How did you become so involved with this topic?

My interest in Postmodernism began in 1992 working as a campus minister at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. There, I was struck by the incredible difficulty of communicating the gospel with a new generation of college students. Was the church actually having the impact we would expect those who hold the truth to have? In 1999 I was asked to consider speaking at the Presbytery of the Alleghenies summer family conference in Laurelville, Pa. Though I was not able to accept that year, the topic I was given to consider—“The Christian as Missionary to 21st Century America”—stirred my thoughts until I was able to address that conference in the summer of 2001. Very naturally, that topic included a discussion of postmodernism.

How would you define the moral relativism that is the crux of postmodernism?

Moral relativism is the natural philosophical consequence of a society losing its spiritual moorings with regard to truth. It is the view that right and wrong are to be determined, not by some standard outside of man, but by communities of men and women based on their particular context. As each individual experiences life from a different context and those contexts change over time, truth itself is thought to be relative to the context.

A good example of this shows up in a dialogue between Obiwan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi (1983).

Luke: You told me that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father.

Obiwan: When he joined the dark side, Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. When that happened your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true—from a certain point of view.

Luke: From a certain point of view?

Obiwan: Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Moral relativism suggests that all ideologies (even contradicting ones) may have veracity within their own context. The result of this thinking is an abandonment of objective Truth in exchange for “subjective” truths. Why is it important for us to understand this worldview better?

By the 1990s the seeds of moral relativism had grown into a fully mature thistle bush. Its prolific seeds of influences are still blowing on the wind and showing up in every crack and crevice of the minds of men and women today. Ultimately it seems to be the consequence of losing confidence that Scripture is what it says it is: The very word of God. without error—a revelation that is sufficient to address all aspects of diverse human experience.

It is necessary to understand moral relativism in order to develop a God-honoring, truth-driven, culturally relevant strategy for reaching the lost.

How will this affect the church’s outreach?

The approaches we have taken to evangelism and outreach largely have been based on a “premodern” assumption that the lost share many things in common with the believer. These may include things like:

▶ a common knowledge of basic biblical information

▶ a common way of drawing conclusions about reality

▶ a common sense of morality

I liken our situation to a man who gets into his boat prepared to fish for brook trout. He becomes so involved in the process of preparing the bait, line, and hooks that he fails to recognize that over time the river he first entered has carried his boat out to sea. The tackle he once prepared to catch a certain kind of fish no longer matches the kind of fish under his boat.

The church today, without taking the time to analyze the current cultural condition and mindset, is in danger of ministering to a straw man. Understanding is fundamental to communication. Effective communication of the gospel will require understanding the current cultural and moral condition. Moral relativism is a keystone of postmodern thought.

How does it affect our own members?

In the worst-case scenario, our members are affected in at least two major ways.

In some cases they have begun adopting the peripheral aspects of relativistic thought itself. By that I mean, in feeling if not in outright conviction, they have begun to believe that declaring something to be absolutely true is the height of spiritual arrogance. The result is a disintegration of personal conviction, thinking it the “higher road” to be open-minded, rather than conclusive, tolerant rather than one whose position divides. For any one person to claim he understands truth in such a way as to contradict the vast majority of humanity, who come from a multiplicity of varied life experiences and cultural upbringings. is thought to be a precarious, if not ridiculous, position to be in.

This in turn affects people’s willingness to boldly proclaim the truth concerning Jesus Christ. They become hesitant, gun-shy about being labeled judgmental. Members of the church internalize their convictions but lose the drive to convince others. In such a postmodern church, apologetics has no place. The church becomes a hiding place of refuge rather than a center that equips people to be sent out. It becomes just another “community of faith” among many “communities of faith,” all of which are content to allow the others to “develop their own truths.”

When people go through your seminar, what surprises them about what they learn?

Perhaps what surprises them the most is just how often they encounter the postmodern worldview in their daily interactions. Though there is a fancy lingo associated with discussions of this philosophical worldview and it is easy to get lost in the fog, nevertheless the various tenets of Postmodernism have pervaded even the most mundane of human interactions. The average person encounters it daily on the evening news, in a chat with a neighbor, in advertising. or at the local YMCA.

Most of those going through the seminar are interested in the influences that resulted in the development of this kind of thought. Beginning with the presuppositions of “pre-modern” thought, where truth was derived from both reason and revelation, to a “modern” age when the advancements of technology and science promised reason to be the only needed and reliable source for truth, to the postmodern thought, where reason and revelation are both thrown out leaving man disillusioned and without hope, we see the desperation that has led up to the moral relativism of today.

What can we do to affect this worldview and those who hold it? How can we become equipped to make a difference?

The church must first of all grasp that it has exactly what this disillusioned and hopeless culture needs. It needs the foundation and bedrock of truth found in the Scriptures.

Then, we must learn to communicate that truth in a gracious, compassionate, and convincing way. Gaining a hearing takes more time than it once did. At one point we could go door to door and, as it were, take the pieces of the puzzle out of their pockets, show them the puzzle box cover, and help them put it all together. Now they don’t have the right pieces in their pockets, and it takes time to place them there.

We must develop plausibility such that the Postmodern person can see himself/herself adopting the Christian life and there find authentic answers to his/her questions. Openly modeling an authentic Christian life and then following that example with a clear explanation is the best approach as you wait upon the Holy Spirit.

Becoming equipped to make a difference will require, once again, a working familiarity with God’s Word. It is important to listen to the culture around you, analyze its context, recognize themes, reflect on how the Scripture addresses these themes and then develop evangelistic strategies to communicate this life-changing truth.

Do you have a personal experience to share about someone you’ve encountered with this worldview?

Though I’ve encountered many individuals who hold this worldview, the greater impression has been made on two occasions from much larger groups

The first was the experience of taking 14 young people to University of Pittsburgh’s campus. They were participating in the RPCNA’s Theological Foundations for Youth Program. There in this urban campus setting, we interviewed (on camera) 25 randomly selected students, asking them questions with regard to their worldview. Only one or two of those students interviewed believed in an absolute standard of truth. All the others articulated, with frightening consistency, the tenets of a postmodern worldview.

In October, I attended a conference associated with Eli Lilly’s Fund for Theological Education. Various representatives from seminaries across the country that have received grants are brought together to interact as to how to better their programs. As part of that visit in Louisville, Ky., we were given a tour of the Cathedral of the Assumption—shown to us as a model for our ministries. This cathedral is known as a “multi-faith spirituality center.” It boasts a spiritual library where visitors are encouraged to become “intimate friends with inspired writers like Thomas Merton, John Calvin, Mahatma Ghandi, Henri Nouwen, Abraham Heschel, Martin Luther King, Hildegaard of Bingen, the Dalai Lama, and Julian of Norwich.” In November 2001, they hosted a Festival of Faiths to “celebrate the common heritage of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.” The purpose was to educate us and our children to accept each other’s faith! On the top of one of their elaborate brochures is the statement, “Cathedrals serve as houses of hope, light, and direction for generations of people.”
I find these examples frightening.

What are some key passages of Scripture you go back to in dealing with this topic?

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.…Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:12, 14).

This is the truth. It brings great comfort as we go about the work of sharing the Word of God with others. The Scriptures are effective, even with those who have made up their minds that there is no absolute truth. The church must hold fast to its effective tool.

Luke 19:10 reminds us why Christ came—”to seek and save that which was lost.” Our role is to be those who, by passing on the truth, are instruments to rescue those whom Ephesians 4:17–19 calls, “futile in mind, darkened in understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart.”

This generation is described well by Paul in Ephesians 2:12, “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. “These are motivating verses.

Is there anything you would like to conclude with?

The process of listening and adjusting to the culture so as to communicate effectively is one that will need to be ongoing. Even now the worldview of Postmodernism is being challenged in the minds of this generation by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. It is vital that the church be meeting the heart needs of those in its immediate cultural context. It is my hope that the church will engage the culture, not in a posture of retreat and escape, but of triumph and rescue to the glory of the Creator.

For Further Reading

Roxburgh, Alan, Reaching a New Generation: Strategies for Tomorrow’s Church

Carrell, Brian, Moving Between Times: Modernity & Postmodernity: A Christian View

Sire, James, The Universe Next Door

Keller, Timothy, “Preaching to the Secular Mind,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Fall 1995)

Leffel, Jim, “Strategic Christian Initiatives in a Postmodern Culture,” HAYAMA Journal, 41st Annual Report (There are many good articles in this same journal.)

Veith, Gene Edward, Postmodern Times, Crossway Books

Oden, Thomas, After Modernity What? Zondervan (with Foreword by J. I. Packer)

Interview by Drew Gordon. Andy McCracken is pastor of the Elkhart, Ind., RPC. Drew Gordon is editor of the Reformed Presbyterian Witness.