Editor's note: This is the third of three articles related to the idea of Postmodern Thought. We believe it is the primary way the secular world is deciding to locate truth and meaning today, so we want to help people understanding what it is, where it has come from, and how we can use scripture to think biblically. To read part one CLICK HERE. To read part two CLICK HERE.
what about our identity?
Our identity is not something that changes with each generation. To be made in the image of God means we belong to Him. We have always been His children, and He has always been intimately and passionately involved in the details of our lives (Acts 17:24-28). The scripture says we are his offspring, meant to find ultimate meaning in relation to Him. As I’ve stated before, we messed up, sinned, took control of our own destiny, and have been blowing it ever since. However, it does not mean the search for identity should lead to somewhere other than our Creator.
Postmodern thought is really messing with the idea of identity. Here is how Kinnaman and Matlock put it:
“Collectively, our society says that our choices define our identity. But that is only partly true. It’s true that our choices inform what we make of our lives. Certainly, we believe that God created human beings with agency to make choices. But we must persuade young exiles that the truest thing about humans is what our Creator says about us: that we are created with essential worth and dignity as children crafted in his image and that following his Son, Jesus, restores his image in us, which was broken as a result of human rebellion.”[1]
Without a relationship with God, how can morality, or anything else, truly fall into its rightful spot? Our meaning starts and ends with God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. If our identity is constructed by our choices, imagine how horrible people must feel when they make bad decisions? For instance, in an age that has decided that everything revolves around sexual identity, what do you tell a person who makes radical choice to change their sexual identity physically, but then regrets the choice later? It happens all the time. If we insist on being the creators of our own identity, any of our mistakes really can define us, which is so wrong and unhealthy.
When the passion in our souls to find meaning in God is derailed, our identity is derailed as well. Here is how White puts it: “The postmodern can’t trace the self to human nature or reason. What then determines the person you are? Postmodernism views selves, not as having an intrinsic nature or as autonomous and self-controlled, but as socially constructed.”[2]
In this way, postmodernism is just like the Graves building I started this chapter with: it is constructing abstract thoughts as a reaction to a rigid approach to building life in the hopes of leading us into a more inspiring future. But the problem is that identity can’t be fabricated. It can’t be constructed. It isn’t some reality just because we want it to be. It isn’t a product of our feelings or emotions. It is an objective reality to be discovered in the image of God.
An identity anchored in the hope of Jesus is the only sure thing to build our lives on in this world. Even well-meaning Christians need to be reminded of this, which is exactly what we see Paul doing with Timothy.
a more militant postmodernism
When postmodern thought first came onto the scene, it was a basket of ideas that supposedly defined reality in the wake of modernity’s flaws. It’s changed now, radically. Postmodernism today has morphed into something more militant. It is no longer an acceptance of all the different ways to see truth. In a real sense, it is becoming an angry tyrant, strong-arming you into believing what it says about truth, identity and the power dynamics in all human systems. If you happen to disagree, you are wrong, which is one of the many inconsistencies in this worldview. In today’s secular postmodern thought, you are free to make your own choices, just make sure they are the one’s society feels are the truth. What?
In Cynical Theories, Hellen Pluckrose and James Lindsay describe how postmodernism has shifted from a set of theories to ones with a strong agenda, one that has to do with dismantling all power and authority systems that uphold traditional views of truth. Here is how they explain the new postmodernism. Read the quote carefully, even re-read it if necessary. It will be important to grasp as we move forward in this discussion:
“New Theories arose, which primarily looked at race, gender, and sexuality, and were explicitly critical, goal-oriented, and moralistic. They retained, however, the core postmodern ideas that knowledge is a construct of power, that the categories into which we organize people and phenomena were falsely contrived in the service of that power, that language is inherently dangerous and unreliable, that the knowledge claims and values of all cultures are equally valid and intelligible only on their own terms, and that collective experience trumps individuality and universality. They focused on cultural power, regarding it as objectively true that power and privilege are insidious, corrupting forces, which work to perpetuate themselves in almost mysterious ways. They explicitly stated that they were doing this with the purpose of remaking society according to their moral vision—all the while citing the original postmodern Theorists.”[3]
So, what does this mean? It means that new postmodern thought has clear goals – ones they believe are based in morality, not opinion or choice. They have identified areas where identity and meaning is assigned (race, gender, sexuality), and have set up sophisticated systems to support their agendas. Also, they believe embedded power structures are keeping old myths alive, so their aim is to destroy them, all in the hopes of remaking society in a way that more accurately reflects what it means to be human. Ironically, they believe all of this to be objective truth! Let that last part sink in. Often, progressive Christians argue strongly for uncertainty as a virtue, but then when pressing their arguments, claim certainty.
There is a lot in this, and it’s important. As Christians, we don’t force anyone to think the way we do about reality; we try to persuade them, but realize people are free moral agents. Some of the cultural dynamics we see today are not so kind. To not see the world their way is to oppose them, which brings conflict.
This inevitable conflict with Christianity makes it crucial that we understand the basics of how these human theories work. It will help us lovingly but firmly defend our faith against these encroaching ideologies.
Daren Overstreet
Daren Overstreet is a Senior Leader at
Anchor Point Church in Tampa, Florida. He has been in ministry for nearly 30 years, and holds a Master’s Degree in Missional Theology
You can contact him at
[1] Ibid, 48.
[2] White, location 811.
[3] Hellen Pluckrose and James Lindsay, Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender and Identity – And Why This Harms Everybody (Durham: Pitchstone Publishing, 2020), loc. 678, Kindle.