Mapping Postmodernism: A Survey of Christian Options

Front Cover
InterVarsity Press, Aug 11, 2003 - Religion - 294 pages

By now we've all heard the word postmodernism.

  • But what is it?
  • Can it be defined?
  • Does it really represent a monumental shift away from how we use to think about right and wrong, truth, the world, and even the whole cosmos?
  • Most important, how should Christians respond?

Robert C. Greer helps us grasp the nature of the shifts in thinking and believing that are taking place in our world. More important, he helps us navigate the complex debate among Christians as to how best to respond to these new challenges. Astutely he maps four different ways Christian thinkers have recommended we respond. These alternatives are represented by four theologians: Francis Schaeffer, Karl Barth, John Hick and George Lindbeck. Greer warns that being merely for or against postmodernism is inadequate. He guides us across the terrain of alternatives along a path that leads neither back to the land of modernism nor to the wild frontiers of postmodernist relativism. Acknowledging the relative strengths and weaknesses of these options, Greer turns us to a thoroughly Christian theology that points beyond them to the true Subject who makes knowledge possible through the language of revelation and relationship with God. This book is an illuminating map for all those who feel lost in the maze of conflicting analyses of postmodernism and are looking for a faithful way forward .

 

Contents

The Advent of Postmodernism
13
The Ecumenical Imperative
47
Foundational Realism
71
PostFoundational Realism
97
PostFoundational Antirealism
124
PostFoundational MiddleDistance Realism
142
Absolute Truth Revisited
159
What Now?
182
Postmodernism and the Church in Context
203
Five Major Paradigms Defined
218
Key Terms in the Postmodern Debate
232
Notes
250
Author Index
282
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Greer (Ph.D. in systematic theology, Marquette University) has served as a church pastor and as a missionary with UFM-International among the Aztec Indians in central Mexico.

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