one of the big challenges for people of faith in a postmodern era is responding meaningfully to the relativistic claims that there is no "absolute truth". my experience is that people of faith become quite defensive about this aspect of postmodern thought.
one thing that I would like to add to this conversation is the following:
i'm not sure that postmoderns are actually claiming that there is not absolute truth.
(I think that this is one of those claims that are made to discredit the "other side" and write them off as uncredible. Rather than write anyone off, let's trust that anyone who is trying to engage us in a respectful manner actually may have something of worth to listen to and consider!)
I think that postmoderns are drawing attention to the fact that we cannot CLAIM to know any absolute truth. This is a slightly but significantly different claim altogether. There may of course be absolute truth (the favourite retort is to say "the claim that there is no absolute truth is an absolute claim, thus proving that there are absolutes...") but can we know such absolute truth. All knowledge of the world around us is subject to a number of interpretations which mean that even this paragraph may not be understood quite in the way that I intended it to be understood. That is the risk I take in writing it - the risk of all conversation and realtionship - that intentions are subject to the interpretation of the hearer/reader/observer.
postmoderns are responding to the difficulty that exists (and this is a simple observation) in the world due to significant differences of opinion on issues that affect people's lives. Wars have been fought between people who believe they are right and are bound to resist the evil efforts of the other side. closer to home, communities bear the pain of conflict and disagreement when people disagree on emotive and controversial issues like religion and homosexuality. The problem is not that either side has given up on "absolute truth". I would suggest that everyone in the debate believes they are right - else, why would they be arguing? The problem is that try as we might, we just can't get others to come round to our side and see that WE have the grasp on the absolute truth.
And the problem is not that intelligent and wise people haven't tried... this is not a new problem in the history of human relationships. Rather than continuing to appeal to some form of Authority and Absolute Truth - which has painfully and repeatedly failed to bring unity and peace in human conflict - let us consider other alternatives for a way forward.
postmoderns are pleading that we consider alternatives for finding a way of being human together in the face of diagreement and conflict. We ahve tried and failed to convince each other that WE are right... What other alternatives are there?
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