Postmodernism defined...

Andrew F. Uduigwome writes that,

"Postmodernism has constantly constituted a serious threat to the fundamental epistemological assumptions of philosophy and science since Descartes in the modern period. Inquires into how we know no longer revolve around the concepts of universalism, objectivity, foundationalism and essentialism. In other words, the post modern thinker does not subscribe to the belief in external or universal truths. He repudiates the claim that investigation of the nature of being is crucial to the determination of the true character of reality. Lyotard and Foucault, for instance, reject any attempt to ground reality in one all-encompassing theory or system of thought. The deconstructionist Derrida tries to show that the belief in the existence of an independent external reality that can be intersubjectively interpreted is a myth. For him, the dichotomy of binaries or opposites (eg presence/absence, nature/culture, male/female) that is characteristic of much Western philosophical tradition is illusorry and hence deserves deconstruction. A situation where the second of the binaries is subordinated to the first is strongly rejected. Reality or truth thus ceases to be defined in terms of a correspondence to a fixed entity that the descriptions and manipulations provided in our language must perfectly fit. Rather the preponderant view is that reality both conforms to language and is shaped by it. Language, as it were, is the repository of a people’s culture. Culture itself is a complex phenomenon which revels variety, alterity and ephemerality. The epistemological and metaphysical implication of this is that truth or reality is neither one nor objective but subjective and many. Lyotard posits that there are many discourses and the rules governing these discourses differ in corresponding proportion to socio-cultural and linguistic variations. Thus, our understanding of reality and interpretation of truth must differ in accordance with and reflect the linguistic and cultural variations. By this, deconstruction means dismantling and reorganizing language to expose the anomalies inherent in modern Western philosophical tradition (Effiwatt, 191-193).
Finally, postmodernism is atheistic, anti-metaphysical, anti-status quo of objectivity, consensus and prescriptivism. It is a deconstruction of all status-quos and standards in all realms of human endeavour. It is a philosophy of ‘anything goes’ (Ozumba,60)."

To read the rest of this article please click on http://www.quodlibet.net/uduigwomen-postmodernism.shtml

A philosophy built to be manipulated to suit one's tastes is a dangerous threat to the religious freedom we currently enjoy. The claim that "anything goes" is not quite accurate because the reality is that anything goes...but...anything Christian. The reason for this rejection is simple; to accept Christianity is to accept that there is reason and sense to reality. If there is reason and sense to reality then there is a truth that permeates all, and this is an out right rejection of this philosophy of "anything goes." This rejection will lead to morality which will lead to responsibility which will lead to accountability which in turn leads to standards which eventually lead to the death of a philosophy with no standards. This is postmodernism, and why the fight will be long and hard.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn the Prophet

On Thursday June 8th, 1978, Alexander Solzhenitsyn addressed the graduates of Harvard. His addressed was entitled, A World Split Apart. In that address, he took on many socially accepted norms; included in those were democracy, socialism, and humanism. I find it ironic that his words in 1978 ring true today. If our barometer is Solzhenitsyn, then sadly, it appears we have not learned any lessons or moved forward in any way.

Below you will find the very end of his address. To read the address in its entirety, go to: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/SolzhenitsynHarvard.htm

"If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most out of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one's life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President's performance be reduced to the question of how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline. Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism.

It would be retrogression to attach oneself today to the ossified formulas of the Enlightenment. Social dogmatism leaves us completely helpless in front of the trials of our times.
Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity?

If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era.

This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic[al] stage. No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward."

A Must Read!

Do you want to read a great book about Christian education? Here it is! The summary statement says it all.

"To succeed in the world today, students need an education that equips them to recognize current trends, to be creative and flexible to respond to changing circumstances, to demonstrate sound judgment to work for society's good, and to gain the ability to communicate persuasively. This book argues for returning to the classical liberal arts educational system so that students are prepared for lifelong learning."

This book will put you directly on the path of true Christian education. Happy reading!

Christ and Football

Last night I saw boys begin the process of becoming men; I saw individuals working as a team, and; last night, I saw a team and a school learn the lesson of process and product. Sometimes the product does not reflect the growth of process. Last night's score did not reflect what took place on the field.

Last night our very young undersized football team, in only its second year of varsity football, took on a good Section team and fought them tooth and nail for four quarters. Last night our cheerleaders stood in the wet grass and the chill of the night and led the cheers for our team until the last second ticked off the clock. Last night our fans stayed and cheered our team, our cheerleaders, and our school until the horn sounded. I have never been more proud or more convicted.

What does Christ have to do with football? First, it gives our young men an opportunity to be boys legally! They can hit and tackle and do all the things boys do in a structured disciplined environment. And, at the end of the game, one school can shake hands with a school they just battled and learn to walk away from the battle without seeking future vengeance. Second, last night I saw a glimpse of the unity of Christ as the community of Westminster united in all our differences for Christ and football. As Believers that is our calling, and that calling must be taught over and over to all of us. Finally, if we are to do football, it will be done like everything else at WCA: it will be done in an excellent manner.

Congratulations coaches, players, cheerleaders, students and fans. What an honor it is to be part of what God is doing at WCA. This is Westminster!

Francis Schaeffer on Education

Francis Schaeffer had much to say about education.

"True Christian education is not a negative thing; it is not a matter of isolating the student from the full scope of knowledge. Isolating the student from large sections of human knowledge is not the basis of a Christian education. Rather it is giving him or her the framework or total truth, rooted in the Creator's existence and in the Bible's teaching, so that in each step of the formal learning process the student will understand what is true and what is false and why it is true or false. It is not isolating students from human knowledge. It is teaching them in a framework of the total Biblical teaching, beginning with the tremendous central thing, that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It is teaching in this framework, so that on their own level, as they are introduced to all of human knowledge, they are not introduced in the midst of a vacuum, but they are taught each step along the way why what they are hearing is either true or false. That is true education. The student, then, is an educated person. I just say in passing, John Harvard understood that when he founded Harvard University. It was founded with this whole thing in mind. The student, then if he is taught this way, is an educated person, who will have the tools to keep learning and enjoy learning throughout all of life. Is life dull? How can it be dull? No, a true education, a Christian education, is more than the negative, though that is there. It is giving the tools in the opening the doors to all human knowledge, in the Christian framework so they will know what is truth and what is untruth, so they can keep learning as long as they live, and they can enjoy, they can really enjoy, the whole wrestling through field after field of knowledge. That is what an educated person is.
In short, Christian education should produce students more educated in the totality of knowledge, culture and life, than non-Christian education rooted in a false view of truth. The Christian education should end with a better educated boy and girl and man and woman, than the false could ever produce. Protecting the Christian school must carry with it more than the negative; it should produce a superior education in all areas of. knowledge, and notice I am saying all areas of human knowledge."

To read the rest of the article go to http://www.gbt.org/text/f.html

Consider this...

"The Christian God may exist; so may the Gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt....But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other; they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore, there is no reason to consider any of them." Bertrand Russell


"Agnosticism is epistemologically self-contradictory on its own assumptions because its claim to make no assertion about ultimate reality rests upon a most comprehensive assertion about ultimate reality." Cornelius Van Til


Those who make the assertion that there is no God, must do so inside some type of belief that requires a blind leap of faith in something and a trust in something other than God.

C.S. Lewis and Bulverism

Bulverism is the name Lewis invented to describe the method of assuming, without discussion, that someone is wrong and then distracting attention away from the issue by way of explaining how foolish this someone is. Lewis believed that you must show that someone is wrong before you start explaining why that someone is wrong. It is not the character attack of the fallacy Ad Hominem, but it is its cousin.

From my vantage point, I see Bulverism making a comeback in our country. Whether it be an attack against Christianity or an attack of a general with a pristine record, Bulverism is alive and well.

As Christians we must guard against Bulverism because we too are susceptible to its influence.

Lewis states that "until Bulverism is crushed, reason can play no effective part in human affairs." After all, if all of us reason, then why should one person's reason be deemed greater than another person's? To reason is to infere in some way no matter the subject. Lewis writes that "if our inferences do not give genuine insight into reality, then we can know nothing." In other words, by the very means that the world discredits the Christian, they too are discredited because they are, in essence, engaged in Bulverism! Is not C.S. Lewis right? Brilliant!

Another Great Book!

This is another one of my favorite books. It is a great tool to the Christian educator as well as the Christian parent.

Riesen was prompted by three convictions to write this book. The first, "the education of the country's youth is in peril." Second, "the crisis is not simply about means, but, primarily, about ends. Third, "in the confusion about education's means and ends, Christians ought to have something to say."

I believe the current crisis is about both means and ends, and that the Christian school has something to say to its community and to a watching world on both. Look for more quotes from this great book!

Mapping Postmodernism

Robert C. Greer writes about postmodernism in a different way. Most who write about postmodernism do not recognize the ecumenical question. While I do not agree with some of his theology, I do agree with most of the responses he offers, and applaud his willingness to take on the ecumenical question. As a Christian, I believe it is important to not only understand postmodernism but also to understand how to respond to it. This book will serve as a good start toward an understanding of postmodernism.

Alvin Plantinga

Alvin Plantinga, on his website, has written "two dozen (or so) theistic arguments." From time to time I will share some. Here is one of them. Enjoy!

"The Argument from Intentionality (or Aboutness)
Consider propositions: the things that are true or false, that are capable of being believed, and that stand in logical relations to one another. They also have another property: aboutness or intentionality. (not intensionality, and not thinking of contexts in which coreferential terms are not substitutable salva veritate) Represent reality or some part of it as being thus and so. This crucially connected with their being true or false. Diff from, e.g., sets, (which is the real reason a proposition would not be a set of possible worlds, or of any other objects.)
Many have thought it incredible that propositions should exist apart from the activity of minds. How could they just be there, if never thought of? (Sellars, Rescher, Husserl, many others; probably no real Platonists besides Plato before Frege, if indeed Plato and Frege were Platonists.) (and Frege, that alleged arch-Platonist, referred to propositions as gedanken.) Connected with intentionality. Representing things as being thus and so, being about something or other--this seems to be a property or activity of minds or perhaps thoughts . So extremely tempting to think of propositions as ontologically dependent upon mental or intellectual activity in such a way that either they just are thoughts, or else at any rate couldn't exist if not thought of. (According to the idealistic tradition beginning with Kant, propositions are essentially judgments.) But if we are thinking of human thinkers, then there are far to many propositions: at least, for example, one for every real number that is distinct from the Taj Mahal. On the other hand, if they were divine thoughts, no problem here. So perhaps we should think of propositions as divine thoughts. Then in our thinking we would literally be thinking God's thoughts after him.
(Aquinas, De Veritate "Even if there were no human intellects, there could be truths because of their relation to the divine intellect. But if, per impossibile, there were no intellects at all, but things continued to exist, then there would be no such reality as truth.")
This argument will appeal to those who think that intentionality is a characteristic of propositions, that there are a lot of propositions, and that intentionality or aboutness is dependent upon mind in such a way that there couldn't be something p about something where p had never been thought of."

Dr. John Oliver at WCA!

Dr. John P. Oliver at Westminster!
Dr. John P. Oliver will be preaching both morning (9:30 a.m.) and evening (6:00 p.m.) services at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 23rd. The evening service is my installation service. I came to faith in Christ under Dr. Oliver's ministry while living in Augusta.

The school is delighted to have Dr. Oliver with us on this historic occasion.
Dr. Oliver serves as Robert Strong Chair of Homiletics and Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. He received his B.A. from Wheaton College, his M. Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary, his Th.M. at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his D.D. from Western Seminary.
Dr. Oliver enjoyed a rich and well-respected career in the pastorate in Illinois, Georgia, and Alabama, serving 29 years as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia. He also served on the boards of Columbia International University (Chairman), Westminster Schools of Augusta, Mission to the World, and Bailey Manor Christian Retirement Center in South Carolina. He has been a frequent conference speaker in the United States and internationally.

The Seven Laws of Teaching

John Milton Gregory, in his book "The Seven Laws of Teaching," suggest that these seven laws are not complex but simple. They are so simple and natural that every teacher should be aware of them and be able to incorporate them into the way they teach. The seven laws are:

1. A teacher must be one who knows the lesson or the truth taught.
2. A learner is one who attends with interest to the lesson given.
3. The language used as a medium between teacher and learner must be common to both.
4. The lesson to be learned must be explicable in the terms of truth already known by the learner - the unknown must be explained by the known.
5. Teaching is arousing and using the pupil's mind to form in it a desired conception of thought.
6. Learning is thinking into one's own understanding of a new idea or truth.
7. The test and proof of teaching done - the finishing and fastening process - must be re-viewing, re-thinking, re-knowing, and re-producing of the knowledge taught.

Christian educators must look at these laws through the lens of gospel truth. Teaching, by its very natural, is encultrating students with a world and life view. Our responsibility is enormous and should never be taken lightly. The teacher's lesson must always be embedded inside the truth of the Christian worldview.