Postmodernity; the harbinger of destruction for Christian faith, or a timely ally? It seems fair to suggest that many Christians are split in opinion over what implications the advent of postmodern thought has for Christian faith. Allow me to humbly suggest my own analysis of the situation.
In some ways, postmodernity does spell the death of Christianity, or at least, a certain brand of Christianity that is thoroughly wedded to the modernist project. With the success of reason and science, the Church sought to use the tools of modernity to defend its claims, creating both fundamentalism and higher text criticism in its attempt to "scientifically" defend/prove the faith. These Christians continue to be rather violently opposed to postmodernity in its attempt to demonstrate that their project cannot succeed. The problem that occurs whenever Christianity becomes too closely tied to a spirit of a particular age is that when that age dies, the faith is left with no legs to stand on.
The work of Lyotard and Derrida have demonstrated quite thoroughly that modern epistemology falters. The blind faith in Rationality that the Enlightenment promoted has been rather discredited by repeated instances of "self-evident" claims being found to be rather subjective. Lyotard points out that there are no meta-narratives, rather, each group holds to a series of narratives that help make sense of the world. Putting Derrida into conversation with Lyotard shows us that the world is a text that we are constantly interpreting, and while some interpretations may be better than others, we have an increasingly difficult time legitimizing various interpretations over others.
We see this most clearly in the area of moral or ethical discourse, as opposing groups push forward their various claims and are driven farther and farther apart in conflict as there is no good way to arbitrate between claims. What then are we to think? Are we doomed to a hopeless relativism where anything goes? Has the Neitzschean reality been actualized wherein those with power create truth?
Perhaps. What does that mean for Christianity? Well, the first thing we must NOT do is attempt to - by the use of coercive force or power - impose our narrative over and above competing narratives. For at the heart of the Christian narrative is the story of the one who, being the holder of all power and authority, chooses to die rather than use any of that power in a coercive manner. Thus through the cross comes ultimate victory.
What the postmodern turn has done is flattened the epistemological landscape, enabling competing narratives to be heard on an equal footing. Everyone now has a seat at the table, no longer can science delegitimize other ways of knowing. Whereas, in Modernity, other forms of knowing were rejected prima facie, all voices can now be heard. I am not saying that all voices are true, only that now, they each get a equal turn to be heard, it's quite democratic really. Christians are now able to bear faithful witness to their narrative. We must resist the attempt to again pick up the myth of modernity in an attempt to put forward Christianity as a rationally self-evident system.
It is time to do what the Church has always been called to do; that is, be a faithful witness to the crucified Lord, Jesus Christ. The Spirit will do the work of convincing hearts and minds of the correspondent veracity of our narrative. For it is the Spirit that is here working diligently in creation to convict the world of sin and righteousness. All Christians would do well to develop a strong pneumatology that enables God to enact out the Missio Dei. Postmodernity thus becomes a catalyst for Christians to create a robust pneumatology that can support the continued missional reality of the Church.
Kyrie Eleison
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