A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: First Thoughts

When I was in college about 40 years ago (it’s hard to believe it has been that long) I took a three-term series of courses with the unimaginative title ASurvey of Philosophy I, II, & III. The first term covered the ancient world to the middle ages. The second term covered the Enlightenment from the 15^th to 18^th centuries. The third term covered the philosophies of the 19^th and 20^thcenturies and included what is now known as Postmodernism.

I must admit: Postmodernism was unusual and didn’t seem to make much sense: We honestly thought that we’d never hear about it again after that class was finished.

Amazingly enough, though confined to college classrooms in the early 1980’s, postmodern philosophy is now mainstream in culture today. The lesson—if there is a lesson—is not to underestimate the impact philosophy has on the world, no matter how weird or silly it may seem.

As I was researching this post, I noticed that most people in today’s culture—even people who are well educated—don’t have any basis of knowing from where or from whom their ideas originate. This, it seems to me, is a problem.

In the Truth Project Lesson 2 video, Dr. Tackett covered this passage:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-8)

Postmodernism is a “hollow and deceptive philosophy.” 

Since these ideas are mainstream now, it is important that we have at least a cursory understanding about their impact on people in our culture.

But, when asked to describe what it is, most people would have an incomplete notion of Postmodernism. The only thing most people might get right is that Postmodernism embraces the idea that “all truth is subjective.”

That, in my opinion, is only one-third of Postmodernism’s impact on culture.

I know most of us don’t have the time or the patience to devote a substantial amount of time towards studying Postmodernism in detail.

It’s good to remember that postmodernism is a reaction to modernism. In all of history, there is progression of thought from one school to another: Think here of Socrates to Plato to Aristotle, and on and on and on.

One way we could illustrate this idea visually is to show progression through architectural styles through the ages.

Look at this Victorian house in Michigan:

Notice the ornamentation. It’s pretty elaborate.

In Michigan, that style gave way to the American Craftsman style:

Notice how the lines are cleaner and there is much less decoration.

This is an overly simplistic illustration, but it helps to see the progression of architectural thinking from one style to the other. Philosophy has a similar progression.

In the next three posts, I will identify the three most prominent thinkers of Postmodernism, provide a summary of a major idea they promoted and, if we were so inclined, put that idea on a bumper sticker. I will give a brief sketch as to why we should approach these ideas cautiously and how we might, as Christians, be able to deal with them.

I’m borrowing the answer as to how to deal with it from our passage in Colossians. Our goal is to recognize these ideas as we interact with people we meet or, maybe even, as we think these ideas ourselves.

The next three posts will delve into the three main Postmodern ideas in more detail.