THE POST-MEODERNIST CHALLENGE TO THEOLOGY
Theology, when correctly adduced and adjudicated, finds it’s grounding in Propositional truth. As such, theological theorems coalesce into a larger sphere, acting as supportive pillars for the greater and not necessarily the lesser revelatory representations. The conceptual ideas of theology do not exist independently in a state of self-sufficient awareness. Nor do the descriptive linguistic structures that create the fields of understanding exist in perpetual independence, being subjected to individualistic interpretations, based on the observer’s bias and inclinations.
Postmodernism’s reluctance to assume universal propositions that fit all contextualized understandings and cultures creates a hostile environment for the biblical revelation of Scripturally represented truth and the relational basis of understanding between God and humanity. The denigration of word values, the discounting of historicity’s contributory richness, and the exclusion of factual cohesiveness between alternate fields of study and disciplines creates a confusing platform from which information is to be apprehended. Conflict between ideas that exist in discontinuity and thought patterns that necessitate a continuum process inevitably arise. The difficulty of postmodern thought and Christianity can be seen in this discussion: “God’s revelation is irreducibly prepositional” (p. 116).
Western rationalism finds further distancing factors with the philosophical propositions of the intransigent qualifications that are contained within postmodernism’s corral of thought. Western conceptional understanding is based upon logical assumptions. Theories need to fit within the greater matrix of realities revelatory propositions and cannot logically exist in contradictory states of being. The expulsion of the superior metanarratives function is inappropriate to logic’s boundaries, although the exclusionary practice fits well within self-sufficiency’s confines. The challenge of postmodern theories can be seen in no greater way than in this dangerous parody of factual acquiescence/rejection. The illogical game of relative acceptance of that, which is personally desirable or comfortable, while alternately rejecting as untenable ideas that are contradictory, creates an atmosphere of dismissal to a universally coherent mode of existence.
In postmodernism, culture becomes the norm in determining acceptability while factual understanding becomes a subjective process of choosing only that which fits the current platform of enjoyment or examination. Postmodernism’s comfort with pre-modern religious patterns of tribalism, polytheism, deism, etc. makes sense in this approach to practice. Multiple dimensions of unexplainable tensors become compatible when logical cohesion and submission to the idea of a greater realm is abandoned. Scheme is replaced with haphazard frenzy as anarchic chaos supplants logical patterns of thought. The undermining of rationalistic, objective reality is a debatable proposal in light of Christianity’s foundation in truth as an objective proposition anchored in authenticity.
Possible bridges may be built on postmodernism’s fascination with the narrative language of the pre-moderns. As long as the biblical narratives of the Old Testament can be projected as factual containers of God-Truth, a new platform may be wrought.
Additionally, the difficulty of everything proceeding out of nothing as a random inconsequential act of chance creates another field of difficulty. If allowed to continue as a dominant thought, simple existence in a preferential variety would dominate the defining moments of existential purpose. Meaning would be discriminated through projection and existence in the moment of occupation, not in the greater concept of belonging to a cohesive plane of purpose. Biblical understanding defines purpose as existing within the greater metanarrative’s proposal: living in relationship with the Divine.
