An absurd looking spirit appeared before God. It had a face that reflected an image of who ever you wanted to see. Although it wore the clothing required to appear before the Lord, its limbs and its body where arranged in a different way every time you looked at it. Although its speech was refined and confident, the words that came out its mouth were always contradictory. “What is your name?, God asked. “My name – if there is such a thing – is Postmodern. “answered the spirit. “Where have you come from?”, asked God. “I would say if it was knowable. I came from man’s modern world of knowable knowledge.”, replied the spirit. “Where are you going?”, God inquired. No longer able to restrain himself, the spirit began to dance around and sing: “To myth we will go. To myth we will go. Hi Ho ……….” Suddenly there was a great flash and the absurd looking spirit was expelled from the throne room and cast back down to earth. Postmodernism can be defined as an intellectual rebellion against our modern culture. It is a rebellion against knowledge itself. It is the absurd belief that knowledge is unknowable. Although postmodern thought never found ground in our natural sciences, it seems to have found good soil in less strict intellectual circles. I believe a recent column in the Los Angels Times is an example of the postmodern influence on some of today’s scholars. The article, titled “New Look at Ancient Betrayer,” was an attempted by bible scholars to portray Judas, the man the New Testament says betrayed Jesus with a kiss, in a less evil light. These revisionist scholars believe the idea of Judas as a villain came later. They believe it is significant that the earlier writings of Paul didn’t mention Judas. Where as, in the Gospels that came later, Judas is progressively mentioned more and more as time went by. They believe the reason Judas began to be vilified was do to Christianity’s need to separate from Judaism. In other words, the real reason Judas was vilified by the writers of the Gospels was to foster an anti-Jewish spirit in the early Christians. And this misleading ploy in the New Testament was what lead to all the anti-Semitism that would later raise its ugly head in the Christian world. As I read the column I had to laugh. There is a much simpler reason Paul didn’t mention Judas. Paul, unlike the Gospel writers, was not in the so-called “inner circle” and didn’t personally know Judas. Where as the Gospel writers had intimate knowledge of Judas. At times like these I’m reminded of something Paul wrote to Timothy. He wrote, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires: and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4 New American Standard Bible.” In light of the clear teachings of scripture, I can’t help but wonder how these revisionist scholars can come up with their absurd conclusions. William G. Dever, professor of Near Eastern archaeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona, blames it on postmodernism. In the March/April issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Dever wrote, “It is clear to me that revisionism is little more than a belated borrowing of the rather tired postmodern paradigm.” Dever went on to say, “In my view, most of the revisionist are no longer honest scholars, weighing all the evidence, attempting to be objective and fair-minded historians, seeking the truth. Determined to unmask the ideology of others, they have become ideologues themselves.” So, if Dever is correct and truth is not what these scholars are after, what is their real agenda? Where are these revisionists attempting to take us? Could that absurd looking spirit have our answer? “To myth we will go. To myth we will go. Hi Ho …………….” |