A Provocation about Postmodern Thought

Theologian Ted Peters makes a distinction between two trends in postmodernism in his book “God: The World’s Future”. The first trend is toward holistic postmodernism, in which we recognize the immense diversity present in the natural and social worlds we inhabit, and we seek to find an organic unity within which they all inhere, which celebrates all our unique and distinct contributions to the whole, without distorting, denying, or doing violence to any of those distinctions. The second trend is toward deconstructive postmodernism, which disbelieves all metanarratives, distrusts all over-arching structures, and in general denies all absolute and objective claims about Reality. However...

I find holistic postmodernism to be a noble aspiration, which ties in well to the metaphysics of diversity-in-unity we find in the ideas of the Trinity and the Church as the Body is Christ. I think deconstructive postmodernism is immensely helpful in its suspicion and doubt aimed toward ideologies and social structures that demean and destroy vulnerable groups, and is a helpful corrective against violence disguised as objective truth. 

However, I think it is rather easy for deconstructive postmodernism to be used and manipulated by the rich and powerful who can control the media and cultural discourse. When every truth claim can be thrown away as “fake news” or a “false narrative” because it does not suit the story being told by those in power, it actually becomes quite dangerous. The powerful have a vested interest in getting rid of the idea of objective truth, and substituting in a constructed world of “alternate facts”. As long as postmodernism remembers that “the truth is out there” (in the words of the X-files), then it’s deconstruction and holism can be an ally of what is good and true and beautiful and healthy and life-giving. But the minute it gives up on the search for Truth and Justice and Reality, and succumbs to nihilism about truth claims, it becomes just another weapon in the arsenal of Unjust Power, just another Stooge enlisted to unwittingly serve Evil.