I’ve heard it many many many times where people say, “Postmodernism is dangerous.” “Postmodernism is corrupting this generation.” When I ask why they feel that way, they say that Postmodernism is throwing out the truth.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask.

“Postmodernism says what’s good for you is good for you. But don’t impose your ideas on me.”

That’s not postmodernism. That’s relativism or cultural relativism. Postmodernism has elements of cultural relativism, but at it’s core, it’s not relativism. That’s not postmodernism’s central message and before we reject postmodernism, we have to know what postmodern thought actually is.

Postmodernism is called postmodernism because it is a reaction against modernism. It rails against the excesses of modernism. A lot of the classes I took in school were focused on postmodern thought, and while there are some elements of relativism in postmodernism, that’s not what it’s all about. That’s not postmodernism’s focus. Just so you know I’m not just making this up (from wikipedia):

“Postmodernism is a term originating in architecture, literally ‘after the modern’, denoting a style that is more ornamental than modernism, and which borrows from previous architectural styles, often in a playful or ironic fashion. Later, the term was used in painting, music and philosophy for any pluralistic style that is a reaction against the pretensions of high modernism^[1].”

Well what exactly is modernism? Again from wikipedia:

“It is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology or practical experimentation.^[1] “

So modernism believes that men have power over their own lives through reason, science and technology. The excesses of modernism would be that reason and science are the ultimate sources of knowledge and truth.

What postmodernism says is that truth is not limited to reason and reason cannot explain everything. That’s why you see a return to spiritual mysticism today. Postmoderns are seeking the truth in a lot of different places. The traditional bastions of truth like institutional churches, government, military power, etc are all being challenged. Yet postmoderns are still seeking. I don’t think they’ve found what they’re looking for. Art and beauty are making a comeback. Image is becoming more and more important. Very little is black and white like human logic and reasoning would like you to believe. More and more things are a shade of grey.

But that doesn’t mean that postmoderns don’t believe in an absolute truth. They merely don’t believe that absolute truth can be deducted and reasoned. They don’t believe that the human mind is capable of controlling and dictating truth.

What does that mean for Christianity? Well Christianity has come under the heavy influence of modernism but how and why? And how has postmodernism influenced Christianity? What can we learn from postmodernism and what should we throw out? I’ll talk about that in the next entry.