The Death of Truth: What's Wrong With Multiculturalism, the Rejection of Reason and the New Postmodern Diversity
Dennis McCallum
Description
From The Publisher:
Whatever Happened to Truth?
America is in the midst of a revolution in thinking that impacts every conceivable aspect of life. Postmodernism, the guiding spirit of our times, teaches that things like reason and rationality are cultural biases, and that truth especially God's truth doesn't exist. A society that forsakes truth believes that
All lifestyles, religions, and worldviews are equally valid
The only real sin is criticizing someone else's views or moral choices
Opinions matter as much as evidence
Reality is in the mind of the beholder.
Not since Charles Darwin confronted Christians with his doctrine of naturalistic evolution has the church faced a challenge for which it is so ill-prepared. We are witnessing The Death of Truth.
Postmodernism: This key word captures the mindset of the 90s. What is it? How does it affect health care, education, science, law, history, psychotherapy, and religion? This book is a tour de force, tackling a vast array of implications not just for the way we think but the way we live. You'll be wiser for reading it if you read it carefully, a lot wiser.
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The contributors to this book examine the implications of postmodernism, the guiding spirit of our times, an outlook that sees reason and rationality as mere cultural biases, and concludes that truth, as historically understood, does not exist.
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About the Author
During Dennis McCallum's first year in college he began taking his friends to home Bible studies he and friends had formed. As the group developed they also began a publishing enterprise. When their group grew to include several high school and adult home groups in the central Ohio area, Dennis realized his need to get more training He completed his seminary training at Ashland Theological Seminary and returned to continue developing the group in Columbus, Ohio.
Dennis and his colleagues formed a new ministry group in 1994 called "The Crossroads Project," to teach apologetics to the church at large. Their book, The Death of Truth (Bethany House) addresses the subject of postmodernism, which they call the guiding spirit of our times. They show that American society has forsaken truth, that reason and rationality are viewed as cultural biases, and that truth especially God's truth doesn't exist. Dennis McCallum, with others from Xenos also presents a Postmodern Challenge Conference at universities throughout the country
Dennis, his wife and children are all involved in activities and ministries in Xenos. They make their home in Ohio.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 ARE WE READY?
The New Revolution
The Challenge of Modernism
The Challenge of Postmodernism
Our Goal
In Brief
CHAPTER 2 OUR OLD ANTAGONIST: MODERNISM
Modernism and Postmodernism
What Are Humans? --Modernism
Are People Free and Autonomous? --Modernism
Can People Be Reasonable? --Modernism
Is Humanity Progressing? --Modernism
In Brief:
CHAPTER 3 OUR NEW ANTAGONIST: POSTMODERNISM
The Postmodern Reaction
What are Humans? -- Postmodernism
Why People Are Never Free and Autonomous
Why People Are Never Objective and Rational
How Language Makes Objectivity Impossible
Why Semantics Guarantees Bias
Why Syntax Guarantees Bias
Language and Bias Within Our Own Culture
Postmodernists and Progress
Assessing Postmodernism
Can We Trust Our Impressions?
Postmodern Self-Defeat
Is Language a Prison House?
In Brief
CHAPTER 4 POSTMODERNISM AND "THE MYTH OF PROGRESS":
TWO VISIONS
Skeptical Postmodernism
Affirmative Postmodernism
Postmodern Culture
In Brief
CHAPTER 5 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: HEALTH CARE
Ayurvedic Medicine
Therapeutic Touch
Alternative Medicine and Postmodernism
Postmodern Reality: A New Dark Age
Rejection of the Medical Model
Clinical and Laboratory Appraisal
The Voice of the Marginalized
Reliance on Experience
Impact on the Health Care System
Effect on Medical Ethics
Spiritual Impact
Explaining Reported Benefits
Postmodern Barricades
In Brief
CHAPTER 6 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: LITERATURE
Key to Understanding Postmodernism
The Grammatical-historical View of Literature
The Postmodern View of Literature
In Brief
CHAPTER 7 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: EDUCATION
Gauging the Postmodern Shift
Overview: What is Postmodern Education?
Knowledge According to Modernists
Postmodern Views of Knowledge
Biblical Assessment
Culture Under the Old Model
Multicultural Education
Culture in the Bible
Modernist View of Values
Postmodernism and Values
Values From the Biblical Point of View
Modernism and Human Nature
Postmodernism and Human Nature
Evaluation & Critique
Human Nature
Conclusion
In Brief
CHAPTER 8 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: HISTORY
The Changing Face of Historical Research
Historical Research in the 20th Century
The First Pillar: Marxism
The Second Pillar: The Annales
The Postmodern Fusion: Social and Cultural History
The Postmodern Approach to History
Finding Meaning in History
In Brief
CHAPTER 9 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: PSYCHOTHERAPY
Coping With Diversity
Essential Postmodernism
Postmodernism and Psychology
Family Therapy
Modern Vs. Postmodern Therapies
Identity--How Postmodernists Lose the Self
Loss of Self Is Not Self-Sacrifice
Postmodernism: A Stealth Destroyer
The Bible: Another Way
Self-Serving Bias
Biblical Truth
In Brief
CHAPTER 10 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: LAW
The Rule of Law
Postmodern Legal Theory
Postmodernism's Prominence In Legal Theory
Origins of Postmodern Legal Theory
The Principles of Critical Legal Studies
Later Postmodernism Legal Thinkers
Femme-Crits
Race-Crits
A Fundamental Challenge to The Legal Order
Postmodern Legal Theory and Modern Society
What We Need
In Brief
CHAPTER 11 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: SCIENCE
New Sciences Are Confusing
Modernism
Postmodernism and the Sciences
The Progress of Science
Can Observation Be Objective?
How Valuable Is Reason In Discovering Truth?
Do Scientists' Hypotheses Ruin Their Objectivity?
Are the Assumptions of Science Obviously True?
Quantum Physics and Scientific Mysticism
Mysticism and Science in the Past
Fritjof Capra and Friends
Quantum Physics and Reality
Where Postmodern Critics are Wrong
Our Response
In Brief
CHAPTER 12 THE POSTMODERN METHOD: RELIGION
New Attitudes Toward Religion
The First Cardinal Sin: Intolerance
One Exception
The Second Cardinal Sin: Objectivity in Religion
Postmodernism and the Shift in American Religion
Borrowing or Coincidence?
Anti-rationalism in Religion
From Worship of God to Worship of Self
Self and Reality
From Truth to Experience: Authority in Postmodern
Religion
In Brief
CHAPTER 13 THE POSTMODERN RELIGIOUS SHIFT: 5 CASE STUDIES
Christianity as Gnosticism
Assessment
Religion as Myth
Assessment
Feminist Spirituality: Liberation From the Text
Assessment
Psycho-spirituality: John Bradshaw
Assessment
Ritual in Place of Truth: Frederick Turner
Assessment
The Big Picture
In Brief
CHAPTER 14 EVANGELICAL IMPERATIVES
The Lesson of Theological Liberalism
Accommodation Temptation
Evangelical and Postmodern Flirting
Experience and Power in Christianity
What is Right About Postmodernism?
The Death of Truth
Complaint 1: Truth is Not Dead
Complaint 2: Reason is Not a Cultural Bias
Why Does Truth Require Reason?
Reason and Revelation
Paul and reason
Complaint 3: Culture Does Not "Construct" Truth
or Reality
Complaint 4: Language Can and Does Communicate Objective
Truth
Our Position
In Brief
CHAPTER 15 PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION IDEAS
Goose-Stepping on Campus
Cross-Cultural Communication
Bridging the Gap
Optimism Lives
Discovering presuppositions
Guiding others into discovery
Timing in Communication
Legitimate Subjective Witness
What is Love Bombing?
Sailing Into the Future
The Next Generation
In Brief
Conclusion
APPENDIX A
The Postmodern Analytical Framework
GLOSSARY
INDEX
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