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"What are the dangers of
postmodernism?"
Answer: Simply put, Postmodernism is a philosophy
that affirms no objective or absolute truth, especially in
matters of religion and spirituality. When confronted with a
truth claim regarding the reality of God and religious
practice, Postmodernism’s viewpoint is exemplified in the
statement “that may be true for you, but not for me.” While
such a response may be completely appropriate when
discussing favorite foods or preferences toward art, such a
mindset is dangerous when it is applied to reality because
it confuses matters of taste and opinion with truth.
The term “Postmodernism” literally means “after Modernism”
and is used to philosophically describe the current era
which came after the age of Modernism. Postmodernism is a
reaction (or perhaps more appropriately, a disillusioned
response) to Modernism’s failed promise of using human
reason alone to better mankind and make the world a better
place. Because one of Modernism’s beliefs was that absolutes
did indeed exist, Postmodernism seeks to “correct” things by
first eliminating absolute truth and making everything
(including the empirical sciences and religion) relative to
an individual’s beliefs and desires.
The dangers of Postmodernism can be viewed as a downward
spiral that begin with the rejection of absolute truth,
which then leads to a loss of distinctions in matters of
religion and faith, and finally culminates in a philosophy
of religious pluralism that says no faith or religion is
objectively true and therefore no one can claim his or her
religion is true and another is false.
Dangers of Postmodernism - #1 – Relative Truth
Postmodernism’s stance of relative truth is the outworking
of many generations of philosophical thought. From Augustine
to the Reformation, the intellectual aspects of Western
civilization and the concept of truth were dominated by
theologians. But, beginning with the Renaissance periods of
the 14th – 17th centuries, thinkers began to elevate
humankind to the center of reality. If one were to look at
human periods of history like a family tree, the Renaissance
would be Modernism’s grandmother and the Enlightenment would
be its mother. Renee Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”
personified the beginning of this era. God was not the
center of truth any longer – man now was.
The Enlightenment was in a way the complete imposition of
the scientific model of rationality upon all aspects of
truth and claimed that only scientific data could be
objectively understood, defined, and defended. Truth as it
pertained to religion was left out and discarded. The
philosopher who straddled this epoch’s and Modernism’s
contribution to relative truth was the Prussian Immanuel
Kant and his work The Critique of Pure Reason, which
appeared in 1781. Among other things, Kant argued that true
knowledge about God was impossible so he created a divide of
knowledge between “facts” and “faith.” According to Kant,
“Facts have nothing to do with religion.” The end result was
that spiritual matters were assigned to be matters of the
heart and just opinion, and only the empirical sciences were
allowed to speak of truth. And while Modernism believed in
absolutes at least in the area of science, God’s special
revelation (the Bible) was evicted from the realm of truth
and certainty.
>From Modernism came Postmodernism and, whereas Kant marked
the philosophical transition from the Enlightenment to
Modernism, Frederick Nietzsche may symbolize the shift from
Modernism to Postmodernism. As the patron saint of
postmodernist philosophy, Nietzsche held to “perspectivism,”
which says that all knowledge (including science) is a
matter of perspective and interpretation. Many other
philosophers have built upon Nietzsche’s work (e.g.
Foucault, Rorty, and Lyotard) and have shared his rejection
of God and religion in general. They also rejected any hint
of absolute truth, or as Lyotard put it, a rejection of a
metanarrative (a truth that transcends all peoples and
cultures).
This philosophical march through history against objective
truth has resulted in Postmodernism having a complete
aversion to any claim to absolutes, with such a mindset
naturally painting a huge bull’s-eye on something that
declares to be inerrant truth, such as the Bible.
Dangers of Postmodernism - #2 – Loss of Discernment
The great theologian Thomas Aquinas said, “It is the task of
the philosopher to make distinctions.” What Aquinas meant is
that truth is dependent upon the ability to discern – the
capability to distinguish “this” from “that” in the realm of
knowledge. However, if objective and absolute truth does not
exist, then everything becomes a matter of personal
interpretation. To the postmodern individual, the author of
a book does not possess the correct interpretation of their
work; it is the reader who actually determines what the book
really means – a process called deconstruction. And given
that there are multiple readers (vs. one author), there are
naturally multiple interpretations, with the end result
being no universally valid interpretation.
Such a chaotic situation makes it impossible to make
meaningful or lasting distinctions between interpretations
because there is no standard or benchmark that can be used.
This especially applies to matters of faith and religion
because the philosophers of the Enlightenment and Modernism
had already deposed religion to the compartment of opinion.
Such being the case, it naturally follows that attempting to
make proper and meaningful distinctions in the area of
religion (ones that dare suggest that one belief is right
and another invalid) carries no more weight than one person
arguing that chocolate tastes better than vanilla. In such
situations, it becomes impossible to objectively adjudicate
between competing truth claims.
Dangers of Postmodernism - #3 – Pluralism
If absolute truth does not exist, and if there is no way to
make meaningful, right/wrong distinctions between different
faiths and religions, then the natural conclusion is that
all beliefs must be given equal weight and considered valid.
The proper term for this practical outworking in
Postmodernism is “philosophical pluralism.” With pluralism,
no religion has the right to pronounce itself right or true
and the other competing faiths false, or even relatively
inferior. For those who espouse a philosophical religious
pluralism, there is no longer any heresy, except perhaps the
view that there are heresies. D. A. Carson underscores
conservative evangelical’s concerns about what they see as
the dangerous element of pluralism when he says, “In my most
somber moods I sometimes wonder if the ugly face of what I
refer to as philosophical pluralism is the most dangerous
threat to the gospel since the rise of the Gnostic heresy in
the second century.”
These progressive dangers of Postmodernism – relative truth,
a loss of discernment, and philosophical pluralism –
represent real and imposing threats to Christianity because
they collectively relegate God’s Word to something that has
no real authority over mankind and no ability to show itself
as true in a world of competing religious voices. What is
Christianity’s response to these challenges?
Response to the Dangers of Postmodernism
It should first be stated that Christianity claims to be
absolutely true, claims that meaningful distinctions in
matters of right/wrong (as well as spiritual truth and
falsehood) exist, and claims to be correct in its claims
about God with any contrary claims from competing religions
being incorrect. Such a stance provokes cries of “arrogance”
and “intolerance” from Postmodernism. However, truth is not
a matter of attitude or preference, and when closely
examined, the foundations and philosophies of Postmodernism
quickly crumble and reveal Christianity’s claims to be both
plausible and compelling.
First, Christianity claims that absolute truth exists. In
fact, Jesus specifically says that He was sent and born to
do one thing: “to testify to the truth” (John 18:37).
Postmodernism says that no truth should be affirmed, yet its
position is one that is self-defeating – it affirms at least
one absolute truth: that no truth should be affirmed. This
means that Postmodernism does believe in absolute truth, and
such a fact is exemplified by its philosophers who write
books stating things they expect their readers to embrace
and believe as truth. Putting it simply, one professor has
said, “When someone says there is no such thing as truth,
they are asking you not to believe them. So don’t.”
Second, Christianity claims that meaningful distinctions
exist between the Christian faith and all other beliefs.
However, it should be understood that those claiming that
meaningful distinctions do not exist between religions are
actually making a distinction. They are attempting to
showcase a difference in what they believe to be true and
the Christian’s truth claims. Postmodernist authors expect
their readers to come to the right conclusions about what
they have written and will correct those who interpret their
work differently than they have intended. Again, their
position and philosophy proves itself to be self-defeating
because they eagerly make distinctions between what they
believe to be correct and what they see as being false.
Finally, Christianity claims to be universally true in what
it says regarding man’s lost ness before God, the sacrifice
of Christ on behalf of fallen mankind, and the separation
between God and anyone who chooses not to accept what God
says about sin and the need for repentance. When Paul
addressed the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers on Mars Hill,
he said, “Therefore having overlooked the times of
ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people
everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30, emphasis added).
Paul’s declaration was not a “this is true for me, but may
not be true for you” statement, but rather an exclusive and
universal command (i.e. a metanarrative) from God to
everyone. Any postmodernist who says this is false is
committing an error against his own pluralistic philosophy
that says no faith or religion is incorrect because, once
again, he violates his own mandate of saying every religion
is equally true.
In the same way that it is not arrogant for a math teacher
to insist that 2+2=4 or for a locksmith to insist that only
one key will fit a locked door, it is not arrogant for the
Christian to stand against Postmodernist thinking and insist
that Christianity is true and anything opposed to it is
false. Absolute truth does exist, consequences do exist for
being wrong, and while pluralism may be desirable in matters
of food preferences, it is not so in matters of truth. The
Christian is to present God’s truth in love and simply ask
any postmodernist who is angered by the exclusive claims of
Christianity, “So have I become your enemy by telling you
the truth?” (Galatians 4:16).
This article is from the website
Got
Questions. We thank them for this fine article and
strongly suggest their website to our visitors.
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2008
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