Jarl Waggoner's Reviews

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Changing Our Minds: A New Generation of Thinking: A review of A Primer on Postmodernism by Stanley Grenz. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995

Reviewed by Jarl K. Waggoner

Anyone who seeks to grasp the philosophy commonly called postmodernism will quickly come to a new appreciation for the solomonic metaphor "chasing after the wind." It is a daunting, nearly impossible task, even for the scholars among us. Fortunately, Stanley Grenz has harnessed the winds of postmodernism for us in his scholarly introduction to the subject, A Primer on Postmodernism. This is not to say, of course, that Grenz's book is the last word on this dynamic movement. It is, after all, a primer.

What is Postmodernism?

Like much of modern thought, it is far easier to describe the movement called postmodernism than it is to define the term. Grenz never really defines it. He simply calls it a mind-set that is "becoming increasingly prevalent in North America, especially (but not exclusively) on university campuses." In fact, he asserts that "we are in the midst of a transition from the modern to the postmodern era," and as a result "monumental changes are engulfing all aspects of contemporary culture." This dramatic shift in the thinking of people will have far-reaching effects in the years ahead and will present a special challenge to the evangelical church as it seeks to minister to people who no longer follow the thought forms and processes that we are all accustomed to.

A Primer on Postmodernism seeks to provide a foundational understanding of the "postmodern ethos," especially its intellectual orientation. Grenz describes postmodernism as basically a negative movement-a radical rejection of the modernism that was born out of the Enlightenment. Specifically, postmodernists reject the Enlightenment principles of human autonomy, faith in human reason, and an optimistic belief that through science and education man can create a utopia. While Christians certainly should challenge these modernist presuppositions, we at least can understand them and at points even find common ground with those who espouse them. The same cannot necessarily be said about postmodernism. Postmodernists leave little room for optimism. They reject the concept that there is absolute truth or any unifying center that makes sense of all the divergent elements of life. What "truth" there is must be spoken of as truth relative to the community in which one participates. In short, while modernism replaced divine revelation with human reason as the final arbiter of truth, postmodernism has replaced reason with a confusing array of interpretations, all of which are equally wrong! Postmodernists are left to revel in the diversity of interpretations. Having rejected any all-encompassing world view, they have created a "multi-verse" to replace the universe, a shift Grenz illustrates with a comparison of the old Star Trek series with the newer Star Trek: The Next Generation. This illustration, as much as all the detailed analysis in the book, helped me to grasp in an understandable way the thinking of postmodernists.

Postmodernism in Culture and History

At present postmodernism is largely a philosophy confined to the classrooms of higher education. It is not merely an intellectual pursuit, however. What people think determines how they act, and postmodernism is moving rapidly from the classroom to the culture. Its growing influence is seen primarily in its celebration of diversity in the absence of any unifying, universal truth. Grenz calls pluralism "the central hallmark of postmodern cultural expression," and he sees evidence of it in architecture, art, the theater, literature, and the popular culture through film, television, music, and even fashion. The common element in all of these is the "incongruous, even clashing images [designed to] call into question any sense of objective meaning." His discussion here is intriguing but could have been enhanced by appropriate photographs of postmodernist art and architecture and more specific examples.

The historical development of postmodernism is explored in the light of the modernism that was built on the thought Descartes and Kant. Grenz gives an excellent, though necessarily brief, survey of the Age of Reason before tracing the challenges to modernism that eventually gave rise to postmodernism. Chief among those who paved the way for postmodernist thought was the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Postmodernists also are indebted to Friedrich Schlieiermacher, William Dilthey, Martin Heidegger, and other lesser known philosophers of the 20^th century.

The three primary exponents of postmodernism, according to Grenz, are Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty. Rorty, a humanities professor at the University of Virginia, is by far the clearest of the three. He attempts to give an optimistic face to postmodernism by promoting a revised version of John Dewey's pragmatism. In fact, Rorty eschews the "postmodernist" label, which he considers overused, and prefers to be called a pragmatist.

Some Personal Thoughts

Grenz makes the unusual suggestion that those unfamiliar with postmodernism read chapters 1 and 7 (the first and last chapters) first. I took his advice and found these two chapters a concise, readable overview of postmodernist concepts and how we as Christians should view them. The book is worthwhile reading even if one never progresses beyond these two chapters-and, frankly, many will not. The remainder of the book is much weightier. While Grenz does an admirable job of summarizing the thought of the various philosophers, that thought by its very nature is complex and not easily grasped by the uninitiated. In fact, Grenz himself admits that Derrida, in particular, is almost impossible to comprehend! I would say the same thing about Foucault. Some comparisons to other modern philosophies, such as existentialism, would have given me some bearing as I waded through these confusing concepts. While it is, no doubt, more accurate to compare the thinking of various philosphers, as Grenz does, most of us think in terms of broader philosophical categories.

Interestingly, the opportunity to review this book came at a time when I was rereading Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? in preparation for presenting the film series at my church. Grenz's work is more limited in scope and lacks the popular appeal of Schaeffer's work, but it builds upon Schaeffer's cultural and philosophical analysis by recounting the next step in the downward spiral of Western thought.

My biggest disappointment was that this book did not include a bibliography. The numerous quotations from postmodernist writings that are set alongside the body of the book's text are a nice touch and allow the reader to get a firsthand taste of postmodernist philosophy, but it is no substitute for a complete bibliography of works, both pro and con, on the subject. I admit it is a pet peeve, but it seems to me that a scholarly work, and especially one billed as a primer, should point us to other writings on the subject.

Many readers will be disappointed that while Grenz presents the tenets of postmodernism, he does not offer specific ideas for how Christians should minister to a postmodern generation. He leaves it to readers to develop their own plan of action while acknowledging that as an academic (he's a professor of theology), he is not in a position to set forth the most practical ways to reach a postmodern society with the old-time gospel. The best he can do is to offer some broad guidelines. This left me with a somewhat uneasy feeling, as if the book were not quite complete; yet perhaps that uneasy feeling is exactly what we need to drive us to biblically and creatively take the gospel to the next generation.

Much of A Primer on Postmodernism is not easy reading or even interesting reading, but it is important reading. Anyone who is interested in reaching the next generation for Christ must understand that generation and how it thinks. Stanley Grenz has helped us to do that.

This review was originally published in Christian Book Review, January/February 1996 edition.