{"id":31636,"date":"2023-03-08T07:16:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T15:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31636"},"modified":"2023-03-07T07:19:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T15:19:52","slug":"believe-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/believe-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"Believe Anything"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is postmodernism?<\/em> In his book, Explaining Postmodernism<\/em>, Stephen Hicks, a Canadian-American professor at Rockford University, seeks to answer this question. <\/em>In a review of Hicks\u2019 book, Steven Sanders states,<\/p>\n

Postmodernism rejects, or is deeply suspicious of, truth, objectivity, and progress, and is characterized by a distinctive anti-science, anti-capitalist mentality. Postmodernists are united by both a shared philosophical history and a shared conception of human nature–or at least agreement about what our “core feelings” are: “dread and guilt” (Kierkegaard and Heidegger); “alienation, victimization, and rage” (Marx); “a deep need for power” (Nietzsche); and “a dark and aggressive sexuality” (Freud).[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Author Daniel Palmer writes,<\/p>\n

I once asked a group of my students if they knew what the term postmodernism meant: one replied that it\u2019s when you put everything in quotation marks. It wasn\u2019t such a bad answer, because concepts such as \u201creality\u201d, \u201ctruth\u201d and \u201chumanity\u201d are invariably put under scrutiny by thinkers and \u201ctexts\u201d associated with postmodernism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Postmodernism is often viewed as a culture of quotations.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Palmer further states that postmodernism \u201cis best understood as a questioning of the ideas and values associated with a form of modernism that believes in progress and innovation.[3]<\/a> In an attempt to fully grasp postmodernism<\/em>, I stumbled across a blog from Focus on the Family. The author observed that postmodernism is a rejection of the Enlightenment and forgoes reason and is pegged as \u201ca worldview that denies all worldviews.\u201d Furthermore, that<\/p>\n

Christianity has no quarrel with postmodernism where rationalism is concerned. Both worldviews deny that human reason can solve all of man\u2019s problems. But they clash over the question of\u00a0absolute truth.<\/em>\u00a0Christians say that absolute truth has been given to man by\u00a0revelation<\/em>. Postmodernists, on the other hand, deny the existence of both truth and revelation.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Having read Hicks\u2019 book and several book reviews and articles, I am left with this summation for postmodernism: Believe anything.<\/em> In considering this framework, I can\u2019t say I am either alarmed or surprised by this worldview as this philosophical framework has dominated the cultural mindset during my lifetime, especially in the mountain west of Jackson Hole, WY. It is my conviction that such thinking is contrary to the teachings of Scripture as Jesus Himself teaches that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). There are not multiple gods or pathways to enlightenment or salvation, but one God and one way to be reconciled back to our intended purposes \u2013 fellowship, worship, and adoration of God.<\/p>\n

I have observed that postmodernism tickles the intellect but leaves one with a deep, unsatisfied hunger and thirst. Raised in a\"\"<\/a> Christian home, I found it difficult to believe there was only one pathway to eternal life. Even the concept of eternal life was based upon the assumption that there was even heaven or hell. At a pivotal time of life as a young man on my way to college, I was on a quest to find \u201ctruth\u201d and the path to enlightenment. As much as I could wipe the slate clean of religious dogma that had been placed upon me in my upbringing, I was open to anything, to \u201cbelieve anything.\u201d There wasn\u2019t a spiritual path that I didn\u2019t consider. My driving motivation was to find that framework to fill the void and emptiness I experienced. I will spare many details, but in the end, I determined to read the Bible in its entirety (something I had never done before) simply because it was the oldest, most historical text while also studying various religions on the side. Four months later, as a freshman at the University of Wyoming, I came to the following conclusions: there was, in fact, absolute truth, there was a knowable God, and there was a pathway to experience the fullness as our Creator intended for all <\/em>humanity \u2013 a relationship with the living God through the restoration that Jesus Christ alone provided all who called upon Him. While postmodernism sounded promising to my young ears, in the end, it only led to further despair. Thank goodness for the One who stands the test of time for all people.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Steven M. Sanders, \u201cStephen R. C. Hicks\u2019s Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault: A Discussion,\u201d Reason Papers<\/em> 28 (March 22, 2006): 111\u2013125.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Daniel Palmer, \u201cExplainer: What Is Postmodernism?,\u201d The Conversation<\/em>, last modified January 2, 2014, accessed March 6, 2023, http:\/\/theconversation.com\/explainer-what-is-postmodernism-20791.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cUnderstanding Postmodern Thought,\u201d Focus on the Family<\/em>, accessed March 6, 2023, https:\/\/www.focusonthefamily.com\/family-qa\/understanding-postmodern-thought\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is postmodernism? In his book, Explaining Postmodernism, Stephen Hicks, a Canadian-American professor at Rockford University, seeks to answer this question. In a review of Hicks\u2019 book, Steven Sanders states, Postmodernism rejects, or is deeply suspicious of, truth, objectivity, and progress, and is characterized by a distinctive anti-science, anti-capitalist mentality. Postmodernists are united by both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1764],"class_list":["post-31636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hicks","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31638,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31636\/revisions\/31638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}