In my conversations, writings, and sermons, I find myself frequently using the term “postmodern” to describe what’s going on in Western culture. For some time now I’ve wanted to sit down and write a bit about what I mean when I say “postmodern.” At the same time, I’ve warmly welcomed any excuse that came my way to put this project off. There are a couple of reasons for my procrastination. First, attempting to define the term “postmodern” is a very un-postmodern thing to do. By the end of this ramble, you will hopefully understand why. Second, “postmodern” is a very slippery word. It was first used to label certain kinds of architecture and art, and then migrated into the vocabulary of literary critics and philosophers. Once a word has crossed over to the dark side of philosophical inquiry, it’s almost impossible to redeem it for common use. But let me give it a shot.
A philosopher’s favorite question is “What do you mean by . . .?” Many philosophical conversations never progress beyond the definition of the term at hand. It’s not uncommon for more to be said about what a term doesn’t mean, than what it does mean. In fact, the label “postmodern” is actually nothing more than a description of what something isn’t. When the automobile first emerged on the scene people didn’t know what to call it. So they described it in terms of what it wasn’t. That’s why the first cars were known as “horseless carriages.” In the same way, most people don’t know how to describe the tectonic shift that has taken place in Western Culture over the past few decades. All anybody can say is, “Toto, we’re not in modernity anymore.”
The best way to understand postmodernity (or whatever it will someday be called) is to first understand what modernity was all about. So let me give you a brief and extremely oversimplified description of how the two relate
The Modern Trinity
I like to think of modernity as being summed up by three keywords: certainty, optimism, and progress. The certainty of modernity was largely the product of the scientific method. Once Descartes declared that self was the source of certainty (“I think therefore I am”), one could be certain only of objective truth verified by the senses and rational thought. This conviction led many people to believe that by objectively employing the scientific method they could solve all the mysteries of the universe. Sure enough, scientists were able to come up with rational explanations for many ancient mysteries. Many wonderful advances in technology and medicine were the result of scientific inquiry and explanation. These advances led to a high degree of optimism among modern leaders and thinkers. Most believed that there was nothing humanity couldn’t achieve through science. This attitude produced an unshakeable belief in progress. Visions of Utopia were all the rage. Wielding a microscope in one hand and a telescope in the other, Scientificman emerged from his phone booth and promised to solve all the problems that had plagued his ancestors. For the first time, the perfect society was within the grasp of humanity.
Since there was no mystery left in the world, since everything we needed to know was available to us through our senses, and since we had located within ourselves the tools for making this broken world right, there was no need for God. In modernity, all of the effects visible in this world, which in the Bible were attributed to God, could now be assigned to more rational, less supernatural causes. For most people, God was still politely invited to the party, but he was no longer the life of it.
The Train Wreck of the 20th Century
The train of certainty, optimism, and progress that gathered momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries was derailed by the events of the 20th century. Instead of utopia, we got two world wars, a holocaust, a worldwide economic depression, and political oppression of various stripes. Those events were a wake-up call to all who believed that humanity was finally going to get it right. The presuppositions of modernity were deconstructed before our very eyes.
Progress turned out to be a myth. The human race isn’t getting better. We’re not improving our situation. All of our efforts in the modern age to do so were answered with catastrophe. Every scientific breakthrough that saved lives was a countered by one that created a weapon designed to end them more efficiently. The optimism of modernity took a pessimistic turn. Modernity proved God was dead, and now with modernity taking its last breath, people don’t know where to place their hope. The promise of postmodernity, when taken to the extreme, is nothing but nihilistic despair. If modernity’s vision of the future is Star Trek, postmodernity sees on the horizon Blade Runner. The goal of postmodernity is not improving the human condition, it’s surviving the chaos of life long enough to collect a few cool experiences before we die.
Certainty has been replaced by doubt. Doubt is the mantra of postmodernity. Doubt all claims to truth. Doubt all claims to power. Doubt what your history book tells you. Doubt what your parents tell you. Doubt what your church tells you (if you still have one). Doubt what you read in the newspaper. Postmoderns are the ultimate skeptics and cynics, because they believe everything coming at them has been spun by someone trying to legitimize his or her (usually his, so say the postmodern feminists) position of power.
Postmoderns reject objective truth, not necessarily because they don’t believe in truth, but because they don’t believe in objectivity. We all have a perspective. We all have an agenda. Our agenda is always shaping our perspective. Our perspective is always shaping the truth we perceive in the world. So when a postmodern finds something that is “true” it is only “true for me,” because my perspective is different from yours. It’s impossible to assign meaning to anything in a postmodern world (including the word postmodern), because all truth and meaning is relative to something else, which also is assigned a relative meaning. The target just never stops moving.
So Which One is Right?
(Is that a modern question or what?)
Those still caught up in the modern world see postmodernity as a terrible virus that will destroy all civilization if left unchecked. Postmoderns see modernity as the ultimate form of oppression. While they don’t have a better alternative to it, they are still happy to be free from its cold, sterile, scientifically precise grip. Actually, both throw strikes and balls. In this country, we live under the canopy of many blessings that were made possible in modernity. Anybody want to go back to when the cure for every illness was to drill a hole in your head so that the evil spirit can get out? To its credit, postmodernity has done us all a service by knocking the hubris out of the human race and helping us to not take ourselves so seriously. Postmodern Toto has pulled back the curtain and showed us that the Wizard of Science isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. He’s not as smart or as invincible as he (and we) once thought he was.
On the other hand, the only God modernity has to offer is science. Many of the faith-based values resulting from Judeo-Christian influence were held over in modernity, but the modern project was unable to provide any motivation for adhering to them. (Translation: If we’re here only because of some cosmic accident, then why does it really matter how we act?) In postmodernity, the only God that exists is the God we create within ourselves. If we’re free to draw our own composite of God, then we’re also free to create our own unique set of values, which-Surprise! Surprise!-just happens to conform to our pre-existing behavior. Neither modernity nor postmodernity can tell us why we are here or how we can live meaningful lives.
It’s a disastrous mistake to think that one of these worldviews is better or more “Christian” than the other. From a Christian perspective both are lacking, because their opposite promises of utopia and chaos are the result of distorted philosophies that begin with the assumption that a God like the one revealed in Scripture does not exist. Personally, I’d rather do ministry in the context of postmodernity. By rejecting the scientific method as the litmus test for all truth, postmodernity has once again made room for the supernatural. That means there’s room for the story of Jesus. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that postmoderns will accept the gospel with arms wide open. The very tools used to deconstruct modernity can also be used by the cynical and jaded to deconstruct Christianity, which from their perspective is just another oppressive modern institution.
Yes, the world has changed, but the mission of the church hasn’t. We’re still called to make disciples of all kinds of people. Which means we’re called to tell moderns, postmoderns, and those caught in between, how God, through Christ, has revealed a worldview that transcends all others, no matter what spot they occupy on a timeline.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons