Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

marginalized and to the historical reality that metanarratives have, and still do, legitimise
violence (ibid. 75).
Similar to postcolonialists, postmoderns view language as a tool of the power elite to
control others. Indeed, “there is a struggle for power, a desire to get one’s own way or
what one wants, and in this struggle, purported knowledge is also used to accomplish
one’s ends. The manipulation of truth is a real, not an imaginary, phenomenon”
(Erickson, 2002:93). Some postmoderns view the likes of Stalin, Mao, and the Nazi
regime, as classic examples of the way whole societies are manipulated through language
and the use of power.
Epistemology is thus a matter of power rather
than of rationality. We know what we know
because we participate in a language game
that defines the limits of our knowledge.
There is no independent reality against which
the accuracy of the language we use can be
measured (Okholm, 1995:108).
Postmodernists “are right to warn us of the dangers of using language to gain power
over others, to recommend the importance of story and narrative, and to warn against the
historical excesses of scientism and reductionism that grew out of an abuse of modernist
ideas” (Craig, 2003:152). However, the extremes postmodernism encourages lead
nowhere healthy. Rather it leads to a foundationless and meaningless existence, where no
truth is possible, save that which is constructed by ‘community,’ or the individual (cf.,
Jud. 21:25). Because of this, Christians must be especially wary of postmodern notions,
and “should not adopt a neutral or even favourable standpoint towards postmodernism,
rejecting its problems and embracing its advantages” (Craig, 2003:152).
Perhaps the most damaging criticism of deconstruction is that if all texts subvert
honesty and truth, then deconstructionist texts are just as false and dishonest. The irony
with postmodern deconstruction is that its proponents exempt it from the same scrutiny
used on others. “If deconstruction is used to expose the problems of other views, why
should it not be turned on itself” (Erickson, 2002:97). Why then, critics ask, should
anyone ‘privilege’ deconstructive texts Further, how can Derrida’s deconstructive
philosophy be either accurate or trustworthy If deconstruction cannot reveal the truth,
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa