“Postmodernism is Impossible”

Christianity Today‘s July cover story is very compelling from the title, God is Not Dead Yet. Although the article, written by William Lane Craig, after its rather short read–for a cover story–I was left disappointed and frustrated.

I was disappointed because for one, it seemed rather short and lacking much depth for a cover story. It spends the most time discussing the main arguments being used today for the existence of God. Sadly enough these arguments have been around for hundreds of year, they are not new but it seemed the article’s author didn’t make that very clear. He doesn’t put the originator of the argument but only a current Christian philosopher who is re-stylizing it. Not that, that is particularly wrong in-itself–it is only that credit should be given where it is due.

Secondly the article was completely biased towards Anglo-American philosophy (analytic philosophy) completely dismissing the enroads which continental philosophy has made. Although the article spends time to speak of the work of those within Anglo-American philosophy which are incorporating natural theology back within their work, the author completely excludes the work of continental philosophers–current & past. As one example, the work of Levinas, which was even prior to the movement of Anglo-American philosophy in the 1960′s which W. L. Craig discusses, clearly works in completely original routes to express one’s connection to God. There are many contemporaries which are highly involved in incorporating the insights of postmodernism into the Church–which there was no mention of.

But a lack of mention could be very understandable. The is always a limited amount of space. What is not acceptable is the concluding section of the article. It is his reply to the pomos who don’t want to buy into his analytical modern theology. Let me include some exerts:

However all this may be, some might think that the resurgence of natural theology in our time is merely so much labor lost. For don’t we live in a postmodern culture in which appeals to such apologetic arguments are no longer effective? Rational arguments for the truth of theism are no longer supposed to work. Some Christians therefore advise that we should simply share our narrative and invite people to participate in it.

This sort of thinking is guilty of a disastrous misdiagnosis of contemporary culture. The idea that we live in a postmodern culture is a myth. In fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unlivable. People are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they are relativistic and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics. But, of course, that’s not postmodernism; that’s modernism! That’s just old-line verificationism, which held that anything you can’t prove with your five senses is a matter of personal taste. We live in a culture that remains deeply modernist

These two paragraphs are his answer & dismissal of postmodernism and its adherers. Let me highlight a few keys gems to look at.

The idea that we live in a postmodern culture is a myth.

What I think he is either doing here is offering a strawman of what Postmodernism is, or he is at least mistaken about what pomo is. It seems that when people speak ill of postmodernism they are speaking of the pop-pomo-ism & not of the true theory. The theory speaks of the ungroundedness of truth, how it is based upon us as individuals & also (and probably more importantly) the community. To say that postmodernism is false as a theory is very different than saying that postmodern culture is a myth. He doesn’t say the former because that would require a well thoughtout argument. What he does it base he critique on the way people live in-the-world and not on the philosophical metaphysical-ontological-epistemological pomo theories.

Let me break it down. Since we are always in a state of forgetting that we are ungrounded (already part of Heidegger’s existential theory of being) we act like the rules, laws, customs, or truths we have set are not arbitrary but are in fact Rules, Laws, Customs, or Truths which are Real and Foundational. And therefore since the way the live causes these truths to become Truths, and postmodern culture states that everything is relative, Postmodern culture can’t be true & must be only a myth.

In fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unlivable. People are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they are relativistic and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics.

I have covered this somewhat above, but let me speak further on it. He continues to speak of postmodern culture and not theory because denies wanting to argue with anything but a strawman. Postmodern culture is commonly defined as a personal relativity, I can make anything my truth & live by that. Well when spelled out in this way, the idea seems rather far left. But that is because it has been stripped of the complete framework of postmodern theory. Most postmodern theorists would argue that just as a cultural constructs a framework of customs to work from so the same goes for science. Science falls within the gaze of science as much as literature. Science derives itself from centuries of work, fine tuning how things should be done–the same as language or the arts–things evolve, come in style and then leave again.

He takes this position on postmodernism it seems strictly to argue his point against atheism. The popularity of atheism wouldn’t hold if postmodern culture took a stronger hold, because he argues the Dawkins and the like are modernists and even scientific. Once again I will reinurate that postmodernism is not against science in-itself anymore than it is against hotdogs. What they are against logical positivists who believe that the only access to truth is through scientific methods.

What Craig needs to realize is that postmodern culture is not something to dismiss or fearful of; it can be an excellent route for moving people completely around the cultural wars of church vs. science. Much of what postmodern Christians are attempting to do is break down barriers–which have been created by people within their own church–so they can actually connect with other people.