Postmodernism and our Post-Christian Culture (Part 1)

Getting a handle on postmodernism isn’t easy.


It’s probably due to the fact that I am a product of a culture still heavily influenced by modernism that I spent two frustrating hours searching for a straight-forward, universal definition of postmodernism before I began to realize the absurdity of my task.  Until then, the irony had apparently escaped me that I was trying to find a quick and neat definition of a philosophy which itself defies consensus, resists truth claims, decries over-arching narratives and ultimate meaning - in other words, pretty much denies reality.


Eventually I found a couple of short, succinct definitions online - Postmodernism is a philosophy that says absolute truth does not exist.  Postmodernism supporters deny long-held beliefs and conventions and maintain that all viewpoints are equally valid.  Yet, this definition didn’t seem all-encompassing enough in describing what has become a pervasive western worldview.  Nor did what the Merriam-Webster dictionary have to say on the subject seem to convey the complete picture:  of, relating to, or being a theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language.

At that point, I sought out my friend Dick, who for years has been facilitating The Truth Project small groups.  He provided me the following definition from Focus on the Family’s excellent materials:

Postmodernism - the contemporary philosophical perspective that rejects both revelation and reason – [it] takes this process to an extreme conclusion by denying the validity of all comprehensive truth systems, or what it calls meta-narratives (including Christianity). Stated simply, the postmodern perspective maintains that there is no “larger story.” Instead, everyone must tell his or her own story and invent (if possible) his or her own concept of meaning and significance. In other words, history does not exist at all except as it exists in our own minds, where it can be edited and tailored to further our own goals in the present.

In a sense, by rejecting the standards by which truth claims are measured and definitions themselves are created, postmodernism is itself an anti-worldview worldview.  Or as author and professor of literature at Patrick Henry College, Dr. Gene Edward Veith, put it, "Postmodernism is a worldview that denies all worldviews."  Simply put, it seems then that a postmodernist is one who ‘makes it up as he goes’.  *


Attempting to define this strange worldview is about as difficult as herding cats, except that a cat’s thinking process is more logical and easy to predict.  Thankfully, it is somewhat easier to describe than actually define.

Postmodernism’s impact on western culture is undeniable. As a philosophical movement, it has been applied to architecture, art, history, literature, religion, and most every area of thought.  To some, postmodernism is the next step and logical conclusion to modernism.  To others, it represents modernism’s demise and its heir apparent.  It engages wholeheartedly in a challenging of the rules and undermining logical constructs and certainty by its questioning - if not outright rejection - of supernatural revelation, reason, and truth.  In the process, it cynically asks the same question Pontius Pilate asked in the first century:  “What is truth?”

One of the foremost Christian apologists of our day, Ravi Zacharias, writing in the preface to his book Jesus Among Other Gods, has suggested postmodernism is best thought of as a “mood”.

Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you do not claim it to be true.  Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do no claim that it is a “better” way.  Religiously, you can hold to anything, so long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it.  If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized.  Thus, a journalist can walk into a church and mock its carryings on, but he or she dare not do the same if the ceremony is from the eastern fold.  Such is the mood at the end of the twentieth century.

A mood can be a dangerous state of mind, because it can crush reason under the weight of feeling.  But that is precisely what I believe postmodernism best represents – a mood.

Zacharias concludes by saying.  “…Moods change.  Truth does not.

Alternately, perhaps a sports analogy may be helpful in bringing us to an understanding of what we are talking about.  All the talk in the past couple weeks about the life and quotes of baseball legend Yogi Berra makes me chuckle a bit when considering the title of Walter Truett Anderson’s book, Reality Isn’t What It Used to Be.  In his book, Anderson uses this baseball analogy to describe post-modernism in contrast to previous ways of thinking.

• A pre-modern baseball umpire would have said some-thing like this, “There’s balls, and there’s strikes and I call ‘em as they are.”
• The modernist umpire would say, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em as I see ‘em.”
• While the postmodernist umpire would say, “They ain’t nothing until I call ‘em.” 

As sobering (in the first example) or humorous (as in the second) these illustrations may be, clearly this denial of absolutes is a direct challenge to orthodox Christian belief.  Postmodern thinking stands in stark contrast to the Scripture and the clear message of the Gospels - which make some very specific and exclusive truth claims, several of which come immediately to mind:

• All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (2 Timothy 3:16 - NASB)
• For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23 – ESV)
• For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23 – ESV)
• I am the way and the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 - NIV)

Jesus Christ made very bold and specific claims – propositional truth claims – concerning himself and about who and what He was.  These are statements that confront you, that must be dealt with, and either accepted or rejected.


A sampling of Christ's statements, such as claiming that He was God, “Before Abraham was, I AM”; that one’s life must be fundamentally transformed by the Spirit of God, “You must be born again”; and that he was the only way to heaven, “No one comes to the Father except through me”, are all claims that run completely counter to those who claim truth is only ‘true’ in the mind of the beholder.  To say that something can be “true for you but not true for me” is at its very core as meaningless and nonsensical as saying “red is blue”, “sweet is sour” or “truth is lies”.


(Not to mention that this postmodern mindset and use of language makes our cultural life together and public discourse in the religious, political, and academic realms extremely difficult.)


The implications of this kind of thinking provides a lot for one to chew on.  But having set the boundaries of what it is we are talking about, I hope to continue with these thoughts next time and then attempt to examine some of the implications of the postmodern mindset on theological and political issues.  In the meantime, feel free to join the dialogue and add your thoughts in the comment section below.


As Christians, we need to seriously grapple with the challenges presented by the postmodern worldview.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* From the perspective of a secular academic critic, Terry Eagleton, in the preface of his 1996 book Illusions of Postmodernism, states:

The word postmodernism generally refers to a form of contemporary culture, whereas postmodernity alludes to a specific historical period.  Postmodernity is a style of thought which is suspicious of classical notions of truth, reason, identity and objectivity, of the idea of universal progress or emancipation, of single frameworks, grand narratives or ultimate grounds of explanation.  Against these Enlightenment norms, it sees the world as contingent, ungrounded, diverse, unstable, indeterminate, a set of disunified cultures or interpretations which breed a degree of skepticism about the objectivity of truth, history and norms, the givenness of natures and the coherence of identities…  Postmodernism is a style of culture which reflects something of this epochal change in a depthless, decentered, ungrounded, self-reflexive, playful, derivative, eclectic, pluralistic art which blurs the boundaries between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture, as well as art and everyday experience. (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/188825.Illusions_of_Postmodernism)

The most understandable and overarching explanation I could come up with was an answer from Focus on the Family:  http://family.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26379/~/understanding-postmodern-thought .  Although at eight paragraphs, it is too long to reproduce here, I nonetheless highly recommend it to the reader.