a word about the last word
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
A few additional thoughts to add to the last post.
First, a clarification: although I’m quoting ‘professionals’, I’m really putting forward ideas about post-modernism of the street.
Next, another quote that I re-found. This is from Walsh & Keesmat’s Colossians Remixed (on which there is an interesting on-going discussion on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed Blog). Like Curtis Chang they quote from discussions to show the perspective of many on the other end of the apologetic conversation. In examplining the view of a conversation partner ‘William’, they conclude:
Of course truth is relative, replies Wiliam. Just consider the alternative! The modernist pretense to have objectively grasped a total reality invariably results in a totalitarian social practice.
…
William has renounced the quest for a total scheme of things because it is both unattainable and inherently violent. In this important respect william is postmodern.
Which I think starts to link my comments on postmodernism being about justice (i.e. non-violent in the widest sense) to the view of postmodernism as asserting truth-is-relative.
Finally, an random connection came to mind. It’s interesting to consider Brian McLaren’s book ‘The Last Word and the Word after That’ in the context of the last post. The book is essentially a conversation about Hell. And at the start functions (I think in MacLaren’s words) as a deconstruction of our ideas and expression of our discomfort with the traditional pictures. But then the second half of the book moves on to God’s justice. The key conclusion being that, whatever our view of ‘Hell’, there must be some judgment for justice to prevail. So, it seems that, indeed, justice cannot be deconstructed, as Derrida claimed. And because it is at heart a search for justice, postmodernising has to face up to that justice and take it seriously.
Tags: apologetics, postmodernism
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