Our beliefs, norms, and values make up the cultures in which we live. As time progresses, so do our cultures. Going back as far as the Enlightenment, modernism has greatly impacted American culture. Education, religion, family life, and many other things were all directly impacted by the modernist philosophy.
More recently, as time has progressed so modernism has given way to another philosophy called postmodernism. With every change also comes new challenges to education, religion, and other aspects of our daily lives. However in regard to religion, postmodernism has brought about an entirely different attitude that has challenged any religion that claims objectivity in its belief.
“In reality, everyone seems to be following their own rules. Diversity of values and beliefs has become a societal virtue, infecting every part of our lives and respecting no one creed or religion…the very idea of an objective and absolute truth is an archaism in pluralistic American society.”[1]
Religions claiming to have laid hold of objective truth, namely Christianity, have been directly challenged by this postmodern philosophy. More pressure continues to be applied to force Christians to assimilate a postmodern school of thought even within their own religious practice. There are many questions that arise as a result of this: how have Christian churches in America been impacted by the postmodern push? Have these impacts been positive or negative, and according to whose standards? If negative, what can be done about it as a proper response to the postmodern push on the church? These questions will be examined and answered in the following pages. The purpose of this study is to show how postmodernism has challenged Christian theology and truth, and to show how the church should respond to the movement.
[1] Phillips, Timothy R., and Dennis L. Okholm, eds. Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995. 10.
