Truth Decay: Defending Christianity against the Challenges of Postmodernism
by Douglas Groothuis
“A venerable old Russian proverb claims that ‘one word of truth outweighs the world.’” (Kindle Location 101).
Point: Postmodernism has corrupted any foundation upon which man may stand. This must be evaluated, critiqued, and challenged in a thoughtful and biblical manner.
Path: Groothuis leads the reader through the barren landscape of modernism to postmodernism. He stops along the way to explain a biblical view of truth and how postmodernism has undermined it. He writes on ethics, race, gender, and beauty. He concludes with a short appendix on the medium of television.
Sources: Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, etc. He challenges men such as Rorty and others.
Agreement: Groothuis offers a helpful overview of the postmodern mindset and the predicament that thinkers find themselves in today. He references a wide group of authors and intellectuals, and helps to categorize their ideologies.
Disagreement: I would have liked to see more interaction with the afore mentioned authors. He quotes others, but does not spend much time wrestling with their ideas. This leads to a second frustration, that of the plethora of quoted material. One gets a sense of what Groothuis thinks, but must read between the “quoted” lines.
Personal App: There is a proper way to evaluate, critique, and challenge the postmodern worldview – it is through the base of Scripture.
Favorite Quote: “If there is no beauty beyond the eye of the beholder, art becomes merely a tool for social influence, political power and personal expression; the category of obscenity is as obsolete as the ideal of beauty.” (Kindle Locations 200-201).
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.
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