Title: Postmodern Sociology
Headings: Postmodern Sociology
Postmodern Sociology
Notes:
Rendered with permission from the book, Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Rev. 2 nd ed), David Noebel, Summit Press, 2006. Compliments of John Stonestreet, David Noebel, and the Christian Worldview Ministry at Summit Ministries. All rights reserved in the original.
1 Walter Truett Anderson, The Future of the Self: Exploring the Post-Identity Society (New York, NY: Tarcher/Putnam, 1997), 114.
2 Michel Foucault, History, Discourse and Discontinuity (New York, NY: Semiotex (e), 1996), 48.
3 The French Postmodernists were particularly anti-Roman Catholic.
4 Richard Rorty and Gianni Vattimo, The Future of Religion (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2005), 33. Cited in Philosophia Christi, vol. 7, no. 2 (2005): 525.
5 Robert B. Brandom, ed., Rorty and his Critics (Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 22.
6 The Weekly Standard, November 14, 2005, 41.
7 Glenn Ward, Postmodernism (Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003), 145.
8 Ibid., 146.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid. Sourced to Paul Rabinow, ed., The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought (Eastbourne, UK: Gardners Books, 1991), 297.
11 Mark Lilla, The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics (New York, NY: New York Review Books, 2001), 142. See the Postmodern Politics section for more on the Marquis de Sade.
12 Walter Truett Anderson, 114.
13 Ibid., 17.
14 For example, see David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Oxford, UK: Westview Press, 1999).
15 Ibid., 18.
16 Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1988), 25: “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.”
17 The Washington Times, August 31, 1997, B2.
18 Ibid., p. B2.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Brandom, Rorty and his Critics, 21–22.
22 Larry Elder, “Campus Gulag,” FrontPageMagazine.com, October 2, 2000, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=2711.
What do you think?

Content: Education—‘The Psychology of Race, Class, and Gender;’ English—‘Unnatural Acts: Introduction to Lesbian/Gay Literature.’” 20
Not only has the subject matter of courses and departments shifted dramatically away from traditional fare, Christianity is often viewed with contempt and ridicule. Richard Rorty, Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford, writes, “When we American college teachers encounter religious fundamentalists...we do our best to convince these students of the benefits of secularization...I think these students are lucky to find themselves under...people like me, and to have escaped the grip of their frightening, vicious, dangerous parents.” 21
Not all new courses are met with enthusiasm. Richard Zeller, a sociology professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, attempted to introduce a new course that would examine the effects of political correctness in response to students’ claims that they felt pressured to assume politically correct views in order to pass courses. BGSU’s Director of Women’s Studies, Kathleen Dixon, protested vehemently, saying, “We forbid any course that says we restrict free speech.” 22 The course was voted down, and Zeller resigned in protest after twenty-five years of teaching at Bowling Green. Postmodern Sociology – Conclusion
While the Postmodern vision for sociology in Western culture may be taking hold, as Christians we need to take seriously the cultural commission God gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:28), placing them in charge of His creation.