looking forward to our meeting

I'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow night. (I'm writing this late on Tuesday night) I'm hoping to meet some new friends at the meeting that want to join the conversation. You can get directions and more information at the earlier post about the meeting.

I will not have read the entire book (Everything Must Change, by Brian McLaren) that we plan to discuss. But, I am making my way through it. I wanted to comment on chapter 6. McLaren talked about two sides of a Postmodern coin. One side is informed by the over confident (that's us in the global north or West), the other is informed by those who have been dominated and colonized by the over confident. (I think you know who that is). The former focuses on epistomology. The latter focuses on equitable use of power. McLaren believes both are important. I do too.

You see, I have been implementing postmodern principles for over 16 years now in my work as a professional therapist. I pretty much scraped traditional psychology near the time I started practicing. I got turned on to "post-structural" and "narrative" metaphores for helping people solve their personal and relational problems. I have never looked back. Over the years religious types have sometimes looked at me like I have three heads. They are much more comfortable with "modern" approaches to counseling and therapy. The kind that use systematic methodologies that try to cure people's "issues".

It has been a breath of fresh air to read Brian McLaren. I think he must know some of what I am talking about here. Other "emergent" types may not be able to see the use of post-modern thinking in counseling and therapy arenas yet. Especially, "Christian counseling" (I never liked that term, but I digress).


Anyway, there are these two sides of the coin in my post-modern therapy philosophy world. I tend to lean toward the "epistomology" side. But, I do like the work of those investigating the uses of power too.


I say all that to say, we are living in a different world, where different language and "framing stories", as McLaren puts it, are required to make a difference in the world. And that is why you are reading this blog and considering coming to our meeting tomorrow night, and even maybe just joining this conversation.