The Death of Truth: Chapter 1 - Shifting from modernism to postmodernism.


	1 ARE WE READY? X DENNIS MCCALLUM, CONTRIBUTOR In 1859 Charles Darwin released his Origin of the Species and within months the scientific world was going through a revolution in thinking. Although at the time, most Christians had no idea anything was happening, no one doubts today the far-reaching results of that revolution. During the next few decades after Darwin, the notion of naturalistic evolution became a new consensus among intellectuals, eventually affecting every academic discipline, education, government and even the church. Now, by the last half of the twentieth century, even popular culture has accepted Darwinian evolution as "proven."
	XToday, Christians are answering evolutionists effectively, but the results are minimal in terms of changing the minds of people in our culture. We can only wonder what would have happened if some of the sophisticated Christian arguments current today were available when Darwin first wrote. Unfortunately, Christian leadership was not ready for the intellectual challenges of the late nineteenth century, and the result has been devastating. The New Revolution				About the Contributor: Dennis McCallum is a writer and co-senior pastor at Xenos Christian Fellowship in Columbus, Ohio. Xenos focuses its ministry on evangelism, community development, and discipleship through home groups. Dennis is the author of numerous articles on apologetics as well as several books, including Christianity: The Faith the Makes Sense and Walking in Victory. His M.A. in biblical studies and historical theology is from Ashland Theological Seminary.
	Now, in the late twentieth century, we face a new revolution that likely will dwarf Darwinism in its impact on every aspect of thought and culture. The new onslaught against truth is coming under the general heading of "postmodernism." Postmodernism isn't a set of doctrines or truth claims like Darwinism, but a completely new way of approaching the world of ideas. It brings a generally cohesive new approach to literature, history, politics, education, law, sociology, linguistics and virtually every other discipline, including the sciences. These changes, in turn, affect popular culture through cinema, education, TV and other media. XOnce again, Christians are not ready for a major challenge to the Christian world view. XPostmodernism is not easy to understand at first, just as Darwinism wasn't easy to understand 150 years ago. But as you read this book, you will experience a dawning sense of how important this shift is. Postmodern thinking is all around us, even in the church, as we shall see. We will see how every area of life is already being affected, and will be effected even more in the next few years. The postmodern revolution is still happening, and we, as Christians still have an opportunity to influence the outcome. The Challenge of Modernism Before now, the consensus in secular (non-Christian) thought from has been called modernism. Modernists view the world, including humans, as one big machine. They have faith in rationality, in empiricism (the belief that knowledge can only be gained through our senses) and in science, as we shall see. This world view continues to exert great influence in contemporary culture. In fact, recent developments in the fields of animal intelligence, the genetic basis for behavior, and artificial intelligence, just to name a few areas, are alarming and powerful challenges to God's Word. These developments each require a response from thoughtful Christians.
	XModernism continues to hammer away, landing effective blows on theism (the belief in an infinite-personal God). But among both academicians,				As with Darwinism, Christians again are unprepared for a major challenge to their worldview.
	especially in the humanities and social sciences, the trend today is clearly away from modernism and toward postmodernism. Popularized forms of postmodern thinking are also diffusing into mainstream culture with a speed never imagined in Darwin's day. Even if the Christian church came to a crystal clear understanding of postmodernism this very day, it would be extremely difficult (though never impossible) to turn back the ideological tide. But even if we fail to sweep society as a whole with the truth, we have to become more effective communicators just to have an impact on our own friends and even our own kids. The Postmodern Challenge As with Darwinism, postmodernism has its origin in intellectual and academic circles. This is why average Christians are unaware, or at least unclear, about what postmodernism is. Even Christian leaders and thinkers find themselves confused as their senses are assaulted by the strange or even seemingly insane language of postmodern analysis. But postmodernists are not insane. As we shall see, they present a dangerously convincing case for their view--a view that ultimately directly undermines all possibility of knowing objective truth (i.e., true whether I realize it or not). The real problem is this: once again, Christians aren't ready for a major challenge to the Christian world view. XChristians are also unprepared to answer postmodernism because it's so hard to describe in laymen's terms. Postmodern jargon is extremely difficult for most people to understand. Recent books on postmodernism don't help most of us because they are written by scholars for scholars. Yet postmodernism isn't just an academic problem. We see signs of postmodern analysis on every hand. For instance: The multicultural education movement which argues that the goal of education isn't to make students conform to dominant culture's knowledge, but to 'empower' them by accepting their own standards of literacy. Students don't learn knowledge from the teacher, but create their own knowledge/ The increasingly universal belief that all cultures are to be equally "respected" and never criticized New calls for segregation based on race, such as Afrocentric schools The new importance attached to language, as seen in the "political correctness " movement "Labeling theory " in parenting and education--the idea that children become what they are labeled Radical victimology --the belief that abuse victims of all kinds are a marginalized , repressed group with only one hope: to disempower the dominant group--the victimizers New versions of history from the perspective of oppressed interest groups (e.g. feminist, or gay and lesbian history ) that purposely leave out even major events in the past Attacks on Christian missions , claiming that missionaries are "destroyers of culture" Widespread belief that the courts can never give a marginalized ethnic or socioeconomic group a fair trial, because they operate only to guard the privileges of the dominant culture Postmodern feminism--the belief that our concepts "masculine" and "feminine," are arbitrary social constructions intended to subjugate women to men XThe list goes on and on. Although we might not understand how these things are connected, the fact is that they all flow out of the same postmodern analysis. Our Goal In this book, we seek to explain postmodernism in common language without losing all precision. We refer to thinkers and intellectuals occasionally, but don't worry if you have never heard of them. Just keep reading. Reading this book won't be the easiest thing you've ever done, but it may be one of the most rewarding. As Christians, we believe God calls on us to suffer at times for his sake. One key area of suffering for Christians today is the pain, and even nausea, we feel from learning complicated, ungodly world views, like postmodernism, that do not cause us to feel blessed. However, if you devote the time to finish, you will gain an invaluable understanding of this powerful movement--an understanding you will treasure in the years to come. Parents, especially, cannot afford miss this material. For interested readers, we include some details in the footnotes. First, we will look at some definitions, and a comparison of the old secular world-view, which we will call modernism, and the new approach, postmodernism. Then we will see how postmodern thinkers apply this new analysis to several areas of contemporary life and thought. Again, if you feel confused at points, keep reading. Postmodernism is confusing, just as Darwinism was 150 years ago. But as you see it applied, the definitions will make more and more sense. Soon you will see postmodern thinking all around you. It's everywhere--on TV, in the movies, in children's classrooms, in song lyrics and on the news. The trend today, especially in the arts and humanities, is toward postmodernism, and we, as thinking Christians, have to be ready for that trend, or be prepared to lose our voice entirely in the next decade. The first step toward readiness is to understand the view to which we must respond. XWe have assembled a group of researchers and experts for this book, and they will tell us in plain language how postmodernism is being applied to daily living. You will learn things you need to know: Find out why people are reading literature, including the Bible , differently than before. The new rage in literary interpretation is postmodern deconstruction . We explain it. Discover how your next visit to a hospital may take you into the lap of occult healing instead of traditional western medicine . Postmodern rhetoric has made possible the introduction of alternative medicine into nursing and medical schools, where superstition is now taught as being no less credible than proven scientific principles. Learn how your children are going to be educated --not by having teachers transmit knowledge to them, but the postmodern way--creating knowledge themselves in the new multicultural student-centered classroom. Find out why history is no longer the search for "what happened." Now history is a platform for radical political and social agitation. Any student from high school up must understand this material. Postmodern cultural history now makes it possible for the formerly excluded and silenced groups in society, like gays and lesbians, to tell their story at last. Postmodern psychology screams from every bookstand and TV show today. They all share a common postmodern premise: reality is in the mind of the client. We are socially constructed, whether by our community or our family, each person's reality is created by that person's social environment. Did you know that, if postmodern legal scholars and lawyers have their way, we will be facing a legal system unlike anything we've seen before? The face of government and law are about to undergo changes that will make the past two decades look like a stroll in the woods. Why is interest in science decreasing? Most doctorates in sciences are now awarded to international students. Why have science grades fallen to levels below the rest of the developed world? One powerful reason is the postmodern attack on science as the vanguard of western imperialism. In a front page article on postmodernism, the Wall Street Journal quoted one postmodern "feminist historian of science" as saying that male science has assaulted nature like a violent man exploits a helpless woman. "A passive nature had to be interrogated, unclothed penetrated, and compelled by man to reveal her secrets." Find out why postmodernists denounce western science, and how this will affect your children and your world. Religion is at the epicenter of the postmodern revolution. Unlike modernism, where religion was considered superstition, postmodernists have no problem with religion, as long is it makes no claim to universal truth and has no authority. Look for more of the social revolution to come from the religious sector than in the past. Finally, galloping along, trying to keep up, comes the church. Yes, even evangelical Christianity has been infiltrated with postmodern ideas--you may even find that you have been toying with postmodernity yourself! XAfter we delve into all these areas of postmodern impact, we will suggest some directions Christians can take in our response to this menacing world view, as well as some positive lessons we can learn from postmodernists' observations. In Brief The late 20th century is facing a menacing intellectual revolution under the general title of postmodernism. Although postmodernism is already affecting every facet of our lives, Christians are generally unaware of what it is, or how to respond. This study will give you the tools to understand postmodern analysis even if you have little interest or training in formal academic research. Copyright � 1996 Xenos Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

In Brief