A charitable interpretation of Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault by a noted Christian philosopher.

The author begins with a general overview of postmodernism and these three philosophers. He then considers each of them. He shows that Derrida is very often misunderstood and is able to show that his basic premises - that all language demands context and interpretation - works well within the framework of what God has made known in Christ. He then considers Lyotard and metanarratives and how God in Christ is also critical of most metanarratives. He finally considered Foucault and recognized that the Scriptures do speak of powers and principalities and their tendency to oppress and dominate.

Throughout the author confesses the many ways in which these philosophers went beyond what is written, but also saw the "Egyptian gold" they have discerned, and showed they can be "brought to church" to some degree, and their insights used to help illuminate our condition as we seek to glorify God in Christ.

This work is very much a creature of the aughts, with all the discussion of the "emergent church" (and what happened to the "emergent church" over the past 7-10 years?), but also perhaps because of the willing engagement with such "postmodernist" philosophers who today would be easily accused of "Marxist" influence. It is lamentable that such engagement is noteworthy and is not the norm.

Dated but useful. ( )

Absolutely must-read if you feel that the church's response to postmodernism is a bit reductionist. This is not quite in layman's terms, but if you can comprehend the New York Times, you can understand this book. ( )

Absolutely must-read if you feel that the church's response to postmodernism is a bit reductionist. This is not quite in layman's terms, but if you can comprehend the New York Times, you can understand this book. ( )

Writing to Christian pastors and leaders, Smith argues that consistently postmodern thought will liberate the church from its modernist dependence on abosolute (scientific) knowledge and universal rationality--allowing the Church to reinstitute a confessional, catholic (in the creedal sense) practice, locally fixed and informed by tradition. Smith uses the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Michel Foucault to explain how postmodernism support the work of the Church.

Smith's reading is strongest on Derrida, where I believe he's done the most work. He rejects the argument that normative rules and discipline contain violence (Derrida and Foucault) as not postmodern enough, being still grounded in modernist notions of universal rationality. Smith is most critical of Foucault, accusing him of being a closet modernist and arguing that work on discipline is too dependent on an idea of the modern individual who operates seperately from the community. Considering Foucault's dependence on Nietzsche and his insistence that his work not be taken as suggesting positive solutions to the problems he poses, I would argue that Smith misreads Foucault and therefore passes up an opportunity to integrate a better understanding of power and violence into his project.

Overall, this is an interesting book, and I would certainly recommend it as more rigorous than McClaren's books. If you haven't read the authors Smith cites, however, you should know that he is doing a very quick and dirty gloss on some of their theories.

http://nicodemist.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/is-the-devil-from-paris/ ( )