Modern and Postmodern Thought
"Modernity" takes its Latin origin from “modo,” which means “just now”. The postmodern, then, literally means “after just now”. The precise definition of Modernism has differed over time, though a common definition is a “deviation from the ancient and classical manner”. Modernism is also commonly described as a “movement in religion” and a “movement in the arts”.
The early modernistic movement tried to reconcile historical Christianity with the beliefs of modern scientists and philosophers. For example, the Modernists taught that the sacraments have no reality as a divinely designed act, but rather valuable only for their psychological effect. Unsurprisingly these tendencies led them to deny the authority of the church and the traditional Christian conception of God. Within Catholicism, Modernists were condemned as the "synthesis of all heresies" by Pius X, which effectively put an end to Modernism within Catholicism.
Modernism dictates the re-examination of every aspect of existence from philosophy to religion. Anything that “holds back” progress should be replaced with new, progressive, and therefore better means of reaching the same end. Or maybe the end, in and of itself should be replaced.
Today, in the Modernistic – Postmodernistic world, there are two trains of thought:
1. There are two distinct and independent movements – “avant-garde” or “Modernism” and “post avant-garde” or “Postmodernism”.
2. Modernism and Postmodernism are a unified movement with many different facets.
A rather simple examination shows us that the second option simply cannot be true. For the latter contradicts the former, and the former contradicts the latter, for example:
Modernism Postmodernism
Design Chance
Hierarchy Anarchy
Selection Combination
Presence Absence
Depth Surface
Modernism and Postmodernism are polar opposites of each other in nearly every aspect. However, in a strange sense, the second train of thought (on the unity/disunity of Modernism in general), so to speak, is correct. As the Modernist movement began to realize they could not achieve the “rationalistic utopia” that their beliefs called for, they transformed their beliefs, as it were, from “reconstructionists” to “deconstructionists”.
Modernism is an attempt to extirpate all tradition and to rationally and scientifically intellectualize the reconstruction of the world in the pre-supposed absence of God.
Postmodernism is a rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established Modernism and a rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. It is the acme of skepticism: the denial of all veritable existence or the plausibility of an objective basis for truth. Postmodernism is "post" because it eschews the perseity of any ultimate principles; and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific or philosophical truth which explains everything for everybody. Postmodernism cannot on its own principles ultimately rationalize itself any more than can the various metaphysical overviews against which the postmodern mind has defined itself.
Postmodernism's Prominence in Legal Theory
Although hard to gauge, most observers agree that postmodern theories of law are exerting extensive influence today in legal theory in the classroom, in the legislature, and in the courthouse. According to Peter Schank, Postmodernism “has emerged to become as dominant in legal theory as any paradigm in the past.”
Since the 1970’s a group of “progressive” professors have been organizing an organization called “Critical Legal Studies” (CLS). The single prevailing theme among CLS is that law is a contrivance of economic, social, and political domination. CLS holds annual conferences that attract over one-thousand participants. Exponents of Critical Legal Theory (CLT) hold positions at many of the nation’s most prestigious legal institutions including such universities as Stanford, Georgetown, and Harvard. If the proponents of CLT could be tied down to core beliefs, they would most probably consist of the beliefs that:
• the law is a capitalistic device that exploits and subjugates
• the law seeks wrongful legitimization
• the law is unstipulated, incoherent and is a imperforate contradiction
• all legal "truths" are mental constructs shaped by social convention
Many of the tolerance laws, behavior codes in companies, and diversity training standards today are imputated from the direct and indirect influence CLS and CLT.
Christianity and Postmodernism
Since the 1950’s, there has been a gradual transition from Modernism to Postmodernism. It seems that this transition is still in motion. Because of the convoluted and complex transition, I am going to specifically concentrate on differences between Christianity and Postmodernism. I would like to examine three specific differences:
1. Postmodernist’s anti-theoretical stance which dictates that there is no objectivity and that there is no truth, is essentially a theoretical stance that is “objective” and that is “true”. Comparatively, the Christian worldview does not suffer from such gregarious contradictions because we hold the Word of God as our ultimate truth. It is objective; it is the basis and core of our beliefs.
2. Postmodernism stresses irrationalism, yet Postmodernists freely employ the instruments of reason to advance their philosophy. Correspondently, Christians are not confined solely to the abstract and irrational realms. Acts 17:2 says, “Paul went and reasoned with the Jews”.
3. Postmodernists have no way to assess competing knowledge claims through reason, validity, or proof. Rational, logical, and empirical data provide a set of procedures and methods for researchers to determine what is “veridical”. Postmodernist’s beliefs allow for no way of determining what is “true” and what is “false”. In contrast, the Christian researcher’s results are not determined by their irrational, recondite preconceptions.
Fundamentally, Christianity and Postmodernism differ in nearly every imaginable way. If there have been any two beliefs throughout the history of mankind that repudiate each other more, I would be astounded.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1050592,00.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Critical_legal_theory
Questia Research
