The 21st Century Philosophy
Postmodernism is the predominant contemporary, 21st century philosophy that has come to supercede Modernity and the rationalist Enlightenment philosophy before that both in academia (which it has successfully infiltrated) and in the general culture into which it first trickled and then flooded.
'God and Truth are Dead'
Like Nietzsche's madman Zarathustra, Postmodernism proclaims that "God is dead and truth with Him". Consequently, the Postmodernist declares that there is no objective truth and therefore no objective history either - history is always written by the victor, he says, and its meaning is artificially imposed by the historian. Meaning, therefore, does not exist in texts (such as Scripture) or in artefacts - it is purely in the subjective eye of the beholder.
Art and Subjectivity Replace Science and Truth
To the Postmodernist, truth and history are more like art than fact - it is aesthetic rather than scientific. Thus, he argues, if there is no truth and no meaning in history or in texts, then "everything is permissible". Thus emunah (faith) to the Postmodernist is less about genuine evidence and more about ideological taste.
Total Deconstructionism
Postmodernism, in consequence of this exaltation of subjectivity, uses the supposed indeterminancy of language and the conditionality of knowledge to dismantle the permanent structures of human existence and to replace them with a convenient vacuum conducive to a particular social project that can deflect any criticism of itself as merely the attempt to reinstate the old Modernist régime.
The Final Trojan Horse
Postmodernity is the celebration of ambiguity, apparently for its own sake, but is in reality the latest tool of chaos used by Marxists, whose earlier projects for world dominion have thus far failed, to acquire power through deception and manipulation by riding on the backs of anarchists disillusioned with Modernity and all that went before it. It is the final Trojan horse of the Antichrist system in its agenda to impose Satanism on the whole planet.
A Religion of Madness and Irrationality
It demands, claim José López and Garry Potter, little in terms of evidence and argumentative coherence and consistency. The madness and irrationality of 'political contemporary correctness' which is bringing Western nations to their knees is the brainchild of this movement that has been successfully hijacked by Marxists and others with their own political and anti-religious agendas.
Messianic Evangelical Critial Realism
Messianic Evangelicals subscribe to Critical Realism, developed by N.T.Wright, which says, in the case, for example, of the Scriptures, that there is something in the text to be known, and something in history to be found, even if the knowing and finding is never infallible. The alternative to the failure of absolute claims, to which Postmodernism is reacting with some justification, is not anarchic interpretation but an adequate knowledge by a critical interaction between the subject and object of study. Thus one can believe in a thing called 'history' without thinking one has full possession of it. And by history, biblical or secular, we mean:
- a. Things that happened in the past;
- b. Things that people write about what happened in the past;
- c. The entire sweep of all events past, present, and future; and
- d. The scholar's task of 'doing history' by researching all of the above.
All Knowledge is Provisional
It is our position that all knowledge, including historical knowledge, is provisional and open to correction, just as the well-tested hypotheses of the hard sciences is also. This is necessarily so because man is finite and not omniscient like Elohim (God).
Our Purpose Here
The purpose of the articles on this webpage are to help believers navigate their way through the chaos of the Postmodernist mindset, expose its futility, and to exploit it, wherever possible, in evangelism. Postmodernism is the final 'revelation' of what atheism really entails and is, and in that sense is both an impediment and an aid to the promulgation of the Besorah (Gospel). It is our responsibility to stay ahead of the curve which is what we aim to do here and to offer keys to witnessing to what are undoubedly the last two generations before the return of Messiah.
Acknowledgements
[1] N.T.Wright & Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians (SPCK/Zondervan Academic, London: 2019)
[2] N.T.Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is (IVP Academic, Downers Grove, Illinois: 1999)
[3] R. Albert Mohler, Jr., He is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodernist World (Moody Publishers, Chicago: 2008)
(28 July 2020)
SM061
|
