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Counselling Connections Across Australia

The change from modern to postmodern One Truth. It is objective, empirically
culture is the most significant change appraised, rational in its logical nature. An
since the Renaissance in the 15th century assertion was either true or untrue. This
that brought about the end of the Medieval is like seeing only the father babushka
world of Christendom. At the heart of this doll, and the other dolls are completely
change is a transformation in the way we hidden from view.
conceive truth.
The way that truth has been conceived has
This article explains how the postmodern gone through two major transformations
conception of truth can be related to in Western culture during the Christian
a Christian understanding of truth by era. The classical and medieval world
using the Russian Babushka dolls as a predominantly had a dualistic world view
metaphor. Babushka dolls represent a that maintained that real truth and reality
family, made up of four dolls that fit inside was spiritual, and the physical world was a
each other – a father, mother, son and shadowy reflection of it. As the table below
daughter. They illustrate that the way we indicates, the first transformation was
can integrate our Christian understanding from classic dualism that regarded truth
of truth with postmodern relativism is to as spiritual reality to modern empiricism
conceive truth as having four tiers. that regarded truth as objectively
observed. This transformation occurred
with The Age of Reason in the 16th
TRuTh IS A CuLTuRAL century from which emerged the modern
CONSTRuCT world with its embrace of empiricism and
objective scientific truth.
The way we conceive of truth is a reflection
of our cultural world view. Our conception
of “truth” is itself a cultural construct that
has undergone two major transformations
in Western culture between the time
of Jesus and now. The extent to which
the Christian conception of truth has
been influenced by modern philosophy
has generally gone unrecognized. Most
Evangelical Christians imbibed the belief
that all truth is God’s truth. There is only

Cultural Period Known world Metaphysical Assumption Nature of Truth

Spiritual truth:
Classical/Medieval World of Spiritual realities Dualism Appraised by the soul

Objective truth:
Modern Physical world of nature Empiricism Observed through the senses

Postmodern Many Socially Relativism Subjective truth:
constructed worlds Individual perceptions

The transformation from the classical behind the emergence of our post-modern
dualistic view of truth to the modern culture. For Christians to engage with this
empirical view of “objective” truth occurred postmodern culture, we need to develop
so long ago that it has passed from our a nuanced model of truth that takes into
cultural memory. We have assumed that account a radically different conception
our modern way of conceiving truth has of truth that is increasingly impacting our
always been the nature of truth. This is culture.
not so.

The second transformation of truth,
however, is occurring in our lifetime. It lies

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Edition 12 November 2020