An Article Written at a Time When I Thought it Mandatory
for all Christian Leaders to Write out a Description of the Postmodern
Malaise
In
my conversations, writings, and sermons, I find myself frequently using
the term "postmodern" to describe what's going on in Western
culture. For some time now I've wanted to sit down and write a bit about
what I mean when I say "postmodern." At the same time, I've
warmly welcomed any excuse that came my way to put this project off. There
are a couple of reasons for my procrastination. First, attempting to define
the term "postmodern" is a very un-postmodern thing to do. By
the end of this ramble, you will hopefully understand why. Second, "postmodern"
is a very slippery word. It was first used to label certain kinds of architecture
and art, and then migrated into the vocabulary of literary critics and
philosophers. Once a word has crossed over to the dark side of philosophical
inquiry, it's almost impossible to redeem it for common use. But let me
give it a shot.
A philosopher's favorite
question is "What do you mean by . . .?" Many philosophical
conversations never progress beyond the definition of the term at hand.
It's not uncommon for more to be said about what a term doesn't mean,
than what it does mean. In fact, the label "postmodern" is actually
nothing more than a description of what something isn't. When the automobile
first emerged on the scene people didn't know what to call it. So they
described it in terms of what it wasn't. That's why the first cars were
known as "horseless carriages." In the same way, most people
don't know how to describe the tectonic shift that has taken place in
Western Culture over the past few decades. All anybody can say is, "Toto,
we're not in modernity anymore."
The best way to understand postmodernity (or whatever it will someday
be called) is to first understand what modernity was all about. So let
me give you a brief and extremely oversimplified description of how the
two relate
The
Modern Trinity
I like to think of modernity as being summed
up by three keywords: certainty, optimism, and progress.
The certainty of modernity was largely the product of the scientific method.
Once Descartes declared that self was the source of certainty ("I
think therefore I am"), one could be certain only of objective truth
verified by the senses and rational thought. This conviction led many
people to believe that by objectively employing the scientific method
they could solve all the mysteries of the universe. Sure enough, scientists
were able to come up with rational explanations for many ancient mysteries.
Many wonderful advances in technology and medicine were the result of
scientific inquiry and explanation. These advances led to a high degree
of optimism among modern leaders and thinkers. Most believed that there
was nothing humanity couldn't achieve through science. This attitude produced
an unshakeable belief in progress. Visions of Utopia were all the rage.
Wielding a microscope in one hand and a telescope in the other, Scientificman
emerged from his phone booth and promised to solve all the problems that
had plagued his ancestors. For the first time, the perfect society was
within the grasp of humanity.
Since there was no mystery left in the world, since everything we needed
to know was available to us through our senses, and since we had located
within ourselves the tools for making this broken world right, there was
no need for God. In modernity, all of the effects visible in this world,
which in the Bible were attributed to God, could now be assigned to more
rational, less supernatural causes. For most people, God was still politely
invited to the party, but he was no longer the life of it.
The
Train Wreck of the 20th Century
The train of certainty, optimism, and progress that
gathered momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries was derailed by the events
of the 20th century. Instead of utopia, we got two world wars, a holocaust,
a worldwide economic depression, and political oppression of various stripes.
Those events were a wake-up call to all who believed that humanity was
finally going to get it right. The presuppositions of modernity were deconstructed
before our very eyes.
Progress turned out to be a myth. The human race isn't getting better.
We're not improving our situation. All of our efforts in the modern age
to do so were answered with catastrophe. Every scientific breakthrough
that saved lives was a countered by one that created a weapon designed
to end them more efficiently. The optimism of modernity took a pessimistic
turn. Modernity proved God was dead, and now with modernity taking its
last breath, people don't know where to place their hope. The promise
of postmodernity, when taken to the extreme, is nothing but nihilistic
despair. If modernity's vision of the future is Star Trek, postmodernity
sees on the horizon Blade Runner. The goal of postmodernity is not improving
the human condition, it's surviving the chaos of life long enough to collect
a few cool experiences before we die.
Certainty has been replaced by doubt. Doubt is the mantra of postmodernity.
Doubt all claims to truth. Doubt all claims to power. Doubt what your
history book tells you. Doubt what your parents tell you. Doubt what your
church tells you (if you still have one). Doubt what you read in the newspaper.
Postmoderns are the ultimate skeptics and cynics, because they believe
everything coming at them has been spun by someone trying to legitimize
his or her (usually his, so say the postmodern feminists) position of
power.
Postmoderns reject objective truth, not necessarily because they don't
believe in truth, but because they don't believe in objectivity. We all
have a perspective. We all have an agenda. Our agenda is always shaping
our perspective. Our perspective is always shaping the truth we perceive
in the world. So when a postmodern finds something that is "true"
it is only "true for me," because my perspective is different
from yours. It's impossible to assign meaning to anything in a postmodern
world (including the word postmodern), because all truth and meaning is
relative to something else, which also is assigned a relative meaning.
The target just never stops moving.
So
Which One is Right?
(Is that a modern question or what?)
Those
still caught up in the modern world see postmodernity as a terrible virus
that will destroy all civilization if left unchecked. Postmoderns see
modernity as the ultimate form of oppression. While they don't have a
better alternative to it, they are still happy to be free from its cold,
sterile, scientifically precise grip. Actually, both throw strikes and
balls. In this country, we live under the canopy of many blessings that
were made possible in modernity. Anybody want to go back to when the cure
for every illness was to drill a hole in your head so that the evil spirit
can get out? To its credit, postmodernity has done us all a service by
knocking the hubris out of the human race and helping us to not take ourselves
so seriously. Postmodern Toto has pulled back the curtain and showed us
that the Wizard of Science isn't all he's cracked up to be. He's not as
smart or as invincible as he (and we) once thought he was.
On the other hand, the only God modernity has to offer is science. Many
of the faith-based values resulting from Judeo-Christian influence were
held over in modernity, but the modern project was unable to provide any
motivation for adhering to them. (Translation: If we're here only because
of some cosmic accident, then why does it really matter how we act?) In
postmodernity, the only God that exists is the God we create within ourselves.
If we're free to draw our own composite of God, then we're also free to
create our own unique set of values, which-Surprise! Surprise!-just happens
to conform to our pre-existing behavior. Neither modernity nor postmodernity
can tell us why we are here or how we can live meaningful lives.
It's a disastrous mistake to think that one of these worldviews is better
or more "Christian" than the other. From a Christian perspective
both are lacking, because their opposite promises of utopia and chaos
are the result of distorted philosophies that begin with the assumption
that a God like the one revealed in Scripture does not exist. Personally,
I'd rather do ministry in the context of postmodernity. By rejecting the
scientific method as the litmus test for all truth, postmodernity has
once again made room for the supernatural. That means there's room for
the story of Jesus. But we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that
postmoderns will accept the gospel with arms wide open. The very tools
used to deconstruct modernity can also be used by the cynical and jaded
to deconstruct Christianity, which from their perspective is just another
oppressive modern institution.
Yes, the world has changed, but the mission of the church hasn't. We're
still called to make disciples of all kinds of people. Which means we're
called to tell moderns, postmoderns, and those caught in between, how
God, through Christ, has revealed a worldview that transcends all others,
no matter what spot they occupy on a timeline.
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Copyright
©2002 by Wade Hodges, All Rights Reserved
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