contemporary Western Culture

I have labelled myself as postmodern for years, and I will continue to explore its fascinations and conundrums.

A great introduction to post-modernism. It is clear and concise. ( )

Grenz’ book is a description of postmodernism. In it, he attempts to give a history and description of this philosophy. Chapters two and three describe postmodernism, chapters four and five describe the roots of postmodernism and the sixth chapter describes three of the main postmodern philosophers. It starts with an introductory chapter that sets out the objectives of the author and ends with his vision of a Christian response to post modernity.
One strength of this book is the final chapter that suggests how evangelical Christianity should deal with postmodernism. He points out the ties that evangelicalism has with modernism and raises some real concerns with that. He raises several valid points regarding an appropriate relationship between Christianity and postmodernism. While modernism was not a true friend to Christianity, neither is postmodernism.
One of the weaknesses of this work is that while he raises questions, he does not truly offer any answers. While society is definitely undergoing a paradigm shift, and believers need to understand and respond to that, postmodernity is not the answer. ( )

A thoughtful, informed, and accessible introduction, A Primer on Postmodernism offers a Christian analysis and response to philosophical postmodernism. “The postmodern era,” Grenz observes, “has in effect replaced knowledge with interpretation,” having moved from “an objectivist to a constructionist outlook” (40). Grenz evaluates the thought of major postmodern theorists, such as Derrida, Foucault, and Rorty. Concluding that Christians must “explore the contours of the gospel in a postmodern context,” Grenz suggests a post-individualistic, post-rationalistic, post-dualistic, and post-noeticentric embodiment of the Christian message. Overall, Grenz offers a very valuable resource. A ( )