One of the more interesting portions of the article is Wolfe's finding that many evangelical scholars have taken an interest in postmodern thought including especially the writings of Foucault and Derrida. What these scholars have found attractive in postmodernism is its critique of the Enlightenment. The only thing surprising about this development in my view is that it has apparently took such a long time for the evangelicals to discover pomo. Although pomo's suspicion of meta-narratives might seem to be inconsistent with a belief in biblical literalism, apparently at least some evangelicals are willing to pay that price in return for pomo's deflation of the epistemic claims made on behalf of science, Marxism and other rival meta-narratives to Christianity. In this respect postmodernism is apparently playing the same sort of role that skepticism has traditionally played for religious apologists for whom the deflation of claims made in behalf of reason was seen as boosting the claims of faith.
I say that I am a bit surprised that American evangelicals have taken so long to discover pomo since fundamentalists in other religions have already discovered its utility. The Indian-born science writer Meera Nanda over three years ago in articles published in DIssent and in Monthly Review noted the appeal that pomo has had for right-wing Hindu nationalists in India. Although, pomo was originally introduced into India by leftists, right-wing Hindu fundamentalists quickly began to avail themselves of postmodernism's critique of the Enlightenment and began using it as a club to bash the left with.
See the sidebar interview with evangelical English lit scholar Alan Jacobs:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/10/wolfe-jacobs.htm
Jim Farmelant
________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.