Post conservatism

What can we learn from PCE? Difficult to comment on something which isn't clearly defined but here's a few things:

1. The attention to language, especially speech-acts, is, in the best PCE work (eg. Vanhoozer) very helpful.  I'm not sure it's earth-shattering or as original as the obfuscatory vocabulary seems to imply, but it does self-consciously draw out things from the biblical text which have, perhaps, been assumed rather thatn reflected upon by the historic tradition.  I have, however, often wondered why linguistic philosophers so often struggle to express themselves either clearly or concisely.  In any collection of essays, it's always the speech-act guy who takes up the most space.

2. I appreciate the desire to engage popular culture.  Too often this has been ignored by theologians in the past.

3. The emphasis on narrative is, again, to be welcomed.  I sometimes get concerned that this is used to push a somewhat anti-metaphysical agenda, but the focus is at least a very good and appropriate one.

4. The calls for authenticity and for Christianity to be more than just assent to dogma.  OK -- pretty self-evident stuff, but it never hurts to be reminded of these things.  I get it from Luther.

5. Judging by some of the websites, it's also a relief to know that humourless self-importance is not a monopoly of conservative Reformed types.  That's just a closing barb -- no offence intended. Ho, ho.