For the
Christian, the primary means of knowledge is the revelation of God in
Jesus Christ as revealed to us in the Scriptures.[1] This is our ultimate heart commitment, and it
is the fountain of knowledge. Truth
remains a Person, and the revelation of that Person is our authority,
undermining human autonomy.[2] Schaeffer believed that the quest for human
autonomy subverted the need for revelation, thereby “freeing†philosophy but
ruining the possibility of a “unified field of knowledge.â€[3]
While the
sinful human condition can be blamed in general for rejecting the revelation of
God, we know that modernism was certainly a vehicle for carrying out the evil
plan of autonomy from our Creator. Yet
it would be foolish to assume postmodernism is accomplishing something
different.
Middleton
and Walsh have noted that the “homo
autonomous†of modernity is passing away under the deconstruction of
postmodernism, but the new concept of human identity is even more chaotic than
a human being rejecting God and clinging to self autonomy.[4]
While the modern, centered self was
consumptive of the world, the postmodern, decentered self is consumptive of
images and experiences and will likely prove to be even more insatiable than
its modern ancestor.[5]
Herein lay
the great danger and the system of idolatry resulting from postmodernism. While the modern human being was tempted and
sinned in a consumer culture in which he or she could attempt to purchase happiness,
the postmodern person, devoid of any foundation upon which to build an
identity, is now being sold his or her very identity.[6] In this sense, postmodernism is
hypermodernism and not something new at all.[7]
All the
more, then, should we be cautious of a system of Christian theology and
apologetics that plays the game on the world’s terms. All the more should we be wary of the
sinfulness of human beings, heeding the Scripture’s warnings of the
deceitfulness of sin.[8] Presuppositionalism, referring to a
dedication to find our knowledge in God Himself, as well as to maintain such as
our primary heart commitment, will counteract such a temptation.
