Q&A: Dr Leithart on postmodernism

Peter Leithart just published his eighteenth book, Solomon Among the Postmoderns. Apart from being his second book published by Brazos Press, it was also his first book to be dedicated to a grandchild (young John Arthur Leithart). In this title he tackles the tough question, “What should Christians do with postmodernism?”, turning to the book of Ecclesiastes for some clear, biblical answers. He graciously agreed to answer a few questions for those of us still scratching our heads and wondering what a “postmodern” really is.

For starters, what is “postmodernism”?
Big question, with different answers depending on which angle you take on it. In its earliest use, the term was applied to twentieth-century movements in art and architecture that rejected the standards and aspirations of Modernist art. The word “postmodernity” is used by sociologists to describe a set of social realities—high tech, globalization, consumerism, etc. Philosophically, it’s been defined as “incredulity toward metanarratives,” disbelief in the organizing stories that modern thinkers like Freud and Marx told about the world.

In the book, I define “postmodernism” in terms drawn from Ecclesiastes. Modernity was an intellectual, scientific, and political effort to bring order to the world after the chaos of the post-Reformation era. Modernity is in many ways a huge success story, but modernity never controlled or explained the world as thoroughly as its proponents claimed. Moderns were never able to sculpt the mist of created reality, never able to “shepherd the wind.” Postmodernity as a social phenomenon and postmodernism as an intellectual movement is the recognition that modernity didn’t live up to its claims. It’s vapor’s revenge.

Why write a book about it?
Because everyone else is. And because many of those who write about it write either as knee-jerk defenders or knee-jerk attackers. For the defenders, this is partly because many of the writers on the topic don’t have much historical perspective. Pop postmodernists act like postmodernism emerged ex nihilo twenty-five years ago; but there are roots of postmodern sensibility as far back as the Renaissance, and even more in Romanticism. My book attempts to put contemporary intellectual and cultural developments in some larger historical perspective. For the opponents, postmodernism (particularly postmodern philosophy and theology) is often dismissed as obvious nonsense. I think there are some important things to learn from writers like Derrida and Foucault, and I think the typical Christian responses often miss the main points of disagreement. For example, I found that eschatology was a more central issue in dealing with postmodernism than epistemology (the two are related, of course).

Does it matter to non-intellectuals?
“Postmodernity” is the label given to a whole range of realities that all of us encounter every day. We can choose from a zillion TV channels, communicate instantly with colleagues in Malaysia, hear Arabic spoken in the next aisle at the grocery store. We live in a more diverse, bigger, faster world than people did 40 years ago, and we need to learn how to live wisely in that world.

Is eBay postmodern?
Yes, and a very good example. Postmodernity’s technology is not heavy machinery, mining, smokestacks, but elegant communications technologies, without gears and oil and smoke; so eBay scores as postmodern on that point. Plus, eBay bypasses the institutional structures of modernity, and democratizes commerce. You don’t need to go to the department store or the mega-mall to shop; you can shop in your slippers online. And, eBay is global.

Bonus Nerd Question: Why do you place the Renaissance as something standing outside the stream of modernity, as opposed to the “traditional” view that tends to put the Renaissance as the early flowering of modernity? (courtesy of our dear friend, Davey)
Much depends on terms, of course. If “modern” means “post-medieval,” then the Renaissance counts. But in the book I followed Stephen Toulmin’s thesis that there are actually two modernities, one arising from the Renaissance and one arising from counter-Renaissance movements. I used “modernity” for the latter, because that form of modernity is what postmodern thinkers are attacking. The Renaissance actually shares quite a lot with postmodernism; read Pico’s Oration on the Dignity of Man. To see the difference between the Renaissance and modernity, it’s enough to compare Shakespeare to Dryden, or, even better, Shakespeare’s original plays with the purified re-writings that dominated the stage after the Stuart Restoration.