October 21, 2005

Postmodernism: A Beginner’s Guide | Book Review

Reviewed by Thomas Scarborough

Postmodernism still is an obscure subject for many Christians — not least when it comes to the relationship between postmodernism and Christianity. However, it is an immensely important one, since it pervades virtually all of (post) modern life, and many aspects of the Church.

This book represents an unusual introduction to the subject, in that almost a third of it focuses on the relationship between postmodernism and the Bible, respectively the Christian faith. The author notes: “Special interest is taken in how religion stands in the postmodern world.”

This book is not an easy read. The sub-title, “A Beginner’s Guide”, is surely misleading. Rather, it might be called a survey or an overview. It is one of the more difficult books I have read in recent years — and there have been some difficult ones. For difficulty, this might score 4 out of 5. Nonetheless, it is written with clarity and insight — and with some concentration, it is not impenetrable.

WHAT “IS” POSTMODERNISM?

There is a well known saying: “If you can define it, it’s not postmodernism. ” In fact, many so-called postmodernists would disown the label “postmodern”. The man who is regarded by many to be Mr. Postmodern himself, Jacques Derrida, spurned this label. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that there is something “postmodern” about our world that is just not the same as the “modern” world once was, and that “the world has changed in a distinctive way over the last half century”.

“Post”, in Latin, is something that comes after. Therefore postmodernism comes after the modern. According to one definition, writes the author, “If the modern designates the era of emancipation and knowledge, consensus and totalities, then the postmodern marks an attitude of disbelief towards the modern.” This having been said, Jean-Francois Lyotard, who is regarded by many as a leading postmodernist, contended that the postmodern does not strictly come after the modern — rather it is already contained within it. It is that within the modern that “offends”.

The author states: “I want to introduce postmodernism by way of anti-foundationalism. I believe that is the best approach to take.” With regard to anti-foundationalism, all human disciplines are founded on basic assumptions which ultimately cannot be rationally supported. This has been known at least since Aristotle — namely that we hold many foundational beliefs which we simply take to be beyond doubt. For modernism, this tended to be quite good enough — yet for postmodernism, it is not. The emperor has been shown to be without clothes. This obviously has consequences for the way in which we view our lives.

HOW DOES POSTMODERNISM RELATE TO THE BIBLE?

The author defines Postmodern Christianity as “an open set of attempts to rethink the faith by reference to those figures associated, rightly or wrongly, with postmodernism. Unlike fundamentalism, postmodern Christianity aims to be sophisticated with regard to literature and philosophy.” Although the book shows the relationship of Christianity to postmodernism to be a deeply complex one, I shall attempt to highlight, very briefly, a few of the features of this relationship.

Two crucial concepts of postmodernism are differance (sometimes spelled difference) and deconstruction. Of particular interest is that deconstruction may be traced back to Martin Luther’s “destructio” — “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.” (1 Cor. 1:19). Compare this with the anti-foundationalism mentioned above. Differance, on the other hand, refers to the “differences” that appear in any text, and undermine its foundations. Therefore, rather than being viewed as a foundational document, the Bible might be viewed as being in opposition to those “grand narratives” which humanity has so proudly devised. The Christian Church certainly has robustly criticised “aspects of the Enlightenment, Marxist and Capitalist narratives”, as well as “reductive positions commended by theologians”.

Not only this, but there would seem to be little doubt that the Bible is in opposition to the optimism of the modernists which postmodernists have so come to disbelieve. The author states: “Nothing could be further from the spirit of the Bible than the word ‘progress’.” Further, with regard to difference and deconstruction, is not the Bible richly filled with its own differences, or “play of opposites”? God is One yet Three; He communes with Adam, yet stalks Moses to kill him; Jesus Christ is divine yet human; and so on. Postmodernism and Christianity are by no means a clear either/or.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HIGHER CRITICISM?

Higher criticism may be described as questions of integrity, authenticity, credibility, and literary forms as they apply to the writings that make up the Bible. Higher criticism is not in itself a negative term — the author comments that “we would have less reliable knowledge” without it. On the other hand, higher critics have tended to “give little or no credence to items that have sustained the faithful for centuries: the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, the ascension into heaven, not to mention the miracles and theophanies.” Where does postmodernism stand with regard to higher criticism?

From the author’s point of view, higher criticism clearly belongs to the modern era. “We can see that they share a common assumption. They are all cued into the Enlightenment grand narrative, and therefore thoroughly modern in their assumptions about the world.” That is, higher critics are foundationalist. The higher critic “has to affirm a belief in modernity”. With this in mind, the Bible of the modernist has become “no more than a dusty item in a museum, cared for by curators whose critical assumptions are in dire need of rejuvenation”. In short, higher criticism has become passe.

What, then, is the alternative? The author notes that the “new critical approaches are imported from the study of literature”. Yet here the scene becomes diverse and complicated. One of the more central arguments is over whether postmodernists should “distinguish secular from sacred writing”. While some postmodernists deny that one can speak of the sacred, others take the view that, rather than being “enthralled by metaphysics”, we need to “ensure that when we talk of God we are really talking of God”. The author himself would seem to advocate a theology “that answers to Christ as the sacrament of our redemption”.

SYNTHESIS

The author might seem at times to get lost in eddies (e.g. Maurice Blanchot), or to meander for too long through marginal subjects (e.g. “thinkers of the gift”). He largely bypasses some big names like Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan, and merely skims over e.g. post-structuralism, feminism, or the analytic philosophers. However, he is aware of this, and motivates his various emphases. He is not a newcomer to postmodernism, and he knows his way around.

By and large, this was a very useful and enlightening book, and it has received some very good commendations. I would not have wanted to miss it. For those who have the courage to take a book in hand that is as “tough” as this one, it should give one very valuable insights into the postmodern world — if not the postmodern Church.

CITATION OF REFERENCE

Hart, Kevin. Postmodernism: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications, 2004. ISBN 1-85168-338-0. Publisher Price £9.99/US$15.95.

Rev. Thomas Scarborough is the minister of an Evangelical Congregational Church in Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree through Fuller Theological Seminary.