T

The Death of Truth
Group Study Guide:

Discussion Guides only-- see Facilitator's Guide for group leader

Dennis McCallum, general editor
Contributors:
Gary DeLashmutt
Roger Braund
Jim Leffel
Donal P. O'Mathúna

Introduction

Western people in the 1990's are experiencing the most sweeping shift in perspective since the enlightenment. The Death of Truth details the dramatic and earth-shaking conversion of western society from the modernist world view to the postmodern world view. No book can take you more quickly and painlessly into the heart of the new postmodern outlook than The Death of Truth. You will feel the lights going on time after time as you read this easy-to-understand volume

This Study Guide is designed to help groups discuss the book section by section as members read through it on their own. Each week, appoint one discussion facilitator. The facilitator needs to carefully read the section in The Death of Truth for that week, and look over the discussion questions and suggested answers in the facilitator's guide ahead of time in order to offer leading thoughts. For each week, we have provided more material than you will likely be able to cover. Therefore, the facilitator should select the questions for study each weak. Avoid lecture, except for short 2 to 3 minute explanations or transitions. If people discuss and struggle with these concepts they will feel more satisfaction and depth in their learning.

Encourage every participant to buy his or her own copy of The Death of Truth, (couples can share) and to bring them to your meetings. The Death of Truth is published by Bethany House Publishers, and is available through any bookstore, especially Christian bookstores. Discounted copies are also available from our Worldwide Web Site at http://www.crossrds.org. When the guide says to read a section from the book, ask one of the members to read aloud, while the others follow along. Reading is an easy way to help start people speaking and participating.

As written, this study could take 15 to 20 weeks to complete. If you want to shorten the number of weeks, we recommend skipping some of the "Postmodern Impact" chapters. We do not recommend skipping the first three or the last two chapters.

We have arranged each week's study so you can copy the "Discussion Guide" for your group members while giving only the facilitator the "Facilitator's guide" which includes suggested answers. Questions asking only for personal opinion have been left without suggested answers.

The entire discussion guide is copyrighted, but you may copy it for non-commercial study purposes provided you copy and distribute at least whole weekly sections unaltered, and give credit to the authors. You may also get a FREE copy of the guide on-line for use in your word processor at our Worldwide Web Site.

Chapter 1;
Are We Ready?

Discussion Guide

Have group members read, one paragraph each, through the first section (up to The New Revolution). Then discuss the questions below.

• McCallum claims that Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species changed the course of history. Are you aware of any of these changes?
• Has your personal life ever been impacted by the doctrine of naturalistic evolution?
• Imagine trying to discuss natural selection with a group of Christians in 1865. Would they be aware of what was happening, or interested in the subject? Should they have been?
• McCallum claims the real problem is that "once again, Christians aren't ready for a major challenge to the Christian world view." What would be involved in "being ready" for the onslaught of a new world view?
• Look at the list of bulleted social features listed on page __ and ___ . Have you seen any of these? How do you feel about them?
• McCallum says these features aren't necessarily bad. What good can you see in any one of the bulleted items?
• What concerns to you have about any of these items?
• McCallum says, "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."
• Check the ones you think are correct endings to the following sentence:

Western culture today is becoming. . .

______ more           ______ less religious  ______ about the      
religious                                    same                  

______ more           ______ less Christian  ______ about the      
Christian                                    same                  

• Compare which blanks people in your group checked.
• For those who see a change, considering the trends you see, why do you think things are moving that way? Can you name more than one factor causing change? Which are the most important?

Chapter 2
Our Old Challenge:
Modernism

Discussion Guide for Modernism

The chart on page ___ provides an outline of the issues discussed in chapters 2-4. Briefly review the chart, focusing on the column under modernism.

The easiest way to understand postmodernism is to see that it is a rejection or revolt against the assumptions of modernism. This chapter is arranged around the four key areas of modernist assumptions:

1. Human nature
2. Human autonomy
3. Human knowledge
4. Human progress.

• As you review the chart's left column, how do you see these assumptions working out in our culture today? To help answer this question, think about each of the following four quotes:

"Each human being is a superbly constructed, astonishingly compact, self-ambulatory computer." Carl Sagan

What modernist assumptions are implied in this statement?

What will such assumptions lead to?

"Man must realize that a fundamental law of necessity reigns throughout the whole realm of Nature and that his existence is subject to the law of eternal struggle and strife. He will then feel that there cannot be a separate law for mankind in a world in which planets and suns follow their orbits, where moons and planets trace their destined paths, where the strong are always the masters of the weak and where those subject to such laws must obey them or be destroyed. Man must also submit to the eternal principles of this supreme wisdom. He may try to understand them but he can never free himself from their sway."

What modernist assumptions are implied in this statement?

What will such assumptions lead to?

"Nothing is in the mind that isn't first in the senses." Classical statement of empiricism

What modernist assumptions are implied in this statement?

What will such assumptions lead to?

"Such is the aim of the work that I have undertaken . . . to show by appeal to reason and fact that nature has set no term to the perfection of human faculties; that the perfectibility of man is truly infinite; and that the progress of this perfectibility from now onward is independent of any powers that might wish to halt it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has cast us." The Marquis de Condorcet

What modernist assumptions are implied in this statement?

What will such assumptions lead to?

• In some ways, postmodernism offers important balance to modern views. How do you think our culture has been negatively effected by these modernist ideas?
  
  
  

Chapter 3
Our New Challenge:
Postmodernism

Discussion Guide

Be sure group members have read the chapter.

In this chapter we consider how postmodernism offers a response to modernist assumptions. Review the chart on page ___ focusing on the middle column, labeled "postmodernism."

Perhaps its best to think of postmodernism as the death of truth. Consider the statements below, taken at random from a series of recent interviews at a major university. The interviewer asked, "Is there such a thing as absolute truth?" Students answered:

"Truth is whatever you believe."

"No, there is no absolute truth, and if there was, how would we know what it is?"

"People who believe in absolute truth are dangerous."

• Have you encountered comments like this from your non-Christian friends?
• What barriers might such views create to evangelism?

To understand why people think this way, we need to understand the postmodern shift in thought. A key underlying assumption of postmodernism is how they conceive human nature. While modernists viewed people as autonomous (and capable of independent rational thought), postmodernists see human identity and thinking as the product of culture. Leffel states, "postmodernists deny we have a "self" that exists independent of our social reality. Culture and society create individuals as well as all their thoughts and attitudes." The following quote is by Peter Berger, whose analysis is often cited by postmodernists:

"A thought of any kind is grounded in society . . . The individual, then, derives his world view socially in very much the same way that he derives his roles and his identity. In other words, his emotions and his self-interpretation like his actions are predefined for him by society, and so is his cognitive approach to the universe that surrounds him."

• If "a thought of any kind is grounded in society," certain important implications follow. These implications are widely accepted in today's postmodern influenced social sciences and in popular cultural. What are these implications?
• Leffel says, "one of the main ways society shapes individuals is through language." This is probably the most abstract and difficult parts of the postmodern argument. Postmodernists point out that individuals always interact with reality through the medium of language. All mental activities, they say, are based in language. We think in words. We communicate with words. People are connected to reality through the labels they assign to their perceptions and ideas. These labels, or words, are arbitrary, and evolve in society. The more abstract (and often more important) our ideas are, the more dependent we are on words alone to provide meaning. But if language is the way people relate to reality, then we must understand the nature of language.

Let's think about the components of language that postmodernists say makes objectivity impossible:

• Semantics--the meaning of words and phrases. Postmodernists say that, since societies define words, and our thinking is rooted in language, we can't go beyond a culturally relative way of knowing. Knowledge claims themselves are just a matter of cultural conditioning. Can you think of any evidence that knowledge is not necessarily limited to a given culture?
• Syntax--the structure or logic of language. Postmodernists say that every language has a structure, or logic. Words are related to each other by connective words such as "if/ then," "and," "either/or" and so on. Postmodernists say that the linguistic constructions for the West promote a hierarchical, "either/or" way of thinking. The language of science, logic, and progress shape the way we think. That's why we don't think holistically and inclusively. Have you heard this kind of idea before? Where?
• Do you think there is a link between the postmodern view of language and the demands of "political correctness"?
• Do you think there are broader implications to the postmodern view that language shapes thought?
• Do you think language controls what you think?

Problems with postmodern analysis:

Postmodernists rightly critique the modernists' overconfidence in autonomous human reason. However, Leffel argues that they've thrown out the baby with the bath water.

• They critique the correspondence view of truth. Postmodernists hold that all knowledge claims are arbitrary, and that none are ultimately more objective than another because we lack certainty. On a practical level, what's wrong with this critique?
• Imagine this discussion:
  "There is no such thing as truth"
  "Really, is that true?"
  "Yes it is"
  "Well if that's true than there's at least one true thing--your statement! So that means it's not true that there's no such thing as truth."
  "But my statement is that there is no such thing as truth."
  "Okay, but then your statement isn't true, is it?"
  
  This conversation sounds absurd, and it is. Is the dialog between Christians and postmodernists the same or different than this discussion
• Postmodernists say all thought and reason is shaped by language. But as Leffel points out, this is inconsistent with some things we know about psychological development and the development of language. Leffel cites authorities who show that the mind is active and makes clear rational distinctions prior to the acquisition of language. How do these findings impact that postmodern view of linguistic cultural determinism?

Chapter 4
Postmodernism and "The Myth of Progress": Two Visions

Discussion Guide for Two Visions

This chapter makes the distinction between two types of postmodernism: skeptical and affirmative. Both types of postmodernism reject the possibility of rational objectivity. In the place of reason, they say we are left with nothing but power.

Skeptical Postmodernists

Skeptical postmodernists claim that when people make claims to ultimate truth, usually religious or philosophical, the one thing we can count on is that it will be used to justify self interest and power. Among the examples Leffel cites are: so-called "Manifest Destiny" and the alleged inferiority of African Americans. These are example of what postmodernists call "epistemological tyranny."

• What does "epistemological tyranny" mean? What other examples of epistemological tyranny can you think of?
• Leffel cites contemporary music and cinema as examples of skeptical postmodernism. Discuss song lyrics and movies you've see that carry the cynical view that skeptical postmodernists hold.

Affirmative Postmodernism

• Affirmatives are sometimes referred to as "constructivists." What does this term mean? Can you think of any good examples of constructivism?

- Talk about examples like the gay rights movement and how they manipulate public opinion by creating words like "homophobia." By inventing this kind of language, they seek to create a new paradigm for social morality, without seriously engaging the deeper moral issues. We just label people "homophobes" if they have problems with the ethics of homosexuality.

• Where and to what extent do you see constructivism in the university today? Do we see constructivism in other areas of culture too?

- Get the group to talk about what they find in literature classes, political science and other related fields. There will be many illustrations of constructivism from the university environment and the curriculum.

- You could also discuss the recent motion pictures, The Scarlet Letter and Nixon as affirmative, or ideological reworkings of history and literature.

• In this chapter, Leffel makes a distinction between postmodern ideology and postmodern culture. We can pick up postmodern ideology though comments and sentiments people express. Postmodern-influenced people will often say,
  "Intuition and feelings might tell us more about reality than does reason"
  "People do what they do because their culture made them what they are (we are cultural constructs)
  "Government is nothing but a bunch of self-serving politicians. They'll never really serve the people"
  "The legal system is set up to cater to the rich and powerful. You can't get justice if you're a minority or poor."
  "No one knows what really happened in history, because people have burned the accounts they didn't want to pass along"
  "You don't look to religion for objective answers. It's just a matter of personal belief and what works best for you."
• Discuss these views in the group. To what extent does the group identify with them? Why or why not? Is it possible some statements might have both a bad and a good component? What would be a biblical view of these thoughts?

Chapter 5
Postmodern Impact:
Health Care

Discussion Guide for Health Care

• There are many different types of alternative medicines. Which ones have you experienced, or are familiar with? What the underlying assumptions and beliefs of these practices?
• Dr. O'Mathúna notes that modern medicine has tended to give the impression that health is the result of physical processes only. What are the problems with viewing health as purely physical? How have promoters of alternative medicine used postmodern ideas to capitalize on this weakness in modern medicine?
  
• Jean Watson, President of the National League for Nursing for 1995-7, wrote: "Nursing, like all other disciplines, must now yield to a postmodern approach, . . . realizing that in this postmodern time, science, knowledge, and even images of nursing, health, environment, person become one among many truth games" (Nursing Science Quarterly 8 (1995): 60-4). What does she mean by this? What are the implications of her view?
• According to the TV news program, "Day One" (8/22/95), thousands of people contracted a disease called EMS from contaminants in the health-food product L-tryptophan--an herbal product. There is as yet no cure for this painful disease which to date has led to 36 deaths. Dr. O'Mathúna predicts we will hear more stories like this if postmodern ideas are used to promote medical products and procedures. Why might he think this?
• Dr. O'Mathúna argues against using anecdotal evidence and personal experience as a way to validate medical treatments. What is the difference between what he is critiquing and simply getting advice from others based on their experiences (which he would recommend doing, especially in medical matters)?
• Some people who practice therapeutic touch claim that God is their source of healing, not prana. Thus, they see no problems with Christians practicing therapeutic touch. Would you agree with this position? What biblical passages or principles would you use to support your conclusion?
• Dr. O'Mathúna pointed out that practitioners of alternative medicine often encourage people to just try their methods and see if they help. "What harm could there be in that?" they rhetorically ask! Well, what harm could there be in just checking out some of these practices? Are there any practices you think Christians should be especially careful to avoid? Why?
  
  
• The ideas behind some types of alternative medicines are based on insight and revelation received during meditation and altered states of consciousness. Many others place great emphasis on intuition. For example, Engebretson and Wardell state, "The patient should be encouraged to trust her or his own intuition and judgment" about alternative healing methods and practitioners (Nurse Practitioner 18 (1993): 51-5). Use, for example, Jeremiah 23:26-17, 25-32 and Ezekiel 13:2-3 to develop a biblical response to this notion.
  
  
• In her book on New Age experiences (Testing the Spirits, InterVarsity Press, 1995), Elizabeth L. Hillstrom notes that the early stages of Eastern-style meditation often includes a variety of physiological experiences. "They may include rapturous feelings, electrifying thrills and chills that move through the body, sensations of tingling, prickling, intense heat or cold, or of bugs crawling on the skin" (p. 120). Do you see any connection between these and the experiences reported by practitioners of therapeutic touch?
  
  
• The Spiritual Emergence Network is a New Age organization with 1100 trained counselors operating out of 40 centers around the U.S. Its primary purpose is to support and counsel people through what are called "spiritual emergencies." These are seen as emotional and spiritual crises which have the potential to lead either to severe depression and further emotional problems, or to greater spiritual enlightenment. This organization wants to help people have the latter outcome. People experience these crises after starting meditation or any practice which brings them "into more direct and conscious relationship to their own life force, or prana in Sanskrit" (Emma Bragdon, The Call of Spiritual Emergency, Harper & Row, 1990, p. 5). What does the existence of this group tell you about the nature of meditation? What implications would this have for practitioners and receivers of prana-based practices like Ayurvedic Medicine and therapeutic touch?

Chapter 6
Postmodern Impact:
Literature

Discussion Guide for Literature

Review the chart on p. ___. Focus on the section under the heading "grammatical-historical approach."

• Think about the Bible as a text. What are the main questions we ask of a biblical passage to get at its meaning.
• Why do we approach the Bible this way? Isn't it because we think that if we ask questions about the author, audience and the context of a passage, we can discover the author's intent and therefore the true meaning of the text? But postmodernists step in at this point and say that we're operating from a faulty paradigm. They say our assumptions about author, text and reader are wrong. Again review the chart on p. ___. This time focus on the column under Let's explore this a bit further.

The Author

• Why do postmodernists argue that the author doesn't stand over the text as an authority?
• Do you think that postmodernists have some important insight when they say that the authors' writing reflects the biases, values and beliefs of their culture? What examples come to mind? How might this effect the way we view scripture?

The Text

One of the big problems many postmodernists have with texts is that they "privilege" certain values and ideas over others. Since values and truth claims are social constructs, texts that are "privileged" (accepted into the social and literary canon) perpetuate views that keep power for the dominant culture while marginalizing minority cultures.

• Is this viewpoint familiar to you? Where have you come into contact with it? Do you think this outlook perpetuates cynicism? How so?
• How might the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution be viewed in terms of privileging certain values that perpetuate power at the expense of minority cultures?

The Reader

One of the tools postmodernists use to wrestle authority out of the text and into the reader is "deconstruction." Deconstruction purges texts of socially constructed hierarchies, contradictions and identifies things excluded from the text.

• Why is being "logocentric" such a concern for deconstruction? What does this mean?
• How does using deconstruction allow the reader to be an authority over the text?
• Postmodernists say that in the final analysis, no one has final authority over the text. Why is this? What is the consequence of this view?

Chapter 7
The Postmodern Method:
Education

Discussion Guide

• Many Christians argue for "value-free" education in the public schools. They say teachers should simply teach students facts and leave the ethics and belief systems to parents in the home. Other Christians hold that "value-free" education is impossible. For example, forbidding cheating, requiring academic performance, etc. are necessary for the educational process, but they are values/ethics. What place do you think values, religious/philosophical beliefs, and ethics have in public education?
• What are the similarities and differences between the postmodernists' espousal of Afrocentric schools and Christians' espousal of Christian schools?

• Consider the following passage by a science educator and then give your opinion on the questions that follow:

"The study of science and related technology often requires students to adapt to a white male culture, to an Eurocentric/androcentric world view. The basic assumptions of science, as it is taught to American children in textbooks, focus on male as opposed to female and on European as opposed to Eastern or African or South American ways of viewing the world. The axiological and epistemological beliefs of textbook science are tied to a European or white male way of viewing the world. This culture values competitiveness and individual achievement. Most modern science instruction is based on principles of realism. This value system holds that there is an ultimate truth and that humans discover this truth in the natural world. The Eurocentric foundation of science focuses on European (and on those of European descent) values, attitudes and ways of knowing."

• What postmodern ideas are evident in this passage?
• What are these female and non-European views of truth that the author claims to be different than "realism"? Do women, men, Europeans, Africans, etc., as groups, view truth differently?
• Is it true - wholly or partially - that science is merely a white, European, male, worldview and therefore scientific knowledge is infected with this bias?
• Are competitiveness and individualism in education a result of white European male influence? What does the Bible say about competitiveness and individualism that is relevant to schooling?
• How would education be different, if at all, if women and non-Europeans were in control of it? Who should control the education system?
• To what extent is it true, if at all, that students "must assimilate" a certain instructional model in order to be successful at school? How might postmodern education change this?

• Consider this passage, also from Barba:

Sometimes teachers believe that culturally diverse children do not excel because they come from families and communities that do not properly prepare students for learning. Teachers occasionally believe that some students do not care if they do well in school, and that these students are not properly prepared to succeed in an academic environment and are not motivated to learn. The cultural deficit model as described by Sleeter and Grant (1990) assumes that schools should change learners, should help them assimilate to mainstream culture, including the "culture of science." From this viewpoint, children need remedial work to compensate for their lack of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in science and mathematics. Those who advocate the use of this world view regard students as being "at risk" when they do not share American mainstream language and culture. The National Science Foundation pipeline approach typifies this world view. If we just call the plumber, if we just plug the leaks, then we can "fix" the students.

In contrast to the deficit model, those who adhere to a multicultural model see the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of diverse students as being valuable educational resources. A 'multicultural approach to education promotes cultural pluralism and social equality by reforming the school program for all students to make it reflect diversity.' If one adopts this world view, children who speak a primary language other than English are considered an asset in the classroom because they have constructed a knowledge of science in a different sociocultural context than others in the class and thus bring added resources to the classroom. Those who advocate the use of a multicultural approach to education see diversity as a strength in the classroom, as a vehicle for increasing the learning of all students.

• What postmodern theories and attitudes are evident in this passage?
• Is it true that sometimes, or all the time, that students do not succeed because of differences between their culture and "school culture"? Are there other reasons for why some students might not succeed?
• For someone who does not believe that the schools should "change learners," what, then, would the school's job be? What is a biblical perspective on the task of schools (including the job of "fixing" students)?
• To what extent is diversity a "deficit" and to what extent is it a "valuable educational resource"?
• Which "world view" - the "deficit" or the "multicultural" - is closest to the biblical world view? Or, is there a preferable third alternative?

• Here is one more quotation from Barba:

"Students cannot be "fixed" in the way that flat tires are fixed on automobiles. Rather, what is needed is a view of students and schools which affirms everyone. First, we must begin with an assumption that students are not deficient but rather bring a wealth of knowledge of the world around them to the classroom and to their academic endeavors. Second, we must allow students to bring their culture and experiences to each new learning experience. We must affirm our students to assist them in adding knowledge to that which they already possess."

• Why do you think this author believes that it is important to assume that students are not "deficient"? Do you agree that this is an important assumption?
• Is it possible, and if so how, to have education without ever telling students they are "deficient"? What would be the result of this kind of classroom atmosphere?
• Is it necessary to be affirmed in order to learn? Why or why not?

Facilitator's Manual for Education

• Many Christians argue for "value-free" education in the public schools. They say teachers should simply teach students facts and leave the ethics and belief systems to parents in the home. Other Christians hold that "value-free" education is impossible. For example, forbidding cheating, requiring academic performance, etc. are necessary for the educational process, but they are values/ethics. What place do you think values, religious/philosophical beliefs, and ethics have in public education?

This is a very difficult issue. Certainly it is impossible to completely detach values from education. When there was a Judeo-Christian consensus in our culture, it was much easier to trust that the values taught in public schools were for the most part biblical. As our culture becomes truly post-Christian, the amount of common ground in values and ethics has shrunken dramatically.Ideally, a local community could delineate the values on which there is large agreement, and then agree to emphasize these values in the school system. Communities that have done this have been pleasantly surprised at how much consensus is possible (e.g., honesty, diligence, respect for authority, etc.). Where no consensus is possible, they could agree to avoid those issues in lower grades and try to give a balanced treatment of the different views in higher grades.

• What are the similarities and differences between the postmodernists' espousal of Afrocentric schools and Christians' espousal of Christian schools?

- Christian schools are privately funded

- Christian schools are not based on race but on a religious point of view

- Christian schools are often open to non-Christians

• Consider the following passage by a science educator and then give your opinion on the questions that follow:

"The study. . .[see Discussion Guide]

• What postmodern ideas are evident in this passage?

- Science and technology are western cultural biases.

- Rationality and linear thinking is male.

- Whether a particular scientific proposition is true or false is never considered--only that it reflects male European thinking.

- Competition and individual achievement are European and male.

- Belief that there is a real objective world is male and European

- According to postmodernists, androcentric instructional models are those which focus on "male" or individual ways of knowing and doing things. This includes emphasizing famous "men of science" to children, while ignoring contributions by women and other groups to the history of science.

• What are these female and non-European views of truth that the author claims to be different than "realism"? Do women, men, Europeans, Africans, etc., as groups, view truth differently?

- The question is not whether there are differences between women and men or between ethnic groups. The question is whether they view truth differently.

- If there are differences between one group and another on how they view truth, what is the solution? Different "truths" for each group, or that one or both groups are wrong?

• Is it true - wholly or partially - that science is merely a white, European, male, worldview and therefore scientific knowledge is infected with this bias?

- Detailed anwers to this suspicion will be given in Chapter 11. We believe science is not merely European or male, althought it could be applied in a biased way if scientists are careless.

• Are competitiveness and individualism in education a result of white European male influence? What does the Bible say about competitiveness and individualism that is relevant to schooling?

- This authority is wrong on this point. Non-western cultures are also competitive. Western culture is more individualistic than other cultures in general, but western women are just as individualistic as western males.

• How would education be different, if at all, if women and non-Europeans were in control of it? Who should control the education system?
• To what extent is it true, if at all, that students "must assimilate" a certain instructional model in order to be successful at school? Do you think students should have to assimilate an instructional model?

• Consider this passage, also from Barba:

"Sometimes teachers. . .[See discussion guide]

• What postmodern theories and attitudes are evident in this passage?
• Is it true that sometimes, or all the time, that students do not succeed because of differences between their culture and "school culture"? Are there other reasons for why some students might not succeed?
• For someone who does not believe that the schools should "change learners," what, then, would the school's job be? What is a biblical perspective on the task of schools (including the job of "fixing" students)?

- Go around the room and have people read these verses as part of your discussion

(Prov 10:13 NIV) Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

(Prov 13:24 NIV) He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

(Prov 22:15 NIV) Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

(Prov 23:13 NIV) Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

(Prov 23:14 NIV) Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.

(Prov 29:15 NIV) The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

• To what extent is diversity a "deficit" and to what extent is it a "valuable educational resource"?

- A classroom where people are so diverse they cannot understand each other's language is ill-suited to learning. Students need sufficient common ground in their suppositions to be able to communicate.

• Which "world view" - the "deficit" or the "multicultural" - is closest to the biblical world view? Or, is there a preferable third alternative?

• Here is one more quotation from Barba:

"Students cannot be. . .[See discussion guide]

• Why do you think this author considers it important to assume that students are not "deficient"? Do you agree that this is an important assumption?

- This belief is based on the notion that what we believe creates reality. In truth, some students are deficient, and denying this only endangers those students. Many students do need remedial classes and there is no proof that such classes ruin those who take them. This approach is similar to Christian Science--"If I deny I am sick, I will be well."

• Is it possible, and if so how, to have education without ever telling students they are "deficient"? What would be the result of this kind of classroom atmosphere?

- This approach could unintentionally teach children that they are never wrong. It could definitely lead to difficulties when those students later are directly confronted with their mistakes and are not used to such honesty. It could weaken students' character. It also robs the pleasure from being right, which could sap motivation.

• Is it necessary to be affirmed in order to learn? Why or why not?

- Students need a mixture of affirmation and correction depending on their performance. Instruction without any affirmation does break down because of loss of motivation.

Chapter 8
The Postmodern Method:
History

Discussion Guide

• Dixon says, "The facts of history are becoming more flexible and can be bent to accommodate almost any argument." Have you seen any examples of this? How about Oliver Stone's movies, JFK and Nixon?
• Dixon thinks the historical events in the Bible are the lynch-pin of Christianity? Is this overstated, in your opinion?
• Marxism sees socioeconomic classes, such as the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat in a desperate class struggle that shapes and explains history. What, if any, connection do you see between Marxist thought and postmodernism?
• Black Studies, Women's Studies, Gay and Lesbian studies, Hispanic Studies, etc. form a large part of any contemporary university bulletin. How do you feel about these course offerings? Is there anything wrong with offering such courses?
• Do you believe women have been oppressed more than others in history?
• Dixon says, "Postmodern scholars point out that each person has her own world-view, her own beliefs and convictions. Therefore, which lines we draw between the facts of history and the resulting picture we develop is ultimately dependent on individual judgment." How would you answer this claim? How does Dixon answer it?
• Are some events or "facts" of history more important than others? If so, what makes something important? Would we consider some things important in the west that are considered unimportant in other cultures? If so, what implications would you see in such an observation?

Chapter 9
The Postmodern Method:
Psychotherapy

Discussion Guide

• Dr. Fidelibus says that being of "many minds" is a way to deal with diversity in our culture. Studies show that immigration and other religions are on a rapid rise in the U.S. In your view, will being of many minds bring us together, or keep us separate?
• "Family therapists define the "family" as a culture." Knowing what postmodernists think of the social construction of reality, you can imagine that postmodern family therapists see everyone's actions and attitudes as have been produced by their families. Are we products of our families? To what extent? Can you think of any evidence that people are not completely determined by their family of origin?
• Dr. Fidelibus says, "Modernist counseling approaches in psychology have long assumed, as postmodernists do, that the ways patients see themselves aren't objectively true. . . However, they further assume, unlike postmodernists, that the patient will become well by developing a more objective--or truer--self-appraisal through the process of therapy." In other words, modernist counselors may conclude that a client is not seeing reality correctly, which suggests neurosis or worse. Postmodern therapists, on the other hand, start with the assumption that the client's reality is reality for that client. Have you seen this approach in counseling you, or friends of yours, have undergone?
• Postmodern therapy "will involve no similar effort to confront or correct the patient's narrative." What does this mean in the context of radical victimology?
• According to Dr. Fidelibus, "The loss of self-identity has been associated with some of the most unsettling findings in the entire psychology research literature." Why is this a concern with postmodern-influenced therapies?
• "Studies have repeatedly found that we tend to attribute our own successes to positive internal traits, such as ability and effort, and our failures to external factors outside of our control. By contrast, we tend to attribute the successes of others to "luck," and their failures to inability, lack of perseverance, or some other personal shortcoming." Based on this observation, Dr. Fidelibus concludes, "Self-sacrifice isn't merely a pious euphemism or an exhortation to 'be nice' or 'do good.' It's an epistemological necessity--a pre- requisite to knowing what is true." Explain why he thinks this. How would postmodernists view self-sacrifice?

Chapter 10
The Postmodern Method:
Law

Discussion Guide

• Did the Rodney King trials ever make you wonder whether justice is based on race?
• Why do you think the majority of people in jails are African American?
• Saalmon points out that traditional legal theory argues for the "Rule of Law." Postmodernists claim that there is no such thing as the rule of law because all laws have to be interpreted and applied by people. How would you respond to this point?
• Recent study shows that crack cocaine users are far more likely to be arrested than are users of regular cocaine. Many observers claim that this proves the law operates under racism. After all, most crack users are black and poor, while most users of regular cocaine are middle class whites. How would you respond to these findings?
• Critical legal theorists claim that judges wear robes and use archaic language in order to gain wrongful legitimation. Why do you think they wear robes? Are such traditions sinister?
• Saalmon quotes Stanley Fish as saying, "Does might make right? In a sense the answer I might give is yes, since in the absence of a perspective independent of interpretation some interpretive perspective will always rule by virtue of having won out over its competitors." If this is true, what can minorities expect in the future? What could hold out hope for minorities?

Chapter 11
The Postmodern Method:
Science

Discussion Guide

• When discussing Kuhn's and Feyerabend's work, Dr. Campbell refers to "paradigms." Have you heard people using this word more lately? When postmodernists use the term, a paradigm is a model within which one set of truths hold. Other paradigms have their own sets of truths. In other words, a paradigm is similar to the idea of a cultural "reality" or, to use terminology from literary theory, a paradigm is similar to a social "text" or "story." However, postmodernists aren't the only ones who use the term paradigm. How might people use the term paradigm without loading it with postmodern ideology?
• Dr. Campbell names several features used in scientific research intended to reduce bias and enhance objectivity. He included replication, blind testing, peer review and falsifiability. Do you think these aspects of research promise that scientific research will be relatively objective? How might each fail to do what it was intended to do?
• Dr. Campbell says, "This is a contradiction within modernism: Their conclusions are supposed to be based on reason and observation, not on faith. Yet, confidence in things like observation require faith. They end up using faith, even as they argue against faith." Could you articulate this point to a sharp, learned modernist? Write a list of questions that would lead a modernist thinker to see this contradiction.
  
  
  
  
• Dr. Campbell quotes Renee Weber when she says, "Science as it is used in this book stands for the attitude of Einstein rather than of Bacon: an attitude of kinship with nature rather than of exploitive power over her." Can you think of any movies or books that have portrayed science as primarily an exploiter and destroyer of nature?
• In this chapter, Dr. Feyerabend suggests that science has no more legitimacy or authority than other approached to reality, like magic. How would you respond to such a claim?

Chapter 12
The Postmodern Method:
Religion

Discussion Guide

Since this subject is of special interest to Christian groups, we suggest using at least two weeks on this chapter.

Religion Week 1
The Cardinal Sin of Intolerance

• Read the Dear Abby letter on page ___ and her reply.
• Do you agree with McCallum and Leffel's observation that the definition of intolerance has changed in recent years?
• Do you feel free to object to another's religious view today, or to suggest their beliefs are untrue? Why or why not?
• What would happen at your job today if you openly express your religious convictions that another employee's behavior or views are wrong?
• Are postmodern-influenced people you know more tolerant? Are they tolerant of racism? Are they tolerant of Christianity? Are they tolerant of traditional western values? What are the rules of tolerance today?
• How do you feel about the relationship between knowing and declaring truth and falsehood on one hand, and being arrogant on the other?
• Everyone agrees that we may project arrogance when disagreeing with another. How can we avoid unnecessarily offending people in the postmodern world? Name at least three ways to project humility and understanding:

1.

2.

3.

• What would you say if someone at work or in the neighborhood asked you if you are a Christian fundamentalist? How would you explain your answer?

Religion Week 2
The Cardinal Sin of Objectivity

Discussion Guide

• The authors claim, "Both evangelicals and modernists have historically believed in the use of reason, beginning with the law of non-contradiction: A is not non-A." Do you agree with this claim? Can you think of any exceptions?
• For those who believe there are exceptions to the law of non-contradiction, if rationality fails in one area, how do we know it is valid in any area?
• The authors say, "Religion based only on personal experience and 'what's true for me' is perfectly compatible with the postmodern world view." Isn't experience important in Christianity? How would you distinguish between Christianity and other experience-based religions?
• The postmodern religionists says, "My experience is the basis for my beliefs, and those beliefs exist to empower me." Formulate a similar statement from the perspective of a biblical Christian:
  
  ___________________________ is the basis for my beliefs, and those beliefs exist
  
  _____________________________________
• The authors claim that the church has lost the loyalty of a huge number of people during our lifetime. Is this true? If so, what do you think are the reasons for such a shift? Who is to blame?
• What do you think of the assertion that some secular recovery groups are postmodern? Should Christians participate in recovery groups? Should the church start groups based on the twelve steps? If so, should the steps be adapted to Christian doctrine in any way, or left as they are?
• Are you aware of any movements or fads within evangelical Christianity that might tend to move self or experience to the center in terms of authority?
• Discuss the proposition at the end of the chapter: "In a world where everyone's position is true, nobody's position matters." Have you ever felt the reality of this statement? Think of conversations with relativist thinkers.

Chapter 13 The Postmodern Religious Shift:
5 Case Studies

Discussion Guide for 5 Case Studies

Elaine Pagels

Pagels provides an excellent example of how postmodernists approach the Bible. She uses many of the literary tools and concepts we studied in chapter 7 to radically reshape the Christian message.

• How does the following passage illustrate the postmodern interest in subverting the author's authority?

"When we examine its practical effect on the Christian movement, we can see, paradoxically, that the doctrine of the bodily resurrection also serves an essential political function: it legitimizes the authority of certain men who claim to exercise exclusive leadership over the churches."

• How does the following quote from The Gnostic Gospels provide an example of the postmodern spirituality that's so popular today?

"The resurrection, they (Gnostics) insisted, was not a unique event in the past: instead, it symbolized how Christ's presence could be experienced in the present. What mattered was not literal seeing, but spiritual vision."

• What postmodern concepts are contained in this statement?
• Can you see why this kind of radical reconstruction of Christianity is so popular?

- Discussion leader: It's popular because it leaves the individual as the source of truth. No authority outside of the self is ever needed.

Joseph Campbell

Campbell teaches that the underlying structure of the unconscious mind is based on "archetypes." These archetypes represent our connection with our evolutionary past, and our connection to nature. Religious myth is how we get in touch with this unconscious reality. Ultimate truths about reality end up being truths about ourselves.

• How does the following quote from The Power of Myth explain the relationship of myth to our true, unconscious self?

"All of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image . . . Now you can personify God in many, many ways. Is there one god? Are there many gods? Those are merely categories of thought."

• For Campbell, myth is metaphor. There can be no objective or rational grasp of ultimate truths. That's what he means when he says,

"The person who thinks he has found the ultimate truth is wrong. There is an often-quoted verse in Sanskrit, which appears in the Chinese Tao-te Ching [Taoist Scripture] as well: 'He who thinks he knows, doesn't know. He who knows that he doesn't know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.'"

• What's wrong with this statement?

- This statement is a self contradiction. How does he know that "he who knows doesn't know?" He's claiming a kind of knowledge that he says we can't have.

• Campbell insists that the biblical authors were aware of the mythological nature of their writings. They wrote, Campbell insists, "as if" their stories were literally true. What passages of scripture directly reject his view?

- Several passages are relevant. Perhaps none more than this:

- "We did not follow cleverly invented stories [GK muthos = myths] when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)

- see also I Corinthians 15:1-19. Go through the passage and identify the statements that lay stress on the importance of the actual historicity of Christ's death. Does this passage allow in any way for a metaphorical or mythical understanding of the resurrection?

Feminist Spirituality

• The authors make a distinction between the legitimate concerns of women in a rapidly changing culture and the ideological position taken by feminists. Can you see how the legitimate concerns of women (or any other definable social group) is different from a militant ideological point of view? How is feminism different from the concerns of women?
• Clearly, feminism is a type of affirmative postmodernism. The ideological approach to truth is clear in all of feminist literature, especially among feminist theologians. They start from the perspective of what they conceive to be "women's experience." Read the following quotes from the chapter:

"By women's experience as a key to hermeneutics or theory of interpretation, we mean precisely that experience which arises when women become critically aware of these falsifying and alienating experiences imposed upon them as women by a male-dominated culture."

"All women live with male violence . . ."

• Do you think that this is an appropriate place to begin forming an approach to reading the Bible? Why, or Why not?
• Read the following quote carefully. What implications do you find in the statement?

"Whatever contradicts those convictions [arising from women's experience] cannot be accepted as having the authority of an authentic revelation of truth. It is simply a matter of there being no turning back. We can be dispossessed of our best insights, proven wrong in our judgments. But as long as those insights continue to make sense to us, and as long as our basic judgments seem to us incontrovertible, there can be no turning back. So it is with feminist consciousness and the interpretation of scripture."

• What do you think of the feminist discussion of Genesis 2:22-24 (the creation of Eve out of Adam)? Does it justify male violence against women, as feminist theologians argue?

John Bradshaw

• Bradshaw is the high priest of the inner child movement in popular psychology. Do any members of the group feel they have benefited from this school?
• What do you think of Bradshaw's loathing for so-called "patriarchy?" Do you see evidence that people lose their ability to direct themselves because they were raised under patriarchy?
• If my inner child is the true me, and I am "championing my inner child," is this the same, or different than championing me?
• What do you think of entering the mindless state Bradshaw calls "the silence?" Have you ever done this in connection with religion, or have you seen others do so?
• The Bible teaches that meditation is good in passages like Psalms 1. What difference, if any, do you see between biblical meditation and the sort of meditation Bradshaw advances?

Frederick Turner

• Read the section on Turner first.
• The authors claim, "Like some even in the evangelical camp today, Turner discounts the importance of truth and theology in favor of ritualistic experience." Have you seen this? Do you think the contemporary churches are more, or less ritualistic than the New Testament church?
• What do you think of Turner's suggestion that ritual does not need to be linked to any particular truth? Are you aware of any similarity in the ritual of different religions?
• Could you see people from different religions coming together based on ritual?

Chapter 14
Evangelical Imperatives

Discussion Guide

• Again, this section is important for Christians, so we have more than one week planned.

Week 1: Accommodation Temptation

• In the first two sections of this chapter, McCallum claims Christians today are being tempted to down-play the absolute nature of truth because it is unpopular. Have you seen any evidence of this?
• Go over each of the following examples cited by McCallum, and say whether you have seen evidence of postmodern tendencies among evangelical Christians in that area. What are the similarities and what are the differences? What does the Bible teach on each?
• ¨ Excessive reliance or hope placed in evangelical political power