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· The postmodern declaration: there is no truth, is inherently contradictory.
· Christians are called to speak out about the truth, in the face of the prevailing cultural hostility to the possibility of truth.
· We must not only speak truth, but live in a way that reflects it. Faith based social action is one way of accomplishing this.
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Postmodernism rejects reason, boundaries and structures
Our world is not the place it used to be. Once it was acceptable to speak of truth in the public square. It is no longer. Once almost everyone agreed that the truth was 'out there', that it was unchanging and, at least in part, knowable. It was possible to discover it, grasp it and accept it. Its existence did not depend on our discovery of it or belief in it. It had a special kind of authority; to challenge us, shape us and even control us. Of course, people disagreed about what was true: One group argued x and a different group argued y, but both groups agreed that the truth existed and was checkable, and that it was important to establish it. The implications of such an understanding were hugely significant. It enabled us to build a knowledge of the world and its workings. It allowed us to communicate and debate, and potentially reach agreement over right and wrong.
Our society has changed. Postmodernity is now the dominant 'philosophy' of our age.
Postmodernity is an almost impossible idea to define. It is a 'worldview'; i.e. it describes a way of seeing the world. It refers to the spectacles through which a majority in our society now see the world. Postmodernity represents a reaction against the confidence of the post- Enlightenment 'modernist' period. It is a reaction against reason, the dominance of the scientific worldview, and it rejects boundaries and structures. It denies the possibility of all absolutes in every thinkable sphere. It allows the individual to determine his or her personal or private 'truth'. The postmodern world is inherently selfish and individualistic, and social breakdown is its consequence. Postmodernity declares an end to the concept of shared culture. On the basis that shared culture is "the glue that holds society together", a society without a shared culture is ultimately doomed.
Of course, the majority of people carry on their daily lives as if nothing has happened. Pragmatism rules. But life is simply impossible unless we accept boundaries and structures. Communication requires us to agree on a set of linguistic rules. Queue jumping is still seen as being unfair. Water still boils at 100 degrees centigrade.
Start speaking of moral or spiritual truth though in the public square and the postmodernists start sharpening their spears! Our society scoffs at the idea of individuals asserting public truth, as to do so smacks of arrogance and intolerance. It is no longer 'right' to question the morality of a particular lifestyle or seek to encourage or support one type of lifestyle against the plethora of alternatives. In the welfare debate, any assertion that an individual should 'change' in order to gain benefit provokes contempt.
One example of this is the new Government sex education campaign: Sex: Are you thinking about it enough? The press initially reported that the Government would encourage young teenagers to resist peer pressure to have sex. The news came like a breath of fresh air. Of course, it wasn't going to solve all the problems of underage sex but the campaign was going to encourage young people to delay sex. It wasn't long, however, before the postmodernists were up in arms, attacking the government for 'preaching' and 'indoctrinating' young people with an outdated moral code. What right did the government have to say that sex was best left until later? Soon the Minister at the Department of Health was running in and out of the television studios to 'reassure' the public that the Government would not be promoting a particular lifestyle: The campaign was going to 'give information', not tell youngsters how to live.
Interestingly, postmodernity is inherently self contradictory. Postmodernity rejects absolutes or rules but our postmodern world equally seeks to impose the secular philosophy and agenda of human rights. Relativism alone is the new absolute. By developing complex philosophies to "prove relativism", postmodernists actually reveal an inner desire to establish truth, to know things as they are. This itself is powerful evidence for the existence of truth.
Peter Hicks, in Evangelicals and Truth, helpfully gives an explanation for the state we are in: "The traditional western concept of truth has collapsed", asserts Hicks, "because the locus of truth and the means of justification were moved from God to reason, and reason proved to be inadequate to the task."
The Enlightenment approach to truth has been rejected. It has been replaced by postmodernity, and the postmodern world is a hopeless one. The answer for us is not to return to a discredited enlightenment approach (itself unbiblical in places) but to develop a thoroughly biblical understanding of truth and way of communicating it. In our postmodern and pluralistic world, the challenge is still to declare truth in the public square.
Public truth does exist
It is important to start by outlining a number of biblical principles.
1. God is the source and basis for all that exists, including truth. Our confidence in truth is not built simply on 'reason' or 'science' but on God himself. God's existence enables us to speak of right and wrong, goodness and evil, and allows us to use moral imperatives like 'ought'.
2. God is the source and basis for all truth so truth is broad. Different types of truth exist (mathematical, scientific, spiritual) but all truth is God's truth. In maths, truth is clear cut. The sum 1+1=2 is true whilst the sum 1+2=5 is untrue. In ethics establishing truth can be harder. Ethical questions are less clear cut. It is wrong to think, however, that the whole concept of ethical truth has to be abandoned.
3. Truth is both objective and subjective. The Enlightenment philosophers argued that truth was entirely objective. In reality, of course, that is untrue. Our grasp on truth is coloured by our experiences and presuppositions. It is still possible, however, to talk of a state of affairs being either true or untrue.
4. Truth is relational and experiential. It is not simply an objective, distant or abstract construct. God, the embodiment of all truth, is a relational being who wants to relate to human beings.
Using the principles outlined above, we can now consider how best to declare truth in our postmodern world. Public truth does exist and it is our challenge and responsibility to stake it out.
In seeking to communicate God's truth (all truth), it is essential to look at how God relates his truth to his world. It is important to note at the outset that we are not required to choose between options; between seeing truth as propositional or personal. God's truth is broad and so are the ways in which he communicates it. Peter Hicks points out that "it is historical, and it is existential. It is factual and it is relational. It is particular, and it is eternal. It is doctrine and it is life
These are no longer to be seen as irreconcilable elements, conflicting with each other; rather, they are complimentary, enriching each other. They are all united in God himself, who is personal and able to communicate in verbal propositions and doctrines, and in personal encounters."
How to speak the truth in a postmodern world
Firstly, communicating truth in the public square requires us to use our voices. In the beginning God spoke 'and it was'. The power of words to change things cannot be under estimated. In the Old Testament, the prophets challenged Israel to be true to her calling and were unapologetic in speaking God's truth, however unpopular. Jesus was equally prepared to speak out against the self appointed guardians of Israel's national life and to call them 'whitewashed tombs.' The apostles used words and public platforms to engage in debate, dialogue and discussion. Paul spoke in the Areopagus.
The opportunity to speak out truth in the public square, in Parliament, in our political parties, in the workplace, at university and in school, is one to be grasped with both hands. In a society that rejects ideas of truth we are still required to speak it and challenge our society to recognise it. The postmodernists, like the Israelites, will scoff at our contemporary prophets but our job is to speak truth anyway.
Of course speaking truth relationally can be difficult in the council chamber or on the Today programme. The 'relationship' between the speaker and the listener is often superficial. The public 'listening in' hear the pronouncements and statements but see only a partial expression of truth. It is important, therefore, to speak out truth by genuinely engaging in debate with people and ideas.
Secondly, communicating truth does not stop with speaking. It has to involve the whole person. It requires an incarnational approach. It is not enough just to speak out against injustice and unrighteousness, although that is important. The prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New not only spoke out truth; they lived out truth. In so doing they demonstrated truth. Actions speak louder than words. Ezekiel is one of the best examples of someone who embodied or acted out his prophecy. In his actions (e.g. lying bound in ropes) Ezekiel challenged his hearers to wake up to the catastrophes awaiting Israel. So, God's truth has to be seen as well as heard, enacted as well as spoken.
In the prologue to John's Gospel, we read that "the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." God did not simply speak his truth into our world but entered it and enfleshed his truth. Jesus reveals God's living, breathing and dynamic truth.
Similarly, the challenge of Jesus to us is to reflect God to the world. The doctrine of the image of God is that God wants to image himself through human beings to his world. God wants to image truth, goodness, beauty, and reality through us, our lifestyles and relationships.
John Majors Back to Basics campaign imploded because of a perceived inconsistency between the public campaign and the private lives of Conservative politicians. The importance of embodying spoken truth then is clear.
Thirdly, truth, like freedom, is both positive and negative. God's truth not only 'imposes liberating constraints' on us but also takes us to a new world. Salvation is the process of being rescued from isolation, emptiness and despair to a liberating relationship with the creator. The New Testament sees the church as a radical new community where the meaninglessness of life is miraculously resolved. Unfortunately, the contemporary reality and especially the European reality can be quite different: an institution locked up in the past, preoccupied with irrelevancies and still confronted by a helpless and hopeless world.
Faith based social action
Faith based social action, however, provides us with an opportunity into take people to a radical new community. It enables us to present 'positive truth' to people, a different way to live, and a serious alternative to a spiral of hopelessness and dependency. In saying 'no' to social exclusion, we are able to point to an alternative and say 'yes' to a fresh start: education, relationships, belonging and accountability. In stark contrast with bureaucratic approaches, Christian social action projects know that men and women do not just live by bread alone but require holistic care: personal, relational and spiritual. Christian care will be honest about the importance of making certain lifestyle choices but gentle and forgiving when wrong choices are made.
Finally, it is clear that truth is public as well as private. God wants us to implement his truth into every sphere of our national life: into our structures and institutions. The kingdom of God cannot be imposed using political structures, even democratic ones: the role of Government is limited. However, it is right to seek to influence and shape our political structures with God's truth. The idea that Government can ever be morally neutral has thankfully now been rejected as a myth of modernity.
Our society is experiencing, as Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, rightly says, a 'crisis of hope'. Rejecting the structures and impositions of Enlightenment thinking seemed to be a recipe for freedom. In reality, the absence of structures and a clear moral framework has created despair and moral uncertainty. Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life." Jesus also said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." It is not assent to abstract, objective or scientific facts that sets us free. It is the relationship with the one Who is Truth that sets us free.
Our postmodern world is a deeply disappointing one. It promised utopia but failed to deliver it. The collapse of truth promised to set the prisoners free, but has left us groping in the wreckage of modernity: lost and hopeless. The church is God's chosen instrument to save the world. Our challenge is to reflect the image of God, act as salt to the earth, light to the world and signposts to truth and hope. Of course, the extent to which we can or should legislate or enforce truth is highly debatable and we will consider that in our second Wilberforce paper.
Related links
Paul Woolley's Second Wilberforce Paper
Peter Franklin on postmodernism
ccfwebsite.com briefing on authority and the Bible
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