledge is really the reflection of your own ideas, our own predispositions or inner world. You can't trust anything; you have to be suspicious of everything" (61).
I think this is a helpful illustration for understanding what postmodernity is. All too often churches deny that the world is leaving modernity behind for fear of losing certainty. But postmodernism isn't just about tearing down modern assumptions. Instead, postmodernism simply accepts the fact the Enlightened modern philosophy has exposed itself to be based on lies. Postmodernism tries to find meaningful truth to replace the lies of modernity.
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Brief Excursus on Modernity:
Perhaps it might be helpful to digress and spend a brief moment talking about modernity. Modernity, which was born out of the Enlightenment, worked on the assumption that if we all look at a given subject reasonably, we will all come to the same conclusions about that subject. That is, modernity promised unity based on a natural, universal Reason.
When the church accepted a modern epistemology, it did so to its own harm. For example, in my own tradition, we emphasized "Baconian empiricism" (i.e., the Scientific Method) so much that in 1888, David R. Dugan said that by using the "correct hermeneutic" we could heal the church. The only drawback, of course, is that different people come to different conclusions about the same passage of Scripture, and, as Dugan pointed out, different interpretations cause divisions. When divisions happen, they must be addressed and reconciled, but modern, abstract notions of correctness cannot heal the church. Real dialogue and discernment must take place to heal the wounds caused by divisions.
Natural Reason cannot save us. In fact the notion of "natural Reason" has proven so difficult to establish that a growing number of authors suggest that we cannot identify a universal Reason (see e.g., James K.A. Smith and Bill Cavanaugh, et al). Incidentally, secularism--itself a modern "invention"--has failed to unite the world in much the same way that Baconian hermeneutics has failed to unite the church. Secularism, like Baconianism, favors the narrative with the most strength; so one could argue that secularism is just a newer form of colonialism.
All that to simply say: The assumption of modernity--that we can unite through common reason--is a lie. We have to engage one another and wade through some difficult stuff in order to establish unity. The unity that modernity offered from the beginning seemed too good to be true--and, come to find out, it was.
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But back to N.T. Wright and The Challenge of Easter.
According to Wright, the church must find a way to share the good news with the world in such a way that actually conveys good news. He claims that John 20 gives the outline for such a postmodern missional strategy. Wright calls to our attention the fact that Jesus is "the light of the world" and says that both all of humanity as well as the world itself can look forward to their return from exile precisely because of Jesus' resurrection (Rom 8; 1 Cor 15; Rev 21). Therefore, Wright says that the church must be "for the world what Jesus was for Israel" (39-40). But this cannot be a triumphalist "for the world" because, as Wright notes, "Before you can say 'as Jesus to Israel, so the church to the world,' you have to say 'because Jesus to Israel, therefore the church to the world'" (41). By this Wright means that the message cannot be removed from the story of God's saving act for the world. The church witnesses the goodness of God's kingdom because Jesus first made the "climactic, decisive" move to defeat Sin and Death (41). This is the first part of the commission in John 20: "As the Father sent me, so I send you." The church can no longer use colonial methods to spread the word of God. Instead, the church must "implement" the climax of the story "achieved" by Jesus' resurrection. That is, the church must proclaim the good news that God has acted to destroy Death.
The second part of the "three-sided commissioning" is the plea to "receive the Spirit." Wright reminds us that mission is not a work of human effort, but rather:
"... we are promised at every turn that the Spirit of the master architect will dwell in us, nudging and guiding us, correcting mistakes, warning of danger ahead, enabling us to build... with what will turn out to have been gold, silver and precious stones" (42).
According to Wright then, everything in the Gospels make up a foundation upon which we are called to build. The gospels then point us at our vocation, which, as Wright argues, is to help humanity realize that everyone bears the image of God and to help humanity realize that partnering with God in co-creating new creation will bring about relationship with the Other and stewardship of the earth (43). Praise be to God!
The final part of the commissioning from John is the call to forgive and retain sins. By this Wright says that the church is to forgive sins but it is also to condemn those actions which are contrary to new creation and which dehumanize the Other (46). So Wright sums up the Christian call in light of new creation as:
"Our task is to announce in deed and word that the exile is over, to enact the symbols that speak of healing and forgiveness, to act boldly in God's world in the power of the Spirit" (46-47).
We need to find a way to express the good news that Jesus, and likewise that the church, offers healing and forgiveness to the world as it charges into postmodernity. Wright suggests that we do this through "an epistemology of love" (59). An epistemology of love will be very different than our old epistemology of universal Reason. An epistemology of love will convey hope to a world mired in despair. In order to articulate such an epistemology to the world, we must study diligently; we must forgive and retain sins; and in all things, we must bear faithful witness to the hope brought by the Easter story.
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