Editor's note: This is the second 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
The three main worldviews related to spiritual and transcendent truth are premodern, modern, and postmodern.
the premodern mind
Since postmodernism developed from modernism, it’s important to understand the forces that led to a modern way of looking at the world and faith. That would be the premodern idea, a worldview most people think of as having to do with medieval Europe up to roughly the 17th century.
The premodern mind was based on a very spiritual way of thinking, with an eye toward God revealing things in the world mysteriously, yet powerfully. When big, unexplainable natural events happened, it was generally attributed to God working in the world in supernatural ways. Angels, demons and spirits were a reality to them. They lived with an eye toward God revealing himself, and since one major way he did that was through the Bible, scripture was held in high regard, as it is God speaking directly to us.
The main thing we might find uncomfortable is the premodern notion of structure and authority. We have to remember that people lived in a feudal society, so authority rested outside of the individual, with nobles, kings and others who were in charge. Our modern way of viewing life and freedom as a democracy were unheard of. Everyone was under authority.
After Constantine, the church became institutionalized, basically interwoven with the fabric of other existing authority structures, and since those in authority were educated (priests, bishops), while most others were not, the church essentially became the basic way a person connected with God. In his book, Post-Modernism 101, Heath White explains it like this:
“Moreover, the religious authorities set the content of the faith—its dogmas and doctrines, and the proper interpretation of scripture. In this they depended on the Bible, reason, and the tradition of councils and church fathers. Reading the Bible was discouraged among laypeople, on the grounds that they lacked the education and proper understanding of the faith to interpret it correctly.”[1]
As you might imagine, in this scenario, tradition and reliance on traditional authorities was the hallmark of obedience, life in the church, and understanding the scriptures. As White puts it, “the task of each new generation was to retrieve those truths, understand them, comment on and elucidate them, and pass them on to the next generation.”[2] In other words, they relied on tradition and traditional interpretations for understanding biblical truth.
Before anyone scoffs at them for being naïve and mere simpletons, or as some would say today, “sheep just blindly being led around by others,” we need to understand that many premodern people had a robust and godly way of seeing the world. In my opinion, they probably understood the mystery of the Holy Spirit much better than us rationals do today, and generally saw the world through a very biblical and spiritual lens.
The biggest difference? The rigid and often corrupted authority of the church, which obviously led to massive problems. And yet, I imagine that just like Christians I have known today in countries where governmental authority is oppressive, God used it to produce a purified faith in the good-hearted followers who trusted in his providential care.
the modern mind
This is where things start to get really sticky, but we need to understand it, especially since so much of how we see the scriptures, understand our faith, build churches, organize worship services, and understand our existential reality come from this period. I think it’s safe to say that the Restoration Church Movement, of which I am a part, was partly built with “modern” principles and methods. So, what is the approach of modernism?
Perhaps the main thing is the rejection of established authority, and in most cases for very good reason. It started with the Protestant Reformation, where a monk named Martin Luther started to have doubts about how the established Catholic church was using, or abusing its power. I have actually been to Wittenburg, Germany, walked through Luther’s home, stood inside the church he preached at, and heard the stories of how the Reformation started. It was intense to say the least, and was essentially a battle over spiritual authority, with Luther appealing to the idea of sola scriptura, a Latin phrase meaning that scripture alone holds the authority in one’s life, and it is sufficient for truth. There is no more need for someone to tell you what to think; God reveals himself to the average person through the pages of His accessible word! Can you imagine how freeing that must have been?
And yet, it did not stop there. If smart people could question an established way of obeying authority, could they not also question long held notions of how to read the Bible? And if people were smart enough to question that, could they not also question whether the Bible were true or not?[3] You can see where this is going, right?
Another thing that entered the mix was a greater awareness and understanding of logic and science. Mathematicians like Galileo and Isaac Newton came along and questioned the established understanding of the way the world worked, laying out theories for the way the world and universe operated. It was pretty radical to think that man could figure out, with any certitude, how God’s incredible creation operated!
Finally, a brilliant philosopher and unbelievable mathematician, named Renee Descartes, came along and through careful, logical and scientific analysis, created what we now understand as the scientific model. He was actually raised by the Jesuits and taught theology, but began to have a crisis of faith and doubt many things that in the past, he had simply accepted and taken for granted. Ultimately, “Descartes saw a breakdown in old verities; he felt compelled to prove the existence of God, the independence of the soul from the body, and even the reality of the world outside his own mind, all from first principles.”[4] He introduced the idea of skepticism and is known as the “Father” of rationalism.
The advances in understanding our world led to the idea that we can essentially use our minds and logic to find the one true answer for everything. Descartes eventually got wrapped up in doubt, which caused him to wonder how we know truth at all? He wrestled mightily before coming to the conclusion that truth is found in the rational exercise of thinking, and coined the phrase, “I think, therefore I am.” In other words, even for doubt to exist, a mind with the ability to think has to exist. Trust me, I understand it’s not easy to follow this stuff, which is why most people avoid philosophy classes! However, in the end, the modern mind determined that if we think rationally and logically enough, we can discover all truth about God, our existence, and the scriptures.
To be fair, we have to admit that our way of reading the scriptures is more in line with the modern view of reality. We tend to read them scientifically, are very uncomfortable with ambiguity, and want to know things for certain. It is the foundation on which a more literal interpretation of the Bible, apologetics, and formal organized church services were built. Does the search for the “one true church” stem from the idea of putting our minds to something as a way of achieving certainty? It has also affected the way we see church growth today, which is too often numerical and quantifiable. Think about it, if you can’t measure something, how do you even know if it is valid? In general, we hate ambiguity, uncertainty, and mystery. It’s a problem.
Thus, the Renaissance was the modern mind seeing every problem in life, religion and world affairs as something to be figured out. It was a move from authority and tradition to reason. It led to a humanistic way of seeing the world, and put humans squarely into the middle of meaning. The problem with that? It effectively pushed God right out of that spot.
the postmodern mind
Postmodernism is essentially a rejection of the rational and scientific way of viewing the world, a world that held the idea that thinking and reason could get out us out of any predicament and would always lead to progress, since things like two world wars proved humanity was not always progressing.
In my opinion, probably the biggest events that led to an erosion of a modern view of life were the First two world wars and the holocaust. Too many of the actors in those horrific events were Bible-believing people! If we could think our way toward progress, why on earth would we allow ourselves to see such devastation and murder? If religion were the highest form of thinking, how could it possibly lead to something as awful as the atrocities we have seen in our world? Communism was also a very modern concept, based on rational Marxist thought. How has that worked out? It eventually collapses under its own weight, which isn’t to be expected if you are a humanist, able to conquer all of life’s problems.
Add to this a whole list of morally corrupt things people have done while faithfully reading scripture, and you can understand why the modern mindset was doomed. For instance, if we’re so smart, and can follow God with accurate precision, how could we possibly have a history of slavery, violating the real humanity of other people? How could anyone possibly use the scriptures to justify something so evil? There is no rational explanation we can come up with. We could list all sorts of other moral failings, but I think we get the picture. Life isn’t as precise as moderns made it out to be.
so where are we now?
This is the main question. We find ourselves in a time where the scriptures are still considered by many to be the real word of God, but we don’t trust ourselves, or anyone else, to confidently locate truth. It is just too risky. White puts our current worldview like this: “Premoderns placed their trust in authority. Moderns lost their confidence in authority and placed it in human reason instead. Postmoderns kept the modern distrust of authority but lost their trust in reason and have found nothing to replace it. This is the crux of all postmodern thought.”[5]
I would probably disagree slightly with White on this. In my opinion, if modern people put humans at the center of meaning, postmodern thinkers put the feelings and experiences of humans at the center of meaning. They have replaced the objective with the subjective in locating truth. Postmoderns have high and lofty goals, they just feel disillusioned by the previous generation’s ability to solve the things that ail us.
The good thing about postmodern thought? We are fallen people, and when humanity decided to walk away from the sovereignty and authority of God, we went down a dangerous path. We are not meant to find meaning within ourselves, but to look toward God. We have assumed roles not meant for us to play – roles that have a lot to do with where and how we find truth. The postmodern idea of not being so certain about everything is a good impulse for us to follow; it leads us to a humility about our ideas and opinions, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, it can also lead to self-doubt and apprehension when addressing issues of sin and righteousness that demand biblical conviction.
This is why the biggest concern among evangelical Christians is the idea that postmodern thought leads to moral relativism. The idea is this: since we cannot know anything for certain, and since finding meaning and morality in tradition has proven dangerous, we tend to shy away from anything that looks or feels like judgement. We are so freaked out about getting things wrong regarding others, that we have settled into an overly inclusive and permissive way of life. Thus, the mantra, “you do you, I’ll do me.” Unfortunately, that often means, “you define your truth, I’ll define mine.” In pre-modernity the source of knowledge and truth was in the sacred sources of authority and texts, in modernity that shifted to science and the university, and in Postmodernism to the individual and experience.
This is why we need, more than anything, to restore our faith in the Bible. Paul reminded Timothy of this truth in 2 Timothy 3:16:
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (NRSV)
We know this passage, but many are now struggling to believe it because of all the moral corruption they have witnessed in Bible believing people. However, the scriptures are still inspired by the living God. He has never corrupted them. They were useful and life-giving for Timothy and Titus, and even though we live in a different age, they remain useful and life-giving for us today. They remain more than adequate to train and equip us for a godly and meaningful life.
A lot is at stake here. We were never meant to construct our own identity or to arbitrarily determine what is right and wrong, which has proven to leave people on super shaky ground. Kinnaman and Matlock, in Faith for Exiles, talk about this foundation on “self” for young people who are constructing their faith in a postmodern world:
One of those distortions is a trend we could describe as “elective identity,” the idea that people can and should define their own identity, that the individual – there’s that word again – is the ultimate arbiter of what is true about herself or himself. Most people today, including Christians, believe identity can be discovered and decided on by the individual. A perfectly terrible example is the degree to which Christians embrace a pop culture moral code that starts and ends with ‘me.’”[6]
The chaos of subjective, moral relativism is causing loads of spiritual confusion, especially among young people in the throes of discovering who they are in this world. They need the church to wrestle through the muck and mire of our current worldview and come out with a conviction that the scriptures and a Holy God are the only things that determine what is right and wrong in this world – and the only firm foundation for our lives.
In the next article, we'll talk about how all of this affects our identity....
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] Heath White, Post-Modernism 101 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006), location 213, Kindle edition.
[2] Ibid, location 213.
[3] Ibid, location 248.
[4] Ibid, location 300.
[5] Ibid, location 422.
[6] Faith For Exiles, 47-48.