Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reading!
Review: After reading this book, it is now clear to me what the driving force is behind what is taking place rignt now in Washington D.C.. If you have been mystified by the justifications for the sordid actions of many of our leaders not only in politics, but also in law and education, read this book. It will be a mystery no more!
Rating:
Summary: Please read and understand our culture!
Review: First of all, I appreciate it so much when authors will write books on very difficult, abstract subjects in such an easy to understand way. Don't let the title or subject material scare you...you'll probably be able to get through it with no problem. They explain the common views (modernism, post modernism, and christian) on some of the most important areas in life (religion, law, health care, education, etc). There's also tons of references for further reading. I was very unfamiliar with these subjects, and feel that I now understand the basics of how they developed, the present impact and the future impact of these ideologies.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: I am impressed with the effort of this work. The authors have certainly made clear inroads to a lay explanation of postmodern philosophy. The book contains more than opinion and cites sources so that statements can be verified.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: I am impressed with the effort of this work. The authors have certainly made clear inroads to a lay explanation of postmodern philosophy. The book contains more than opinion and cites sources so that statements can be verified.
Rating:
Summary: Illuminating.
Review: I found this book to be quite interesting, despite its repetitive style. Written by several Christian educators, it compares theism, modernism (or secular humanism), and postmodernism. They believe that postmodernism undermines all objective truth (i.e., truth that is true whether one believes it or not) and, therefore, is the death of truth, as we know it. Their thesis is that theism believes in objective truth as revealed by God; modernism believes in objective truth discovered through experience and observation, and postmodernism believes truth is subjective and determined by individuals. They aren't fans of modernism, but they believe postmodernism is downright pernicious
The basic tenants of postmodernism are:
· Reason and rationality are cultural biases, and truth, especially God's truth, doesn't exist.
· All lifestyles, religions, and worldviews are equally valid.
· The only real sin is criticizing someone else's views or moral choices.
· Opinions matter as much as evidence.
· Reality is in the mind of the beholder.
The authors believe postmodernism is the source of:
· The political correctness movement.
· Lower academic and discipline standards in public classrooms.
· Tolerance gone extreme and the rising lack of personal responsibility.
· The black community's rising separatism.
· The increasingly widespread belief that every hurt is intentional and legally actionable.
· Radical victimology.
· History is slanted in favor of white males.
· "Male" and "female" are socially created categories intended to enslave women to men.
· Hostility towards science.
To quote from page 20, "Postmodernists believe that truth is created, not discovered. They think things like reason, rationality, and confidence in science are cultural biases. They contend that those who trust reason -- and things based on reason, like science, Western education, and governmental structures -- unknowingly act out their European cultural conditioning. This conditioning seeks to keep power in the hands of the social elite."
Well, I like my European conditioning.
The authors take us through different subjects -- health, religion, science, history, literature, education, etc. -- and compare these 'isms. Not surprisingly, I find myself in agreement with parts of all three of the 'isms, on most subjects. For example, I accept the idea of cultural relativism, or paradigms. Moreover, I've often touted the idea that "reality is perception," not in an absolutist sense, but in the sense that what a person believes is true will govern that person's actions. In that sense I agree with the postmodernist view that people are never objective or rational. "Where we stand depends on where we sit." I also believe that words (semantics and syntax) have power, and how you describe something -- the words you use -- can influence others. However, I take this only up to a point, albeit that point may be where my ethnicity and class kick in. (That's certainly the case in the authors' view.)
I do not see any inherent contradiction between theism and modernism, between the Christian (or anyone else's) concept of God and science. And while I can accept some of the underlying concepts of postmodernism, I definitely do not like where the authors say affirmative postmodernism is taking us. The authors' simplistic approach, which is necessary for someone like me to take the time to read and grasp their thesis, probably necessitates the stark divisions between these 'isms and their absolutist definitions.
Going back to my fondness for my so-called European conditioning, I can see from recent history (i.e., at least the last 1,000 years or so) that European strengths have prevailed over all others with which we have come into contact. Europeans are an inquisitive, individualistic, scientific, warlike culture that hasn't hesitated, until the latter half of the 20th century anyway, to throw its weight around. It has serious flaws -- arrogance, callousness, and greed, to name a few -- but so do all other cultures. We have progressed politically and socially, however. Ironically, it may be that very progress that will bring about our demise. Blacks, for example, for all the righteousness of their cause as they struggled out of slavery and segregation in the United States, could not have done so had there not been significant numbers of white people championing their cause. Blacks have never had the strength of numbers to rise up militarily and throw off the yoke of slavery in this country (although it was often tried - more often, I suspect, than most people realize). In fact, it was only in the past fifty years that have they had the political strength to change the laws in this country and even then it took white support. Moreover, there has been no international pressure put on this country to change. It has always taken American white sympathy -- whites' sense of justice -- to enable those things to happen.
I'm not arguing that it should have been otherwise. Rather, I'm just recognizing what I see in history. Whites (along with help from Arabs and other black Africans) put blacks into slavery in the New World, and it was whites that pulled them out of it. In the United States, it was white Americans. To the extent that blacks refuse to acknowledge this is unfortunate, as is the extent to which white Americans are abrogating, or denying, the very qualities that made us great. White Americans of European heritage have just as much of which to be proud as do any other race, and vice versa. I worry, though, that the high rate of immigration into this country will dilute European traits (steeped in northwest and north central European heritage) and thereby destroy the very thing that makes this country worth immigrating to in the first place.
Well, that was a bit of digression, but I see a connection between the authors' description of postmodernism and the potential erosion of our European values and way of life. I endorse diversity and believe that our American culture benefits from it. I just don't want it to morph into something unrecognizable.
Anyway, this is an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Illuminating.
Review: I found this book to be quite interesting, despite its repetitive style. Written by several Christian educators, it compares theism, modernism (or secular humanism), and postmodernism. They believe that postmodernism undermines all objective truth (i.e., truth that is true whether one believes it or not) and, therefore, is the death of truth, as we know it. Their thesis is that theism believes in objective truth as revealed by God; modernism believes in objective truth discovered through experience and observation, and postmodernism believes truth is subjective and determined by individuals. They aren't fans of modernism, but they believe postmodernism is downright pernicious
The basic tenants of postmodernism are:
· Reason and rationality are cultural biases, and truth, especially God's truth, doesn't exist.
· All lifestyles, religions, and worldviews are equally valid.
· The only real sin is criticizing someone else's views or moral choices.
· Opinions matter as much as evidence.
· Reality is in the mind of the beholder.
The authors believe postmodernism is the source of:
· The political correctness movement.
· Lower academic and discipline standards in public classrooms.
· Tolerance gone extreme and the rising lack of personal responsibility.
· The black community's rising separatism.
· The increasingly widespread belief that every hurt is intentional and legally actionable.
· Radical victimology.
· History is slanted in favor of white males.
· "Male" and "female" are socially created categories intended to enslave women to men.
· Hostility towards science.
To quote from page 20, "Postmodernists believe that truth is created, not discovered. They think things like reason, rationality, and confidence in science are cultural biases. They contend that those who trust reason -- and things based on reason, like science, Western education, and governmental structures -- unknowingly act out their European cultural conditioning. This conditioning seeks to keep power in the hands of the social elite."
Well, I like my European conditioning.
The authors take us through different subjects -- health, religion, science, history, literature, education, etc. -- and compare these 'isms. Not surprisingly, I find myself in agreement with parts of all three of the 'isms, on most subjects. For example, I accept the idea of cultural relativism, or paradigms. Moreover, I've often touted the idea that "reality is perception," not in an absolutist sense, but in the sense that what a person believes is true will govern that person's actions. In that sense I agree with the postmodernist view that people are never objective or rational. "Where we stand depends on where we sit." I also believe that words (semantics and syntax) have power, and how you describe something -- the words you use -- can influence others. However, I take this only up to a point, albeit that point may be where my ethnicity and class kick in. (That's certainly the case in the authors' view.)
I do not see any inherent contradiction between theism and modernism, between the Christian (or anyone else's) concept of God and science. And while I can accept some of the underlying concepts of postmodernism, I definitely do not like where the authors say affirmative postmodernism is taking us. The authors' simplistic approach, which is necessary for someone like me to take the time to read and grasp their thesis, probably necessitates the stark divisions between these 'isms and their absolutist definitions.
Going back to my fondness for my so-called European conditioning, I can see from recent history (i.e., at least the last 1,000 years or so) that European strengths have prevailed over all others with which we have come into contact. Europeans are an inquisitive, individualistic, scientific, warlike culture that hasn't hesitated, until the latter half of the 20th century anyway, to throw its weight around. It has serious flaws -- arrogance, callousness, and greed, to name a few -- but so do all other cultures. We have progressed politically and socially, however. Ironically, it may be that very progress that will bring about our demise. Blacks, for example, for all the righteousness of their cause as they struggled out of slavery and segregation in the United States, could not have done so had there not been significant numbers of white people championing their cause. Blacks have never had the strength of numbers to rise up militarily and throw off the yoke of slavery in this country (although it was often tried - more often, I suspect, than most people realize). In fact, it was only in the past fifty years that have they had the political strength to change the laws in this country and even then it took white support. Moreover, there has been no international pressure put on this country to change. It has always taken American white sympathy -- whites' sense of justice -- to enable those things to happen.
I'm not arguing that it should have been otherwise. Rather, I'm just recognizing what I see in history. Whites (along with help from Arabs and other black Africans) put blacks into slavery in the New World, and it was whites that pulled them out of it. In the United States, it was white Americans. To the extent that blacks refuse to acknowledge this is unfortunate, as is the extent to which white Americans are abrogating, or denying, the very qualities that made us great. White Americans of European heritage have just as much of which to be proud as do any other race, and vice versa. I worry, though, that the high rate of immigration into this country will dilute European traits (steeped in northwest and north central European heritage) and thereby destroy the very thing that makes this country worth immigrating to in the first place.
Well, that was a bit of digression, but I see a connection between the authors' description of postmodernism and the potential erosion of our European values and way of life. I endorse diversity and believe that our American culture benefits from it. I just don't want it to morph into something unrecognizable.
Anyway, this is an excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: an important evaluation of postmodernism
Review: I have read this book with pleasure: It is not too difficult, it is written by many writers with their own style. I think the writers have written this book especially for Christians, for example students, parents with children, sick people who wants to know more about health care, and so on. The strength of this book is that it shows the important impact of postmodernism on many topics in our society, I have learned much. Its weakness is the less philosophical content, in this book it is for me not clear for which reasons christianity is the third way besides modernism and postmodernism. Is it the only alternative? Because this is not very clear and there is no good (philosophical) foundation, sometimes the arguments are somewhat fideistic, although the writers are against fideism. If you want to know more about the philosophical foundations, then you have to read other books. I highly recommend this book, especially for Christians. It can open your eyes for many developments in society and churches. Also non-christians who are interested in postmodernism, modernism or perhaps christianity will have pleasure by reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Sums Up Our Society Perfectly
Review: Of the hundreds of books I've ever read, this is one of the most important.It deals with postmodernism--the use of moral relativism and other forms of illogic to restructure society according to the whims of subversives. In today's "Animal Farm" society, yesterday's oppressed have become today's oppressors and accuse anyone gauche enough to point that out of "whining" or "being a victim". Postmodernists use feelings and intuition instead of reason to arrive at their conclusions, and examples of this abound everywhere today. Postmodernists think that Reagan, not the Soviet Union, was the warmonger in the Eighties; they think that America was responsible for 9/11/01, not the terrorists; they think that those who oppose affirmative action and hiring quotas are racists; they think that people who commit crimes, not those brutalized by crime, are victims. If you want to have it driven home just how much liberals and postmodernists who use emotion instead of logic to form their opinions have an extraordinarily difficult time discerning, making judgments, and assigning blame in any given situation and get just about everything wrong, get this book. We see this constantly, but to see all of these examples in one place is a true eye-opener.
Rating: 
Summary: The Death of Reason
Review: The book The Death of Truth edited by Dennis McCallum attempts to uncover the postmodernism that is slowly leaking into the practitions of politics, health care, literature, education, history, psychotherapy, law, science, and religion. Since postmodernism is arguably the new worldview of some people in these professions, understanding their perspective is important. However, the attitude of the authors towards postmodernism is very negative right from the beginning, with chapter one setting up a dualism with Christian worldview on one side and postmodernism on the other. As such, the biases of the authors are clear. The beliefs of postmodernism are often stated in the worst negative way and without citation as to where these beliefs are found.
Altogether, the editors seem to be writing more out of the personal angst they feel towards postmodernism than a rational discussion of the topic. The back cover reads, “Not since Charles Darwin confronted Christians with his doctrine of naturalistic evolution has the church faced a challenge for which it is so ill-prepared. We are witnessing THE DEATH OF TRUTH.†This is a little over the top, even for a teaser. But, once inside the book, Dennis McCallum and the other contributors manage to raise the sensational tone to an even higher level. "Now, in the late twentieth century, we are caught up in a revolution that will likely dwarf Darwinism in its impact on every aspect of thought and culture: postmodernism" (p. 12). Where circumspection would seem advised, exclamations, proclamations, and dire predictions abound. The connections between “cultural historians†and the devaluation of facts that lead to "reckless manipulation of history" (p. 140) is strained, relying more on rhetorical questions than the facts that the author is so proud of (p. 138). As a result, The Death of Truth often goes beyond its stated goal of bringing "postmodernism . . . within the reach of people who have never studied it" (p. 4) and crosses the line into misinformation.
An embarrassing example of this is where the New Age movement, along with films The Mission and Jurassic Park and rock bands Offspring and Green Day, are all lumped together under the ominously italicized rubric of postmodernism (p. 47). In this the author shows his extreme ignorance, The Mission celebrates the western missionaries and their sacrifices to save the natives from slavery. The author also seems to see any critique of new technology, determining whether or not it is more beneficial to humanity than a more traditional method, to be postmodern cynicism. This painting with a broad brush seems to promote less understanding among "the popular audience" and more misunderstanding and a witch-hunting mentality. Replace the word “postmodern†with any number of substitutes €"New Age, communism, feminism, secular humanism" and the results would be similar: another shadowy "something" for Christians to chase through the sea of half-truths.
In form the book does not reach beyond its circle of beliefs. The information for further reading is nothing more than a plug for the organization the authors work for. Anyone who wishes to learn more and read original works by postmodernists, or even more scholarly articles against postmodernism, is left lost (p. 9). Technically, the index is misleading in many places.
In general, this book is entirely negative on postmodernism in all its forms, no matter what. The tone is sarcastic and immature, implying that all who do not follow the line of argument are dense or, worse, infected with postmodernism already. Many of the authors make definitive statements on various issues without backing up where that statement is given in original sources. An example of this technique is seen in the following sentence: "New Age consciousness and postmodernism share an overlapping philosophical base" (p. 50). No citation is given for this statement, nor is this statement explained or explicated further. Instead, sentences like these dropped in as ways to vilify postmodernism beyond any rational comprehension.
Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent Perspective
Review: The Death of Truth gives a good overview on the dangers posed by postmodernism from the well-intended racism of multiculturalism to academia's pandemic rejection of the concept of absolute truth. Although some specifics are provided in every chapter, the book seems to occasionally become bogged down by abstract theories. I found other recent works like "the Diversity Hoax" and "the Death of Common Sense" to be better caveats of these same pernicious trends. One other complaint is the authors'repeated use of the term "humankind;" a book that rightly warns of the dangers of political correctness should not stoop to employing even such innocuous PC terms. It is definitely worth a read but should been sign more as the tip than the hidden ice burg.
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