Christian Courage and the Struggle for Civilization by Dr. Os Guinness -- CS Lewis Institute

1. Pyro technology to Bio-technology 

From the engineering of fire to the engineering of life with the discovery of DNA in the 1950s.

 

2. Globalization

Global expansion of freedom (dark example of Cambodia)

Global expansion of profit

At the same time, globalization means that life is fired at us point blank: globalization and the instant world remove the gap (now and then -- gone!  the gap between the one thing and the next thing -- gone!)  

Now: speed, stuff and stress!  We talk about the "global village"; that's too cosy.  World leaders are in touch with the whole world the whole time.  And that combination of speed and stuff and stress and the way life is fired at us is non-stop.  Globalization makes it harder for us to cope with the grand challenges of life.

3. Multiple Modernities

The 3rd transformation: what is called the "singular modernity" to "multiple modernities".  What does that mean? For all the years the West has been dominant--the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the British, the American--whoever was top dog in the West was top dog in the world. Not now.  In the global era, we're talking about multiple modernities. Not one way of being modern, but many different ways of being modern.  An American modernity, European modernity, Asian modernity.  Within Asia, Chinese, Japanese, Korean... The idea that globalization equals Westernization equals Americanization equals CocaColaization--no longer.  And we who are Western, including Western Christians, have to have a humility in the way we engage with the world in a day of multiple modernities.

These grand transformations are shaping the backdrop of our world.

Now let me come closer to things of faith:  We need to be clear about the hostile sets of ideas that are openly opposed to us...

First one, post-modernism.  Put simply: God is dead; Truth is no longer objective or absolute but only relative; And what really matters is the will to power.... The next two are allies of post-modernism...

Second, social constructionism.  The radical social constructionists have 3 little slogans: ...