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How Postmodernism Serves (My) Faith: Questioning Truth in Language, Philosophy and Art

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What distinguishes Downing's book from fourscore others explaining postmodernism to Christians? She practices what she preaches. She preaches that language is a servant not a master; she is a master of oration. She preaches that truth is inseparable from the personal; she weaves her personal narrative into an engaging account. Her goal is to "celebrate deconstruction of the reason/faith binary," "inspired by C. S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers." (138) She succeeds.

Downing's book illustrates Chase's theorem: "Things are more complicated than they seem, even after taking into account Chase's theorem." A children's Halloween story opens up into a sophisticated discussion of relativism. Children's construction paper towers first become transparent, then represent the Tower of Babel, and finally the Twin Towers destroyed on September 11. Downing has surveyed mountains of postmodern resources both primary and secondary, here converting intimidating mounts into inspiring montages.

Downing has exposed a secret more arcane than a DaVinci code: Academics is fun. Consider this, delivered with deadpan humor. "Note the dictionary definition of relativism. ... of course other dictionaries may define it differently." (185) Too many other explainers of postmodernism take themselves too seriously. A labyrinth can be fun; a labyrinth can be a prayer path. A labyrinth does not have to be a formal English garden. This book is both fun and a prayer path.

Take a leaf from Dante, whose Comedy Dorothy L. Sayers translates. If you're going to explain heaven and hell, write poetically. If you're going to go there, take a poet as a guide. And for heaven's sake, write in the language of the common people! Thank you, Crystal Downing, for doing that.

In order to describe Postmodernism, one has to first explain what Modernism was -- since Postmodernism is something that comes after Modernism. In fact, until I read this book, I was not sure about what Modernism was, let alone what Postmodernism was. The author of this book does a superb job elucidating the entangled relationship between Modernism and Postmodernism, and their relationship to Christian faith. As the author points out, there is no one singular definition of Postmodernism, since it is a phenomenon that envelops art, literature, music as well as philosophy. I think Postmodernism is something that you FEEL, rather than THINK. So it is terribly difficult to describe what it is, let alone explain its relationship to Christianity. Nevertheless it is a task somebody has to accomplish in order to equip Christian apologetics in this Postmodern era. But I had one question as I was reading this book: if Postmodernism can be defined, for the sake of simplicity, as "Any Way You Make It," and it can aid our Christian faith, does it mean that the Christian truth is also any way you make it? I think not. We believe in absolute truth, and it is written in the Bible and capsulated in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not negotiable and not open to any twists and turns of human interprepation. However, I agree with the author that, in so far as Postmodernism destroys the tower of skepticism that Modernists had set up so high, Postmodernism can help our Christian faith and advocacy.

Downing is an excellent writer making postmodern philosophy very accessible. Another plus is she has interacted with the primary sources. Too many evangelicals just read critiques by other evangelicals. Downing has spent some time with postmodern writers. Much of the book was helpful. She shows that postmodernisms exposing of the flaws of modernism has served our faith. This is very true in many ways, but Downing goes too far the other way. She leans toward inclusivism, which is a very tempting thing to do in today's postmodern culture in order to not offend, and remain respectable. The problem is the biblical worldview will not allow it. Christians must build their worldview from Scripture, as unpopluar as this may be. You just can't mix worldviews and remain faithful to both. I would reccomend Veith's 'Postmodern Times' then this one.

After reading this book for a philosophy class, I am strongly of the opinion that Downing has little skill as a writer or logician. Yes, she does establish postmodernism and its roots nicely, but she fails to establish the very thesis of her book--that postmodernism serves faith. While I will admit my bias to disagree with her, she did not successfully make her arguments. I found myself repeatedly wondering how she could fail to see the circular reasoning and illogical leaps. Maybe if she had actually been able to argue her point, I might have thought more highly of this book.