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A look at the beliefs and perspective of Post Modernism. How can we best communicate with people with this worldview? Listen to the LectureWhat do Charles Colson, Noam Chomsky and Richard Dawkins all have in common? On most things, the answer is nothing. Charles Colson is a leading spokesman for the conservative evangelical Christian community. Noam Chomsky is a linguist, philosopher and left wing political activist famous both for his contributions to modern linguistics and psychology and his defense of human rights and criticism of American foreign policy. Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist famous for his books promoting atheism and rejecting the organized religion. While each have dramatically different political and philosophical world views, all three are also leading critics of the philosophical movement known as post-modernism. What is it about this growing and influential world view that has created such strange bedfellows of conservative Christians, evolutionary biologists, and liberal political activists? Statement of Post ModernismUnderstanding ModernismPost modernism is a reaction against the modernist world view. Therefore, to understand post modernism, one must first understand modernism. Modernism is said to have begun with the promise of the French Revolution in 1789, and collapsed finally with the symbolic collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. While the exact dates are debatable, clearly the seeds of modernism began with in the Renaissance, sprouted in the 18 th century age of Enlightenment, and came into full bloom in the industrial and scientific revolutions of the late 19 th and early 20 th century, and then began is slow decline with tragedies of World War II. The rational principles of modernism can be stated in the following details:
Virtually all of western social structures and institutions are based upon these modern premises. Western democratic ideals, capitalism, law, science, ethics and aesthetics (Klages 2003) are all modernist theories which seek to bring order to chaos based on these Enlightenment principles. The American founding fathers saw that through education, rationale thought and careful political theory, society could achieve order and progress. Modernism is about order. The more ordered society is, the better it will be. The goal is order, and disorder is seen as a threat to the progress of society. The great modernist movements which sought to bring order through broad scientific theories. In its most extreme, National Socialism (Nazism) was a political theory which sought to bring order out of the chaos of post World War I Europe by explaining society in a pseudo-scientific anthropology. Marxism was an economic theory which sought to bring order out of the economic chaos of capitalism by explaining society in pseudo-scientific economics (McLaren 2003) . Rise of Post ModernismThe post-modernist looks at all the great political-economic movements of the 20 th century and sees great failure. The modernist worldview brought about two horrific world wars, genocide, racism, and imperialism. The belief that science could bring improvement to humanity did not come about. Modernism was a failure. Post modernism does not reject science or democracy or capitalism. Instead, the postmodern worldview sees these modern ideals as being just some of many ways to look at truth rather than being the final determinant of truth. As post-modernism sees the failure of modernism stemming not from the ideas themselves, but that those ideas are the only objective truth and to which all others must submit. Therefore post modernism rejects the idea of objective truth, and more importantly the idea that people need to submit to objective truth. The Meta-NarrativePost modernism began in academia, specifically in the literary field. The literature of post World War II Europe increasingly looked at the grand unifying theories of the early 20 th century and recognized their failure to bring the progress and order which they promised. Modernism brought about the holocaust, Communist oppression, racism, capitalistic imperialism, and the oppression of the poor. Post modern literary though sought to investigate these failures by understanding how modern thought used these grand theories, called “meta-narratives,” to bring about order from disorder. The meta-narrative is any modern attempt to define or describe all aspects of the human condition or the universe in a broad sweeping universal theory. Postmodernism rejected these meta-narratives and rejected the assumption that order is inherently good, for it was these meta-narratives which brought about the great crimes against humanity found in the 20 th century. DeconstructionismPost modernism looked at literature with a new hermeneutic, trying to “deconstruct” literature from its meta-narrative to see the inherent contradictions within literature. As a result, the post modern mind set no longer seeks to find meaning in a grand universal theory (the “meta-narrative”), but in the situational, local and provisional. Truth applied not to a broad objective reality, but only to the immediate situation at hand. Language as RealityThe post modern no longer sees language and literature as a means then to explain some theoretical grand objective truth. There is not grand objective truth. Instead truth is the form itself. Language no longer represents an overarching reality, but is the reality itself. In other words, language and symbols are not copies or models of truth. There are no originals, only copies. Language is only a copy of a copy. For example, in economic theory, paper money used to be backed by the gold standard . You could, theoretically, bring your $20 bill into the bank and demand that the government replace the paper money with a like amount of gold coin. Now, however, paper money is not backed by gold or any other objective precious metal standard. A $20 bill has value not because of some objective value, but only because you have faith in the bill itself. Language is the same to the post modern. Language has meaning, no longer because it represents an objective reality, but because you have faith in the language itself. As a result there is no difference between fiction and non-fiction. Fiction can contain truth in it own narrow subjective reality. Furthermore, non-fiction represents truth no longer in broad objective reality, but only in its own narrow subjective reality. Therefore, there is no difference between fiction and non-fiction when it comes to explaining truth. Examples of Post ModernismOne of the best examples of this blurring of fiction and non-fiction is found in the movie Stranger than Fiction . In this story, written by Zach Helm, Will Farrow plays Harold Crick an IRS agent who leads a boring mundane life, until one day he begins to hear a narrator describe his life as it is happening. It turns out that a novelist, played by Emma Thompson, is writing a fictional book which is the story of this IRS agent. Her work of fiction has become reality while the reality of Harold Crick has become fiction. The post modern sees all of us as being Harold Crick, where fiction and reality mix freely and without contradiction. Economically, under modernism society grew by making hardware. The steam engine, the internal combustion engine. Marketing to the modern generation emphasized the characteristics of the product (Klages 2003) . Post modern marketing, it is not the product which is marketed, but a meaning or an ideal. Coke vs. Pepsi. Mountain Dew. Nike. These marketing campaigns aren't selling soft drinks or shoes. They are selling an idea. It doesn't really matter what the underlying product is. In a media saturated culture, “the medium has become the message.” The media no longer reports on the objective news, but creates, interacts and in a narcissistic self referential way, reports on itself as if it were the news. The media sought to get close to Princess Diana, to get that objective photograph or to learn of the truth of her life. But as she seeks to get away from the paparazzi, her car crashes and she dies. The media is no longer reporting objectively on Princess Diana but are now part of the Princess Di story itself. Fiction, reality, objectivity, subjectivity are all blurred in our media dominated society. Ramifications of Post ModernismPost modernism seeks to find meaning no longer in the promotion of a grand theory which will unify all humanity in a single narrative. Instead, post modernism sees pluralism and diversity as the answer to the violent and oppressive meta-narratives brought about by modernism. Each individual must embrace the truth as they understand it. Those who still adhere to the great meta-narratives, be they Communism, democracy, or Christianity are victims of a propaganda which seeks to bring order by suppressing the expression of your individuality. Post modernism asks each individual to find their own subjective truth. It sees those who seek to cram down objective truth as potential oppressors who are trying to control and order the world with their own agenda. As a result, diversity and tolerance become the new virtue. The opposite of tolerance and diversity is oppression. Intolerance and the insistence on a singular truth is the road to the inhumanity of a society like Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. Evaluation of Post ModernismMisconceptionsCritics of post modernism often state that the post modernism claims that “there is no such thing as truth.” This is an overstatement of post modernist thought and is not the position of current post modern philosophers (McLaren 2003) . Post modernism isn't so much as a denial of absolute truth, but a denial that absolute truth is knowable. Therefore, for anyone one person or group to claim that they understand absolute truth is arrogant and dangerous, for it leads to oppression by that group over those whom they deem less enlightened. Furthermore, while absolute truth may exist, its existence is irrelevant to the post modern. If we cannot know this absolute truth anyway, then rather than try to gain an understanding of this absolute, it is more practical to understand the relative world in which we live. Post modernism is also often criticized as lacking any moral underpinning. This betrays an understanding of the beginnings of post modernism. Post modernism was a reaction to the injustice brought about by modernist thought. Post modernism seeks to find a way to keep society from the immorality of racism, genocide and intolerance. Post moderns have a highly developed sense of morality and justice. Modernists saw morality only in pragmatic terms. Post moderns see morality as transcending human knowledge and therefore they are highly active in bringing attention to and seeking justice for the oppressed. However, this is done on a more local and individual level rather than by some broad political or philosophical approach. Finally, many critics believe that the rational ramification of post modernism is nihilism and despair. Rationally, if humanity is not able to achieve a utopian society and if we must reject the idea that there is some transcendent truth which can bring meaning to us, then life itself is meaningless. Therefore, rationally, we should merely lead hedonistic lifestyles and then commit suicide when life is not fun anymore. However, this is more of a modern argument based on rationality. The post modernist is not despairing of life. While society and science has failed, that does not mean the individual cannot find their own personal truth which brings meaning and fulfillment. If instead of trying to find some nonexistent transcendent truth which may or may not exist, an individual look for their own personal, spiritual truth, one will find meaning within one's on context. Shared ValuesThe Christian worldview has much in common with the post modern evaluation of modernism. We would agree that humanity's attempts to bring order and progress through meta-narratives have indeed met with great failure. Indeed, the great injustices of the 20 th century are indeed a result of a pragmatic and scientifically based morality. Humanity is unable to bring about on its own a grand utopian society based on the principles of rationalism and scientific knowledge. Christians also believe that we should do all we can to eliminate injustice and oppression. The Old Testament prophets, the apostles and Jesus himself repeatedly call on us to look out for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the alien and to seek justice for those whom society has failed. We should be walking hand-in-hand with the post modern activists in insisting on the elimination of racism, intolerance and prejudice. The bible is against such things, and we should be as well.
Christians also agree that rationalism is not the only way to find truth. While the bible does not reject rational thought (“Come now, let us reason together” – Isaiah 1:18), there is far more said about faith (Hebrews 11) and experience (Psalm 66) in the bible than logic and rationalism. Like Christians, the post modern embraces faith and experience as being at least as important and logic. Finally, Christians also agree with post moderns that we cannot know absolute truth absolutely. We are not so arrogant to think that we can know everything or that we can understand all things.
We do not claim to be able to know all things. In fact, much Christian doctrine is an enigma to us (e.g. the trinity, election vs. free will). While modernism demanded that theology provide an explanation for these paradoxes, the post modern gladly accepts them without need for explanation. We should welcome such faith and learn from the example of the post modern. Critique of Post ModernismFirst and foremost, in the words of James Parker III, postmodernism “commits epistemological suicide” (Parker 2004) . To state that absolute truth cannot be known is an absolute statement. Therefore, if we cannot know absolute truth, then we cannot know that absolute truth cannot be known. Such a position is inherently contradictory. In more practical terms, as the political correctness movement has shown, post modernism can lead to the same arrogant, oppressive and intolerant insistence on conformity to an overarching meta-narrative. The only difference is that this is a “post modern” meta-narrative. As Parker states There is every reason to believe that their whole academic exercise is simply a thinly veiled disguise to get political power over anyone who holds a view different than their own. (Parker 2004) . Secondly, the presumption of the post modern that objective reality is not worth pursuing is disingenuous. While we grant that it may be difficult to understand and explain absolute truth given the limitations of our forms of knowledge (i.e. language, symbols, etc.), these things can not truly have meaning without some connection to reality. These are rational arguments, however. Ultimately, for the Christian, while we agree that the humanist meta-narratives have brought great suffering and ultimately have failed as a world view, we believe that God is definitionally the ultimate objective reality. He is, in and of himself, the only objective truth that exists. While it may be difficult for us to understand and comprehend Him, the pursuit of God is worthwhile. Furthermore, as Christians, we believe God has chosen to reveal at least a part of His objective reality to us, both in a written revelation called the bible and ultimately in the incarnation of His Son Jesus. With a recognition our human limitations for understanding that revelation, because of God's revelation we can have at least some understanding of this objective reality. Reaching the Post ModernSo, how then, do we best reach out and communicate this revelation of ultimate reality? How do we proclaim the gospel that God can be known? First, to gain an ear, we must be tolerant of other viewpoints. That does not mean we have to agree with other viewpoints, but we have to allow other viewpoints to have a fair hearing. It means we cannot resort to straw man arguments but must engage other viewpoints on their own merits. It means we must be respectful and polite of others even if their viewpoints are foolish, mean spirited, or anti-Christian. Secondly, we must be careful with our use of post modernist terms. For example, while we believe that God has revealed to us in the bible a narrative which helps explain Him as the objective reality, we must avoid stating that the bible is the one true meta-narrative . Meta-narrative is a negative term, evoking similar reaction as the term propaganda (McLaren 2003) . Meta-narratives have brought about oppression and injustice. The biblical story is about freedom and justice, and should therefore never be called a meta-narrative. Thirdly we must be remember that our goal is not to turn a post modern into a modern. Modernism is a false truth which has done no favors to Christianity. We should not seek a return to modernism. Unfortunately, the church has done a pretty good job of developing a modern apologetic. We've developed a pretty good rational argument for Christianity. Brian McLaren quotes a Christian apologist who was critical of postmodernism. When asked why Christians should oppose postmodernism, he responded, “Because it destroys our apologetic” (McLaren 2003) . The answer to postmodernism is not to defend modernism so we can use our old apologetics. Instead, the answer is to develop a new apologetic. To do this, we must allow the post modern to wrestle with their inherit contradictions. That means we gracefully and respectfully allow them to see that many post modern ideas are self defeating. But then, rather than show them how rational thought would fix this inherit contradiction, show God as an ultimate reality which transcends and solves the contradiction of post modernism. In other words, show God as being the only possible non contradictory conclusion to post modern thought.
In conclusion, Christians agree with the post modernist viewpoint that states modernity's attempt to bring order and progress to humanity through scientific objectivism and meta-narratives has resulted in great failure and oppression. We agree that human theories and institutions cannot bring truth or order. In the words of the preacher in Ecclesiastes, all the modern theories and meta-narratives result are meaninglessness. Modernity is not the answer. Science is not the answer. Education is not the answer. The institutional church is not the answer. Jesus is the answer. To the post modernist who believes that language no longer represents objective truth, we offer Jesus, who is “the word made flesh” (John 1:14). He is the ultimate in language, word, thought and symbol, for he is the manifestation of the only objective reality, that is, God himself. No one has seen God, nor can anyone truly understand the mystery of God. However, Jesus has made this ultimate reality known, even if only in a shadow. Therefore we accept Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. All other reality may indeed be subjective and only meaningful on the individual or local level. But Jesus brings a way for all to find truth acceptance and meaning, not through oppression and the removal of individualism, but through faith humility, justice and love. Jesus, therefore, is the only meaningful fulfillment of post modernism. BibliographyColson, Charles. Chuck Colson's Response. February 2004. http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/000160.html (accessed April 19, 2007). Colson, Charles. "The Postmodern Crackup." Christiantiy Today , December 2003: 72. Klages, Dr. Mary. Postmodernism. April 21, 2003. http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html (accessed April 19, 2007). McLaren, Brian. "An Open Letter to Chuck Colson." 2003. http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/000018.html (accessed 19 April, 2007). Parker, James. "A Requiem for Postmodernism- Whither Now?" In Reclaiming the Center , edited by Paul Kjoss Helseth, Justin Taylor Millard J. Erickson, 307-322. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004. Willard, Dallas. What Significnce Has 'Postmodernism' for Christian Faith. http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=70 (accessed April 19, 2007).
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