A Christian View of

Postmodernism and
its Roots

by
David Porteous
A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

A Christian View of
Postmodernism and Its Roots

Introduction

Several factors have an influence on how the Christian message is received

by non-Christian hearers. One such factor is the philosophy or worldview of
the audience. While few people are professional philosophers or are even
avid students of philosophy, everyone nevertheless holds sets of beliefs and
values that shape how they see reality. Such a collection of presuppositions,
whether held consciously and consistently or not, defines one’s worldview.
While a particular worldview might be deliberately chosen by an individual,
it might just as easily be the result of living in a certain society or culture. If
the latter is the case, unless the individual comes into contact with a
competing worldview, their way of looking at things may never be
challenged or critiqued.

One such ideology that developed in the mid to late twentieth-century,

which has become prominent in the modernised societies of the West, is
Postmodernism. This broad movement expresses itself in a variety of
subjects including art, architecture, history, literature, medicine, and
religion. As the movement gained ground, postmodern approaches were
adopted in a variety of academic and theoretical disciplines. Today, it seems,
the term “postmodern” is not so much on everyone’s lips as it was a few
decades ago. However, despite a lower profile, its influence is still with us.
Many people have lived all of their lives in a climate of postmodernism. As

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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

noted by D.A. Carson, the conclusions of postmodernism are now adopted

as cultural “givens” without the perceived need to justify them.1

Since postmodernism still holds sway as a worldview, it is the task of the

Christian apologist to evaluate this ideology in relation to the Christian
faith. To this end, the following questions may be asked: What is
postmodernism? How does Christianity challenge postmodernism? and
finally, What are the implications of postmodernism for apologetics?

The concept of postmodernism is too broad and shapeless to describe easily.

But since the very term “postmodern” defines itself in relation to what is
modern, it seems reasonable to begin by understanding modernism or
modernity.2

Modernism and the Age of Enlightenment

A movement that greatly shaped and defined the modern era is what is
known as the Enlightenment, sometimes called the Age of Reason. Though
it is true that the Enlightenment reached its climax in the eighteenth-
century, it is fair to say that its beginnings can be traced back to sixteenth
and seventeenth-centuries.3 Of significance to the Age of Reason was the
attempt of philosophers to provide a sure foundation for knowledge. Rene
Descartes (1596‒1650), often called the “father of modern philosophy,”

1
D.A. Carson, “The Postmodernism That Refuses to Die,” Themelios 43, no.1(April 2018): 1‒3,
accessed August 19, 2019, http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/issue/43-1.
2
The terms modernity or modernism are used by different writers in talking about the roots of
postmodernism. The two terms are also used to refer to distinct but related movements. Whilst
modernism was a late nineteenth century and early twentieth century philosophical movement,
modernity is defined by the modern era of humanity as opposed to the medieval era.
3
C. Brown, “The Enlightenment,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter J.
Elwell (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Company, 2001) 377.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

sought to do this by means of his own thinking. Though he might doubt

everything, even his own being, the fact that he did indeed doubt provided
convincing proof of his existence, he thought.

Also an important figure in Enlightenment ideology was Immanuel Kant

(1724‒1804). Sharing Descartes’ confidence in the power of human reason,
Kant assumed it possible to make rational decisions about religious and
philosophical beliefs in an objective and detached manner. The belief that
self can be the ultimate arbiter of truth is seen in Kant’s chosen motto for
the Enlightenment, Sapere aude—“Dare to be wise,” meaning “Have courage
in your own understanding.”4 Kant very much saw the Enlightenment as
humanity’s coming of age. According to Kant, man, in his immaturity, has
been bound by the external authorities of Bible, the church, and the state,
but man must no longer be shackled to worn-out creeds and customs; these
barriers must come down for the sake of progress.

The most prominent philosopher of the nineteenth century, G.W.F. Hegel

(1770‒1831) perhaps sowed seeds of relativism with the idea that history may
be viewed as a progression of worldviews, none of which are completely
false, and all of which contain a degree of truth. 5 Hegel’s huge, all-
embracing system of philosophy, which rests on his celebrated dialectical
method, may perhaps justly be called a grand narrative.

The modern era, too, was a period of striking political change.

Enlightenment thinkers reacted to pre-Reformation and Reformation views
that existing forms of government were endorsed by divine sanction.
Questions regarding the source of political authority became of utmost

4
Brown, 377.
5
B.E. Benson, “Postmodernism,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter J.
Elwell (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Company, 2001) 940-41.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

importance. Political thinkers such as Thomas Hobbs, John Locke, and Jean
Jacques Rousseau based legitimate governmental authority on the new idea
of social contract. One needn’t wait for Russian Revolution of 1917 to see this
change, but the mid-seventeenth-century saw the English Civil War and the
execution of Charles I, with the subsequent century bringing the French
Revolution and the abolition of a monarchy. Both the Declaration of
Independence of the United States of America and the Statement of Human
and Civil Rights of the French National Assembly display Enlightenment
thinking. Interestingly, though God is mentioned in the texts, the
documents make their appeal to self-evident truths.

The Enlightenment has also been described as the Age of Scientific Reason,
and Modernity is characterised by remarkable scientific and technological
advancement over that of the preceding ages. By far the most eminent
physicist of his day, Isaac Newton (1642‒1727), formulated a universal law of
gravitation able to explain the motion of the planets and the behaviour of
everything in the solar system. The universe began to be no longer seen as
irrational, but something that is understandable, functioning according to
fixed deducible laws. Darwin’s theory of evolution was seen to account for
the origin of species, and much later, Stanley Miller’s experiments seemed to
be able to account for the origin of life. The spectacular success of science in
the popular mind caused many to think of science as the ultimate source of
truth. The logical positivism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century concluded that the language of theology and metaphysics is
essentially meaningless. Knowledge must either be relations of ideas, which
are tautologies, or matters of fact derived from sensory experiences.6

6
E.D. Cook, “Logical Positivism,” in New Dictionary of Theology, ed. Sinclair B. Ferguson and
David F. Wright, (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 394.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

The generally high view of science had an impact on theology in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth-century. Movements such as the English or
Catholic Modernism believed the proper response to modern thought and
knowledge was to make radical changes to Christian doctrine.

Scepticism towards religion, though, began much earlier. Attacks against

the church and institutional Christianity were made by both Rousseau and
Voltaire in the eighteenth-century. Rousseau, though professing belief in a
supreme being, renounced all creeds while asserting that all beliefs should
be brought to the bar of reason. Voltaire, influenced by English Deism,
maintained that true religion, unlike Christianity, was one of reason and
nature. The quest for the historical Jesus, too, may be traced back to
Enlightenment Deists, who distinguished the Jesus of history from that of
Christian orthodoxy.7

That “reason” should rule instead of revelation was the direction taken in
ethics as well as religion. Guided by a strong belief both in the existence of
moral law within human beings and in God’s unknowability, Kant proposed
a morality independent of divine command: the categorical imperative.
According to this construct, the test for moral maxims should be that we act
only according to those which we could will to become universal moral laws.
The Social Contract theory of ethics proposed by Hobbes, Rousseau, et al
encouraged thinking of moral rules in terms of rights: moral rules ensure
the rights of others are respected. Later, the system of ethics known as
utilitarianism came to dominate much nineteenth-century ethical thought,
and a good action was defined as one that does the maximum good for the
maximum number of people.

7
Brown, 378‒79.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

Given the significant advancements of modernity, we might wonder why

there was a need for the new ideology of postmodernism. After all, the
twentieth century saw the success of modern medicine in making many
diseases now treatable, technology had freed many from drudgery, and the
standard of living had risen far beyond anything that might have been
imagined a century or two ago.

Reasons for a sense of disappointment and disillusionment with modernity

may be accounted for by a number of factors. The French Revolution
beginning in 1789, which hoped to create a nation of free individuals
protected by the law, soon gave way to a Reign of Terror in which thousands
of people were executed. Marxism, which had hypothesised the liberation of
the oppressed proletariat and hoped to usher-in a classless, humane society,
itself brought oppression and horror on a grand scale, as it became known
that 20 million Soviet citizens had been killed under Stalin. Hope in a
future utopian society begins to wane. Disillusionment may also be
attributed to the failure of peace shown by the twentieth century’s two
devastating World Wars. H.G. Wells’ phrase, “the war to end all wars,”
though once said idealistically, is now used only sardonically. In science,
too, cause was found for disappointment. It had not delivered the absolute
and final truth once promised. Newton’s law of inertia and his concept of
rest are no longer deemed tenable. His simple and elegant theory of
universal gravitation, which had been the accepted for two centuries, was
discredited by Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. General Relativity, in
turn, was found to be at odds with Quantum Mechanics, and to date a single
unifying theory is still wanting. In addition, widespread environmental
pollution, the thalidomide tragedy, and the threat of nuclear destruction,
reminded many of the problems that science had caused. Slowly, people

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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

began to see the scientific view of the world as a poor religion, neglecting
the spiritual and religious dimensions of human beings.8

Postmodernism

These and other difficulties with modernism led to the philosophical

movement of postmodernism, which arose in the mid to late twentieth-
century. Originating primarily in France, postmodernism is identified with
such philosophers as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean François
Lyotard, and American academic, Richard Rorty. However, the movement
also appears to owe much to Nietzsche and Kierkegaard.9 Before
characteristic postmodern claims are considered, it must be stressed that
postmodern thought is quite wide and varied, and unanimity between
postmodern thinkers is not easy to find. Another difficulty is that the term
“postmodern” has become a buzzword in contemporary society, and is often
used loosely to refer to anything that diverges from traditional standards or
is relativistic. Nevertheless, as difficult as it may be to define such a broad
movement, some consensus can definitely be found.10 It is, of course, true
that postmodernism is a repudiation of many of the tenets of the
Enlightenment and modernity, yet it is not a wholesale rejection of them all.
Some ideas of modernity it rejects, some it holds on to, and some it
reinterprets.

8
Gene Edward Veith, “Postmodern Times: Facing a World of New Challenges and Opportunities,”
Modern Reformation 4, no. 5 (September/October 1995): 16, accessed September 8, 2019,
https://www.whitehorseinn.org/article/postmodern-times.
9
Benson, 941.
10
David L. Dance, “Preaching and Postmodernism: An Evangelical Comes to the Dance,”
Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 5, no.2 (Summer 2001):62‒63, accessed Sept 5, 2019,
https://equip.sbts.edu/publications/journals/journal-of-theology/sbjt-52-summer-
2001/preaching-and-postmodernism-an-evangelical-comes-to-the-dance.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

Perhaps the greatest difference between postmodernism and modernity is

the denial of an objective natural reality. Though in the eighteenth-century
Bishop Berkley brought it into question, we generally think of things as
existing independently of us, and not depending on our minds for their
being. Kant’s noumenal world of things-in-themselves, existing beyond our
perceptions, might qualify as objective reality. However, Kant maintained
we are tied to the phenomenal realm of appearances and can never know
that other realm. Since, according to Kant, we cannot experience the
objective reality of the noumenal realm, perhaps post-modernism is not so
far removed from Kant’s Enlightenment thinking. To say that we cannot
experience objective reality is perhaps not too different from saying that
there is no objective reality. One could say that in this regard, postmodern
thinking, rather than opposing Enlightenment thinking, has taken it a step
further.

Closely related to the denial of objective natural reality is the denial of

objective truth. Truth, says postmodernism, instead of being something that
is discovered, is something that is constructed. Postmodernism maintains
that communities construct truth according to their use of language and the
experiences which shaped their linguistic community.11 Different linguistic
communities will therefore have different “truths.” This position may be
seen as a reaction against the scientific rationalism of modernity which had
failed to deliver the objective truth it promised.

Of course, to say that there is no objective truth is itself an attempt to assert

an objective truth, and, therefore, is self-contradictory. However,
contradiction need not be a problem, if, as believed by the postmodernist,
logic and reason is not universally valid. Logic and reason, according to

11
Dance, 67.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

postmodernism, are merely conceptual constructs, valid only in the

established intellectual traditions in which they were used. But by denying
the law of contradiction, it is difficult to see how we do not lose all ability
for reasoned argumentation. In fact, even the value of argumentation
appears to be questioned by postmodernist Richard Rorty’s comment that
there can be no real “arguments,” but simply “re-descriptions” of things
which make positions seem appealing.12 The postmodern position on logic
and reason seems to be again a reaction against the Enlightenment notion
that man is capable of reasoning in a completely objective manner. Kant’s
ideal of thinking for oneself is renounced by postmodernist Hans-Georg
Gadamer as impossible and undesirable. Gadamer stresses how greatly we
are dependent on the judgements passed on to us by tradition. 13

Postmodernism responds to the Enlightenment’s faith in science with

similar scepticism. Scientific advancements, rather than being the
mechanisms of human progress, they argue, have led to the development of
technologies for killing on a massive scale. Since scientific advancement
does not always proceed linearly through scientific method, but often moves
forward by means of paradigm shifts, credence is given to the notion that
scientific theories are merely social constructs. Other forms of knowledge
production, postmodernists maintain, might serve one’s personal and
spiritual needs better.14 The human sciences, too, are met with suspicion.
According to Michel Foucault, the emergence of the human sciences in the
eighteenth century, which subjected humans to scientific observation, was
connected with the establishment of systems of disciplinary control.15

12
Benson, 944.
13
Benson, 942
14
“Science wars,” in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, last modified July 23, 2019, accessed
Sept 6, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars.
15
Stephen Law, Philosophy: Eyewitness Companion (London: Dorling Kindersley, 2007) 342.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

Another view against much of the Enlightenment’s epistemology is

postmodernism’s anti-foundationalism. Foundationalism’s approach to
knowledge maintains that beliefs can be justified if based on basic or
foundational truths. According to this theory, if we trace the chain of
justification back far enough we will arrive at basic truths that do not
require justification.16 These are indubitable truths, about which one cannot
be mistaken. Descartes attempted to establish such a foundation by his
cogito, and hence is often singled out by postmodernists in order to attack
foundationalism. Foundationalism is disliked by postmodernist because it
assumes that all epistemic systems must include a class of beliefs that are
exempt from challenge. In addition, foundationalism operates on the
premise that reasoning can only proceed in one direction, from foundational
beliefs to others, and not the reverse. In view of the destruction wreaked by
totalitarian ideologies in the twentieth-century, we can understand
postmodernism’s reluctance to assume any belief to be unchallengeable.

Central also to postmodernism is its suspicion of meta-narratives. In fact,

leading postmodern figure, Jean François Lyotard defined postmodernism
simply as “incredulity towards meta-narratives.”17 By the term “meta-
narrative” Lyotard has in mind some kind of unified, complete, universal,
and epistemically certain story that is seemingly able to explain or interpret
everything. Kantianism, Hegelianism, and Marxism are sometimes
considered examples of such grand narratives. Lyotard particularly had in
view narratives of man’s emancipation—Christianity or Marxism—and the
narrative of the triumph of science. Meta-narratives, it is argued, have been
used to give cultural practices some form of legitimisation or authority, and

16
Law, 60.
17
Christopher Butler, Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2002) 13.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

have often led to totalitarian persecution. These sorts of narrative do not

allow disputes about value and are therefore illiberal.

An area about which postmodernism has much to say is language.

Language, they say, is not the “mirror of nature,” as supposed by the
Enlightenment view. On the contrary, Derrida and his followers believe that
the Western tradition has too often falsely supposed that the relationship
between language and the world is well founded and reliable. It was
assumed, they say, that the meaning of a word has its origin in the structure
of reality, and hence makes that structure directly present to the mind.18 In
opposition to this, postmodernists maintain that language is self-contained
and self-referential. The meaning of a word is not a static thing in the world
or an idea in the mind, but rather a range of contrasts and differences with
the meaning of other words. When we use conceptual opposites like
“masculine and feminine,” “literal and metaphorical,” “soul and body” we
tend to put one of these terms above the other. Hence, we get a lot of these
relationships wrong, conceiving things as too rigidly fixed. But by employing
a more relativistic conceptual scheme we are able to see that these things
really depend on one another for their definition.19 By a process known as
“deconstruction,” all expressions, anything from Shakespeare to a scientific
experiment, may be taken apart and analysed to reveal unstable linguistic
contradictions which are masks for cultural power and justification for
oppression.20

Postmodernists further challenge traditional thought with their view of

human nature and identity. It is usually agreed that human beings possess
certain aptitudes and dispositions at birth. However, postmodernists reject

18
Butler, 17.
19
Butler, 20.
20
Veith, 3.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

the idea that people have an essential nature. Instead, they insist that nearly
all aspects of human psychology are self or societally constructed.
Furthermore, to “fit in,” the self is forced to adopt various roles in different
circumstances. The postmodern argument is that rather than this being
merely role play, our very identity or notion of our self is affected by these
circumstances.21 Hence, instead of talking about our self, we should really
talk about ourselves. It has also been observed that the postmodernist view
of self lacks the optimism of modernity’s liberal humanists. Rather than
seeing themselves as autonomous and rational, the postmodern view of self
is one which is dominated and controlled by language systems. Those
critical of postmodernism suggest that this encourages people to see
themselves as victims.22

Lastly, some comment should be made regarding postmodernism’s position

with regard to ethics and morality. Postmodernism, as we have seen, is
highly relativistic and maintains that values are culturally determined. This
means that ethics is not seen in terms of the absolute transcendent
standards of the Bible, or even in terms of what is good for society as
proposed by Kant. Author and scholar, Gene Veith, suggests that there are
two guiding principles to postmodernist ethics. The principle of tolerance is
one of the few virtues remaining for a relativistic philosophy. The idea might
be described as a willingness to put up with actions or beliefs you consider
to be wrong, for the sake of a greater ideal, such as the autonomy of others
in the construction of their own narrative. To impose our views or values on
others is against the principle of tolerance and therefore morally wrong. In
practice, the principle of tolerance might be applied, for instance, in
allowing the punishments prescribed by Sharia Law to be carried out, even

21
Butler, 50-52.
22
Butler, 59.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

though one doesn’t believe in it. The other principle is choice. Actions are
perhaps permissible if they are based on choice. Thus abortion is often
justified on the basis that it is the woman’s choice. Similarly, euthanasia is
defensible because it is the patient’s choice.23

Now that most of the major concepts of postmodernism have been set forth,
the ideology may be evaluated in relation to the biblical Christian
worldview. In what ways does Christianity challenge postmodernism?

Postmodernism and Christianity

It has been said that postmodernists believe that there is no objective reality
and no objective truth. If reality, as they believe, is constructed by language,
language can be interpreted in different ways and give rise to different
realities. Of course, this view is at odds with the Christian worldview.
Indeed, the Christian view in this matter is significantly different from that
of both modernity and postmodernity, because neither movement has
accepted revelation as a means of knowledge. Objective reality in the
Christian worldview is derived from the Scriptures, which is God’s Word,
and as such is God-breathed, inerrant, and infallible. Since men are image-
bearers of God, being created with rational minds endowed with knowledge,
righteousness and holiness, bearing the creature-creator distinction, but
with likeness to God, they are able to know the same truth that God knows,
not exhaustively but qualitatively. These truths are found in the
propositions of Scripture and cannot be endlessly reinterpreted but have a
finite meaning, though man can never exhaust the truth expressed in them.
Thus, the author of any a document must be able to make his intent known

23
Veith, 18.
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

to a reader; otherwise, the postmodern writers themselves could never be

understood.

The view that there is no objective truth, suggesting that truth is relative, is
often reflected by the general public in statements such as, “That may be
true for you, but it’s not for me.” However, both modernity and Christianity
accept that there are universal truths. For modernity these might be, for
example, the laws of mathematics and geometry. For Christianity universal
truths are found in propositions such as “There is none righteous, no not
one,” and “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgement.” Though the New Testament addresses dissimilar linguistic and
cultural groups, there is never the thought of such statements being true for
one group, but not true for another.

The biblical Christian worldview would also challenge postmodernism’s

claim that logic and reason are not universally valid but are merely
conceptual constructs. The laws of reason are universal principles that
underlie our reality and thought. Without them it is impossible to
communicate coherently. To deny the law of contradiction, for instance, is
to maintain that the statements, “Madrid is in Spain,” and “Madrid is not in
Spain,” are both true. Without these laws no argument is possible either for
or against postmodernism, modernity, Christianity, or anything else. The
use of reason is very important for Christianity in understanding what the
Scriptures say. Yet this is not unaided human reason, but reason under the
governing authority of the Scriptures and with the illumination of the Holy
Spirit.

To Christians, postmodernism’s scepticism toward science might be

preferred to the position of modernity, which often defends vehemently the
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

theory of evolution without question. However, for the Christian, unlike

some postmodernists, the advance of science and technology need not be
seen as the means of a certain group to assert control, and therefore
necessarily bad. The Christian worldview in regard to science also
distinguishes itself from postmodernism, by the knowledge that the
universe is rational and was created by a rational God. Without this notion,
held by Newton and others, scientific advancement would never have
happened. Equally, science is not the unquestionable arbiter of final truth as
modernity asserts.

With regard to the accusation of foundationalism, Christianity might well

accept this charge. While the Bible assumes the existence of God, it nowhere
attempts to prove his existence, or the truth of the reality which the Bible
describes. This would seem to support the idea that there are some truths
that are so fundamental that they must be assumed in order for knowledge
to advance. In presuppositional apologetics, the single axiom, the Bible
alone is the word of God, provides a foundation upon which knowledge is
possible. Though an ideology as sceptical as postmodernism would wish to
exclude all presuppositions, the fact is that every philosophical system holds
its own set of a priori commitments, and this is true for postmodernism as
well.

Christianity also challenges postmodernism in its acceptance of meta-

narratives. The story of redemption which is planned in eternity, applied in
history, and has its fulfilment in the new heaven and earth, is unashamedly
a grand, narrative or an all-encompassing story—a meta-narrative. But it
must be recognised that postmodernism itself is a meta-narrative in
maintaining that the only all-embracing story is that there is no all-
embracing story. And though postmodernists complain that meta-narratives
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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

are totalitarian, leaving no room for disputes about value, the so-called
“Christian meta-narrative” actually makes disputes about value possible,
because it contains knowledge that sets ethics on an objective footing, and
at the same time condemns totalitarianism.

Christianity’s insistence on the truth of God’s word, the Bible, also appears
to conflict with the postmodern view of language which includes the
practice of deconstruction. The Christian believes that truth may be
obtained from Scripture which correctly presents reality. But the
postmodern deconstructionist maintains that all language systems are
unreliable cultural constructs. Yet the postmodernist intends to use
language in order to show that language has gone astray, and in doing so,
shows some confidence at least, in the reliability of language. One wonders
also what would be the reaction of the deconstructionist were his own
discourse also subjected to deconstruction? Might the deconstruction of his
texts also reveal hidden strategies for power and oppression?

As we have seen the biblical Christian worldview is also in conflict with the
postmodern view that denies human nature. The universality of language
and logic in the human race demonstrate a distinct and enduring
commonality commensurate with a creature made in God’s image. That
fallen human nature is fundamentally sinful is supported by abundant
evidence of the existence of evil in the world. Despite having a
postmodernist leaning, people seldom have a problem in describing certain
acts as “wicked,” revealing their own relationship to the Creator as His
image-bearers.

Christianity also challenges postmodernism in the field of ethics.

Postmodernism, subscribing to no absolutes, cannot establish any universal

16
A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

principle of morality. Since philosophical truth is considered relative to a

community, moral truth, too, can only be relative to that same community.
On the other hand, the moral law which God has given by revelation, is
unambiguous, universal to all communities in all periods of history, and can
be put in simple terms that are not subject to deconstruction.

In conclusion to the above discussion, the implications of postmodernism

on Christian apologetic are now considered. It is obvious by now that
postmodernism is an extremely relativistic and sceptical worldview. Of the
ideas of postmodernism that have been examined, postmodernism’s
scepticism is perhaps most evident in the denial of objective reality,
objective truth, the universality of logic and reason, and its assertion of the
instability and unreliability of language. If logically reasoned arguments are
ineffectual, and appeals to foundational truths are incredulous to the
postmodern mind, a significant hurdle is set before the cause of Christian
apologetics. However, there is reason to believe that reaching postmodern
man with the Christian message might not be as difficult as first thought.
The reason is inconsistency. Despite the repudiation of reason and objective
reality, people tend not to live their lives according to these premises. Most
people believe reality is objective enough to stop them from deciding to
drive their cars on the wrong side of the road, for instance. Similarly, it is
assumed by the justice system that most people have a good enough grasp of
what is true to allow them to give testimony in court. The computer
software designer, though postmodern, still must use logic to do his job
properly. This inconsistency in postmodernist behaviour demonstrates that
it might be premature to abandon the use of reasoned argument in Christian
apologetics. If the image of God in man is expressed in man’s rationality, it is
difficult to see how it could be fully erased.

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A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

Postmodernism relativism is especially seen in its ethics and morality. Yet,

the same could be said for modernism. And while there is the thought
amongst postmodernists that, at a deeper level, all religions are the same,
this too was a feature of the old modernism.

However, the “tolerance” of postmodernism has the potential to make

people more open to Christian friendship and hospitality. Generally,
postmoderns will likely value personal relationships over truth. Since they
perceive meta-narratives and knowledge to be about the pursuit of power,
presentations of the gospel to postmoderns should be persuasive, but not
coercive. Because postmoderns like narratives, perhaps preachers could
draw more on narrative passages rather than discourses in their teaching.
Happily, the Bible has no want of engaging stories which also teach vital
spiritual lessons. At some stage postmoderns should be challenged on meta-
narratives. Yet it must be borne in mind that many believers understand
little of the comprehensiveness of God’s eternal plan of salvation, yet have a
credible profession of faith and are doubtlessly Christians.

Lastly, the Christian may well agree with the postmodernist, that
modernism has not served man’s spiritual and personal needs well.
However, postmodernism has its own set of problems and these are not
minor. Take away language, morality, logic, knowledge, and reason, and
man is left only with solipsism, entire self-absorption, and crushing
loneliness. He is left to his own mind, only.

18
A Christian View of Postmodernism and It’s Roots

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