Is Postmodernism an Echo from the Grave? (Part 1)

     You may or may not be familiar with the term postmodernism, but it is the currently reigning outlook of the so-called progressive/intellectual elite, and its impact on society is hugely significant.  Even the church has not escaped its influence.

     What exactly are the basic tenants of postmodernism?  That question is impossible to answer precisely, since one of the core notions of postmodernism is a dislike for definitions, especially of itself.  Nevertheless, if accepted as generalities, at lease five points of postmodernism can be identified.  These are: 1.  There can be no universal absolutes.  2.  Community is important, but never static, it must always evolve.  3.  Reality is perception, and perception is personal not corporate.  4.  Love is acceptance, never judgment.  5.  Belief in anything ultimate (especially an ultimate being) is repressive and dangerous (untrue certainty must give way to true uncertainty).

     Each generation seems to extrude a tribe of so-called intellectuals who nominate what they believe to be a new philosophical counterculture.  Mostly due to humanity’s carnal predispositions, the supposed new idea is adopted by a statistically significant number of others to qualify it as an ism.  Those who are first to publish become the guiding lights.

     Recent generations have given obeisance to such luminaries of secular intellectualism as Bultman, Darwin, Dewey, Freud, Hegel, Hume, Huxley, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Rousseau and Russell, approving also a multitude of lesser lights.  What is so strikingly inane about the ideas trumpeted by such men is that they are not revolutionary, not unique, and certainly not original.  In fact, one might argue that their ideas are but echoes of sophistry from the grave.

     Postmodern purists would argue that their ism is not a "counter-culture" idea, but a "contra-culture" philosophy.  Rather than supposing to offer up another cultural alternative, postmodernism considers itself a reflex against the culture.  It does not so much support the idea of "another" culture, but the idea of no defined culture...a kind of do as you please, and let do as they please mentality.

     Philosophical and theological thinkers are currently publishing a spate of articles and books on subjects related to postmodernism, and how postmodern values have and will continue to change world culture.  Ministry related magazines and journals have taken up the challenge to help prepare the church to reach the largely narcissistic postmodern mind.  The purpose of this article is not to disparage such attempts, but to review the idea that somehow postmodernism is novel.

     If we can prove that a particular ism is merely the resurrection of a previously developed form of thought, the value of the secondary form is diminished.  If a particular philosophy assumes itself to be novel, only to be antedated by a substantially similar theme, it may claim an improvement or expansion on the idea, but it cannot claim authorship; attempts to do so in common writing is known as plagiarism.

     Concerning the opinions of humankind, the writer of Ecclesiastes soberly noted, "There is no new thing under the sun.  Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us" (1:9b, 10 KJV).  That statement, whether one believes it to be canonical or merely literary, can be confirmed to have been written nearly 3,000 years ago.

Next, we will take a closer look at the five general tenets of postmodernism.