Truth & Postmodernism

Alan Hartung shares some great thoughts about postmodernism and the nature of truth:

I think, if you look at cultural postmodernity, the meaning isn’t quite the same as what the philosophers throw about. For most, the issue isn’t really if there is an absolute truth (though the term is avoided because of the way it is used by moderns) but how well we understand it.

If pressed, the typical postmodern would admit that there is an underlying reality to everything. But it is our ability to understand that reality that falls into question. When we are accused of discarding truth, I get a little defensive. I think truth is discarded when you try to capture it with pithy little propositions that hold no value without experience of the “truth.” (first emphasis Alan’s, second emphasis mine)

This sums up my thinking on the issue as well. Because my intellect is imperfect, my understanding of God and truth is imperfect. God is truth and ultimate reality, and I can know that (and God) truly, but I can’t know it completely or exhaustively. “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor 13:12, TNIV).

This thinking should result in us having much more humility about the great truth we know, believe, and live and cause us to lean more heavily on God’s grace and grasp lightly on our own knowledge & understanding.

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