Postmodernism
Philosophy
One blog that is consistently worth reading is Rev. Dr. Peter Leithart's blog. While not always agreeable, and often controversial, the good sir has often thought through things to a remarkable degree. His blog, while replete with the normal edifying essays, also contains downloads, posts concerning his liturgical calendar (keeping you up with his church), and information on his various books. My dad is reading A House For My Name which is a biblical theological overview of the Old Testament which is quite good. Besides biblical theology, Dr. Leithart shows an obvious strength in literature as well.So it is with all this excellent work before him that Dr. Leithart comments, "As if anyone cares, here are some unfinished and amateurish comments on "what I think of postmodernism."
With the rise of relativism, the Emergent church, and various other more "pomo" driven agendas, the Christian's relationship and response towards postmodernism is something to seriously consider these days. With that in mind, the pastor's worthwhile critique and appraisal is so valuable amongst the rhetoric.
Dr. Leithart makes three distinctions:
- Postmodernism and postmodern are different, and that is good and helpful.
- Postmodernism is not "a cutting-edge phenomena," but one that has had a chance to review itself and progress.
- There is a very real difference within postmodernism between the visual and the verbal, the deconstructed and the deconstructing, the pop(ular) and the professional, the fake and the real.
I generally agree with his post. While my tendencies within postmodernism tend to lie towards Levinas rather than Derrida/Foucault/Lyotard, and I have my own metanarratives, I think the kind of thinking Dr. Leithart displays is what will lead the Church forward in the Gospel. Thank you for an excellent post.
Labels: Philosophy
