Postmodernism represents a serious challenge to Christianity. Critics of Christianity welcome this, but should beware, for postmodernism endangers us all!
What is postmodernism? Defining postmodernism is extremely difficult. Why? Because no one (especially postmodernists) agree on what it is. According to the website "All About Philosophy," postmodernism is "difficult to define, because to define it would violate the postmodernist's premise that no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truths exist."
According to "All About Philosophy," a postmodernist "views the world outside of themselves as being in error, that is, other people’s truth becomes indistinguishable from error. Therefore, no one has the authority to define truth or impose upon others his idea of moral right and wrong."
Needless to say, such a philosophical approach runs counter to Christianity, which rests on definite truth propositions -- namely that God exists, Jesus is the Son of God, mankind is corrupted by sin, etc.
In the context of Christianity and history, postmodernists more or less DISMISS the idea that one can authoritatively certify knowledge of the past or offer any credible conclusions about history. The effect of this thinking is to destroy history, says Keith Windschuttle, author of The Killing of History. "Rather than leading [history] somewhere fruitful," says Windschuttle, postmodernism "is a movement that turns the writing of history into a blind alley and leads it up to a dead end."
While the postmodern era has caused us to look again at certain assumptions and narratives with a more critical eye (a good thing!), it has done more harm than good. Taken to its extreme (and this is where academia is indeed taking it), postmodernism will bring all of us to a dead end!
