Book Report on “Eyes That See, Ears That Hear. Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Generation. Author: James Danaher
Book Report on “Eyes That See, Ears That Hear. Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Generation. Author: James Danaher Review by: Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 12/5/11
This book showed me four things, the origins of modernist and postmodern thinking; a description of Christian faith; the importance of realizing that we don’t have all the answers, the importance of being in continuous dialogue with God in order to see, as much as we are able, Jesus Christ.
In the beginning of the book I like Danaher’s search for the origins of modernist and post modern thinking throughout the centuries. I was always seeking the way to clearly and succinctly describe what post modern v.s. modernist thinkers are. He did a good job bringing us through the teachings of various philosophers. He made it clear about the dangers of modernist thinking and how modernist thinking limits our understanding of the world and of God. Modernist thinkers think that with enough knowledge then things can be understood fully. The end of modernist thinking is clearly defined and rigid definitions of things that must be accepted by all people. It also concludes that the meta-physical things are not necessary and that all things can and should be explained. It limits people from exploring new ideas, especially new ideas about Jesus, his gospel and the kingdom of God.
This limits our understanding of God, because Jesus can never be fully known by us. Jesus is the ideal, but we can not fully see Jesus for who he is because of our own prejudices and our own viewpoints given to us though living in this world. We can come to a very approximate understanding of Jesus. And that is why the face of Jesus, on the front cover, is made up of a mosaic and it is not a clear photo.
The older generation tends to think that postmodern thinkers are completely lost and are at a disadvantage to knowing Jesus. But Danaher begs to differ. He states that the post modern mind may be very prepared to accept Jesus and the gospel in ways that are revolutionary and effective. Post modern minds are willing to accept that all things cannot be explained and that there are many viewpoints and they know that things can not be fully known. This is just the state of mind that prepares us to accept Jesus and grow spiritually. So things are not that bad after all.
I used to think that the post modern mindset is a great enemy to the Gospel and that our young people are totally lost because of the postmodernism. But I see that this is not so. The fields are ripe for the harvest. They are actually in the place they need to be to consider the teachings of Jesus. They are not in the enemies camp. They are precious flock of God prepared by God to accept Jesus. I must straighten out my fatalistic and dark way of thinking.
In the second quarter of the book Danaher sets out to describe different aspects of the Christian faith. He tackles them one by one and tries to let the reader consider how faith. But as I read his explanations I realized two things…that he was presenting a short catechism of faith for this generation. I also realized that what he was saying rang true for me. I am not a post-modern thinker, but what he was saying is exactly what I believe about faith.
This book also shows me that in order to know Jesus we need to be constantly living in the presence of God and being in a state of repentance and humbly know that we don’t know everything. We need to be in constant dialogue with Jesus in order to understand the concepts that he wants to impart to us.
The art of communication, involves constant dialogue. But we need to continue to dialogue with respect. It must be born out of love and respect and a desire to honor Jesus, not out of any other negative feeling. The following is a quote from “Eyes That See, Ear That Hear. Perceiving Jesus in a post modern context” by James Danaher. c. 2006. p. 155
“Personal concepts are broad and multifarious. They are therefore very distinct from the kind of narrow and precise mathematical concepts that were idealized by the science of modernity. With these caveats in mind, it is possible to know the personal concepts of another person, although the means to such knowledge will be very different….The primary means to know private concepts is dialogue. Questioning is essential to any dialogue. Through dialogue the interlocutor opens herself or himself to receive the personal concepts of another person. That is, the person to whom the concept is being communicated must also participate, and this participation essentially amounts to asking questions. In short, it is only by questioning that we remain open to receiving another person’s conceptual understanding.”
If we are going to keep the dialogue going we must keep the right perspective. Our motivation must truly be love and a desire to honor Jesus and build up the kingdom of God. I must go and continually dialogue with others and Jesus and then I can understand, a little more, Jesus’ conceptual thinking, which is the true unadulterated point of view. Then I can share with them the gospel with the post-modern youth of this generation.
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