“Truth” and Modernism, Postmodernism and Post Postmodernism

“Truth” and Modernism, Postmodernism and Post Postmodernism

An understanding of postmodernism (and now post postmodernism) is important because these philosophical viewpoints do not consider what the Bible teaches about the nature, value, meaning and purpose of music and musicing to be important  in the process of establishing a philosophical basis. Remember that modernists believed that the Bible contained both truth and error, so their truth basis was flawed. Postmodernists for the most part have not retained what the Bible teaches in their knowledge or at least they have embraced pluralism in their belief system. They believe that the stove can be hot and not hot at the same time. Post postmodernists are experiencing further philosophical mutations of pluralism, nihilism, and hedonism in their epistemology.  Therefore, it is not completely clear what truth basis, if any, they will espouse since many of them believe in multiple perceived truths that are equally valid at the same time. The one thing they know about truth is that it is impossible to experience any objective truth. One thing that they know is that we cannot know with certainty. Christian writers need to study the development of this new direction in philosophy in order to assess how it will affect music philosophy in the near future.

 Many millennials are growing up or have grown up with parents, pastors and teachers who do not consider Bible truths to have ultimate authority over their truth basis. These young musicians will most likely not even consider what the Bible teaches about music and musicing in the establishment of this new epistemology.  When they study the nature of music and the grounds for establishing the validity of this knowledge and the limits of what a Christian can know about music and musicing, Bible knowledge will most likely not be considered or at least not considered strongly.

Remember, the one thing that post postmoderns who are pluralists “know” is that a musician cannot know with surety, because they believe that there are no “true truths” or absolutes concerning music and musicing. They tend to believe that what is recorded in the Bible about music and musicing is not relevant to religious musicing in this century. With this mind set, all of what is recorded in the Bible about music and musicing is relative and is somewhat analogous to the shifting sands in a desert. Post postmodern pluralism espouses the notion that it doesn’t really matter which philosophical music wagon one gets on because there is a multiplicity of wagons that are equally valid. This pluralistic view is one of the foundations of undisciplined musical leadershift.