Postmodernism: The Root of the West's Civilizational Crisis

In the postmodern age, the West has lost its faith in the existence of objective truth. In so doing, it has discarded the only coherent ground for human dignity and respect for fundamental freedoms; that is, the idea that humanity is made in the image of God, which entails an objective truth and moral code to which all people are subject. Rather, in the West, every person now claims the right to re-create themselves in their own freely chosen image – to decide for themselves what is true. Culturally, therefore, the West is losing the basis for both social cohesion and for the free exchange of ideas in pursuit of the common good. Christians are called to resist – that is, to speak truth in love - in a way that directly confronts postmodernism’s dominance among media, academic, and governing elites and its resulting power over people’s hearts and minds.