Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Christianity, mainly because most of the scholarship I’ve found on the topic was published between the
dates of 2000-present, with an influx of scholarship being published around 2005.
Now that we can relatively locate postmodernism in time and space, it’s time to discuss
postmodernism itself. First, to have a “postmodern” we must have a “modern.” Like postmodernism, it is
hard to pinpoint a year in which modernism began, but many like to parallel it with the age of
Enlightenment. In his book Truth & The New Kind of Christian, R. Scott Smith asserts that the Age of
Enlightenment (or the modern era) began in the mid 16 th century with the work of Descartes and with later
with thinkers like Hume, Hobbes and Kant (Smith 26-30). According to Smith, modernism can be
characterized by the rise of the concept of rationalism, which “emphasized the adequacy of human reason to
know objective, rational truths” (Smith 27). “Objectivity” is the key phrase to remember for a simplified
explanation of the modern way of thought. “Truth” was thought to be an objective reality, which could be
found through science. “Empiricism,” or the idea that we can only know what we can hear, see and touch
made belief in God irrational and irreverent for those influenced by Enlightenment thinking (Smith 27).
But rather than defeat the Church and discredit the idea of God, Christianity adapted to this new way of
thinking. Instead of succumbing to the Enlightenment’s definition of truth, Christianity asserted more than
ever the truth of their faith. One can see this kind of thinking in “conservative” Christianity, which clings
tightly to its truth, with its “scientific” basis in scriptures, which are dissected and taught literally.
If objectivity is the word for modernism, “relativity” is the word for postmodernism.
Postmodernists hold that there is no universal truth that is true for every person in the world at the same
time, thus making everyone’s worldview valid for their situation (Smith 30). According to Smith, faith in
human’s ability to progress and better itself was shattered in the 20 th century, with the two world wars and
subsequent confidence-shattering events (Smith 12). Postmodernism got its start (or gained prominence)
in the generation living in the aftermath of those wars (and enduring a new set of wars, like Korea and
Vietnam.) As people questioned humanity’s progress, people also began to question truth and modernism’s
123