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Whatever Happened to Truth?
"Here is an Christians outside the West dying because they believe their faith is true and Christians inside the West doffing their hats to the idea and then looking the other way! This book explores what it should mean to say that Christians know the truth, doing so in ways that are searching, sure-footed, biblically convincing, and intellectually satisfying."
- David F. Wells , Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary "Truly a treatise for our times! Not only do we learn where contemporary discourse is truthless, we are given tools to reclaim true understanding to redeem our minds and our age. In the end this book points to God's Word of truth, the Scriptures, and God's incarnate truth, his Son. Read, and be renewed in hope and wisdom for the holy and fruitful pursuit of truth to which all who know Christ are called."
- Robert W. Yarbrough , Associate Professor of New Testament, New Testament Department Chair, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School "Four widely read evangelical scholars have crafted a superb exposé and antidote to the mind-set and cultural ills of postmodernism and those who accommodate it, while issuing a clarion call to remain vitally committed to the truth of God's revelation in Christ and the Bible. The original lectures, both stimulating and refreshing, were masterfully delivered to large audiences. Now, having them in hand allows even greater reflection and absorption of the truths they expound."
- James A. Borland , Professor of Biblical Studies & Theology, Liberty University, Secretary-Treasurer, Evangelical Theological Society
- David F. Wells , Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary "Truly a treatise for our times! Not only do we learn where contemporary discourse is truthless, we are given tools to reclaim true understanding to redeem our minds and our age. In the end this book points to God's Word of truth, the Scriptures, and God's incarnate truth, his Son. Read, and be renewed in hope and wisdom for the holy and fruitful pursuit of truth to which all who know Christ are called."
- Robert W. Yarbrough , Associate Professor of New Testament, New Testament Department Chair, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School "Four widely read evangelical scholars have crafted a superb exposé and antidote to the mind-set and cultural ills of postmodernism and those who accommodate it, while issuing a clarion call to remain vitally committed to the truth of God's revelation in Christ and the Bible. The original lectures, both stimulating and refreshing, were masterfully delivered to large audiences. Now, having them in hand allows even greater reflection and absorption of the truths they expound."
- James A. Borland , Professor of Biblical Studies & Theology, Liberty University, Secretary-Treasurer, Evangelical Theological Society
173 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2005
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About the author
R. Albert Mohler Jr.
113 books417 followersDr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary - the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.
Dr. Mohler has been recognized by such influential publications as Time and Christianity Today as a leader among American evangelicals. In fact, Time.com called him the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.”
In addition to his presidential duties, Dr. Mohler hosts two programs: “The Briefing,” a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview; and “Thinking in Public,” a series of conversations with the day’s leading thinkers. He also writes a popular blog and a regular commentary on moral, cultural and theological issues. All of these can be accessed through Dr. Mohler’s website, www.AlbertMohler.com. Called “an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large” by The Chicago Tribune, Dr. Mohler’s mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview.
Dr. Mohler has been recognized by such influential publications as Time and Christianity Today as a leader among American evangelicals. In fact, Time.com called him the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.”
In addition to his presidential duties, Dr. Mohler hosts two programs: “The Briefing,” a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview; and “Thinking in Public,” a series of conversations with the day’s leading thinkers. He also writes a popular blog and a regular commentary on moral, cultural and theological issues. All of these can be accessed through Dr. Mohler’s website, www.AlbertMohler.com. Called “an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large” by The Chicago Tribune, Dr. Mohler’s mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview.
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December 5, 2021Dense, but very insightful (from what I did pick up)
September 10, 2012
The book ���Whatever Happened To Truth��� is a collection of articles compiled and edited by Andreas Kostenberger on the idea of Truth. It answers the questions of: what is truth, what is happening to truth and how should the church respond to the cultural influences upon truth.
The argument from Kostenberger is that truth is a person, a crucified person, rather than some abstract ideology found in human philosophy or spiritual dreaming. In other words, truth is theocentric and Christocentric. One could even go so far as to say that truth is crucicentric. The idea of truth is found in the Words and Actions of God as they are expressed in the Bible and fleshed out in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
With this said, Albert Mohler discusses the impact of culture upon truth. From the deconstruction of truth to the death of the meta-narrative he shows how truth is under attack and impacted by culture. He calls forth to the church that the bride of Christ is subtly conforming to the spirit of the age when it should be truthing in love against the culture.
Following Mohler���s assessment of culture, J.P. Moreland gives a stinging critique of Post-modern thought, the daughter and offspring of modernism. He critiques Post-modern thought as a ���cowardly viewpoint of intellectual pacifism.���
Finally, Vanhoozer fleshes out the theodrama of God. The idea of a theodrama is his way of presenting and describing the Bible���s meta-narrative.
This book is of great significance in our post-modern day and age. It is vital because truth is linked to the person of Christ and him crucified. Therefore what is at stake is not an abstract concept of truth but the very person, ministry and atonement of Christ. As Christians we confess that Christ is: the head of the church, the meta-narrative of scripture and the essence of truth. When the absoluteness of truth is questioned, it brings uncertainty and a deconstruction of Christ himself. No truth, No Christ, no salvation.
While we can celebrate some of the deconstruction of the Constantinian age to a post-Constantinian age, we cannot embrace the affects and the presuppositional ideologies of post-modernism. Furthermore, we do not reject post-modernism in favor of modernism, for modernism is rooted in the Enlightenment and has the same ideological DNA as post-modernism. Rather, the church appeals to a scriptural foundationalism for the source of its epistemology. As in Albert Mohler says, ���A scriptural foundationalism is not grounded in the finite human subject as both modernism and postmodernism attempts to do, but instead is rooted and grounded in the Bible���s own presentation of the triune God.���
The Word is our original source of truth and the bedrock foundation for the church. May we resonate with Kostenberger when we respond to the question, ���Whatever happened to truth?��� by saying, ������The truth is just fine, thank you.��� Jesus, the Word, continues to speak to those with ears to hear in his word, the Scriptures. He has returned to his glory with the Father and awaits his return from there at the Father���s appointed time.���
The argument from Kostenberger is that truth is a person, a crucified person, rather than some abstract ideology found in human philosophy or spiritual dreaming. In other words, truth is theocentric and Christocentric. One could even go so far as to say that truth is crucicentric. The idea of truth is found in the Words and Actions of God as they are expressed in the Bible and fleshed out in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
With this said, Albert Mohler discusses the impact of culture upon truth. From the deconstruction of truth to the death of the meta-narrative he shows how truth is under attack and impacted by culture. He calls forth to the church that the bride of Christ is subtly conforming to the spirit of the age when it should be truthing in love against the culture.
Following Mohler���s assessment of culture, J.P. Moreland gives a stinging critique of Post-modern thought, the daughter and offspring of modernism. He critiques Post-modern thought as a ���cowardly viewpoint of intellectual pacifism.���
Finally, Vanhoozer fleshes out the theodrama of God. The idea of a theodrama is his way of presenting and describing the Bible���s meta-narrative.
This book is of great significance in our post-modern day and age. It is vital because truth is linked to the person of Christ and him crucified. Therefore what is at stake is not an abstract concept of truth but the very person, ministry and atonement of Christ. As Christians we confess that Christ is: the head of the church, the meta-narrative of scripture and the essence of truth. When the absoluteness of truth is questioned, it brings uncertainty and a deconstruction of Christ himself. No truth, No Christ, no salvation.
While we can celebrate some of the deconstruction of the Constantinian age to a post-Constantinian age, we cannot embrace the affects and the presuppositional ideologies of post-modernism. Furthermore, we do not reject post-modernism in favor of modernism, for modernism is rooted in the Enlightenment and has the same ideological DNA as post-modernism. Rather, the church appeals to a scriptural foundationalism for the source of its epistemology. As in Albert Mohler says, ���A scriptural foundationalism is not grounded in the finite human subject as both modernism and postmodernism attempts to do, but instead is rooted and grounded in the Bible���s own presentation of the triune God.���
The Word is our original source of truth and the bedrock foundation for the church. May we resonate with Kostenberger when we respond to the question, ���Whatever happened to truth?��� by saying, ������The truth is just fine, thank you.��� Jesus, the Word, continues to speak to those with ears to hear in his word, the Scriptures. He has returned to his glory with the Father and awaits his return from there at the Father���s appointed time.���
March 16, 2011
The book “Whatever Happened To Truth” is a collection of articles compiled and edited by Andreas Kostenberger on the idea of Truth. It answers the questions of: what is truth, what is happening to truth and how should the church respond to the cultural influences upon truth.
The argument from Kostenberger is that truth is a person, a crucified person, rather than some abstract ideology found in human philosophy or spiritual dreaming. In other words, truth is theocentric and Christocentric. One could even go so far as to say that truth is crucicentric. The idea of truth is found in the Words and Actions of God as they are expressed in the Bible and fleshed out in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
With this said, Albert Mohler discusses the impact of culture upon truth. From the deconstruction of truth to the death of the meta-narrative he shows how truth is under attack and impacted by culture. He calls forth to the church that the bride of Christ is subtly conforming to the spirit of the age when it should be truthing in love against the culture.
Following Mohler’s assessment of culture, J.P. Moreland gives a stinging critique of Post-modern thought, the daughter and offspring of modernism. He critiques Post-modern thought as a “cowardly viewpoint of intellectual pacifism.”
Finally, Vanhoozer fleshes out the theodrama of God. The idea of a theodrama is his way of presenting and describing the Bible’s meta-narrative.
This book is of great significance in our post-modern day and age. It is vital because truth is linked to the person of Christ and him crucified. Therefore what is at stake is not an abstract concept of truth but the very person, ministry and atonement of Christ. As Christians we confess that Christ is: the head of the church, the meta-narrative of scripture and the essence of truth. When the absoluteness of truth is questioned, it brings uncertainty and a deconstruction of Christ himself. No truth, No Christ, no salvation.
While we can celebrate some of the deconstruction of the Constantinian age to a post-Constantinian age, we cannot embrace the affects and the presuppositional ideologies of post-modernism. Furthermore, we do not reject post-modernism in favor of modernism, for modernism is rooted in the Enlightenment and has the same ideological DNA as post-modernism. Rather, the church appeals to a scriptural foundationalism for the source of its epistemology. As in Albert Mohler says, “A scriptural foundationalism is not grounded in the finite human subject as both modernism and postmodernism attempts to do, but instead is rooted and grounded in the Bible’s own presentation of the triune God.”
The Word is our original source of truth and the bedrock foundation for the church. May we resonate with Kostenberger when we respond to the question, “Whatever happened to truth?” by saying, “’The truth is just fine, thank you.’ Jesus, the Word, continues to speak to those with ears to hear in his word, the Scriptures. He has returned to his glory with the Father and awaits his return from there at the Father’s appointed time.”
The argument from Kostenberger is that truth is a person, a crucified person, rather than some abstract ideology found in human philosophy or spiritual dreaming. In other words, truth is theocentric and Christocentric. One could even go so far as to say that truth is crucicentric. The idea of truth is found in the Words and Actions of God as they are expressed in the Bible and fleshed out in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
With this said, Albert Mohler discusses the impact of culture upon truth. From the deconstruction of truth to the death of the meta-narrative he shows how truth is under attack and impacted by culture. He calls forth to the church that the bride of Christ is subtly conforming to the spirit of the age when it should be truthing in love against the culture.
Following Mohler’s assessment of culture, J.P. Moreland gives a stinging critique of Post-modern thought, the daughter and offspring of modernism. He critiques Post-modern thought as a “cowardly viewpoint of intellectual pacifism.”
Finally, Vanhoozer fleshes out the theodrama of God. The idea of a theodrama is his way of presenting and describing the Bible’s meta-narrative.
This book is of great significance in our post-modern day and age. It is vital because truth is linked to the person of Christ and him crucified. Therefore what is at stake is not an abstract concept of truth but the very person, ministry and atonement of Christ. As Christians we confess that Christ is: the head of the church, the meta-narrative of scripture and the essence of truth. When the absoluteness of truth is questioned, it brings uncertainty and a deconstruction of Christ himself. No truth, No Christ, no salvation.
While we can celebrate some of the deconstruction of the Constantinian age to a post-Constantinian age, we cannot embrace the affects and the presuppositional ideologies of post-modernism. Furthermore, we do not reject post-modernism in favor of modernism, for modernism is rooted in the Enlightenment and has the same ideological DNA as post-modernism. Rather, the church appeals to a scriptural foundationalism for the source of its epistemology. As in Albert Mohler says, “A scriptural foundationalism is not grounded in the finite human subject as both modernism and postmodernism attempts to do, but instead is rooted and grounded in the Bible’s own presentation of the triune God.”
The Word is our original source of truth and the bedrock foundation for the church. May we resonate with Kostenberger when we respond to the question, “Whatever happened to truth?” by saying, “’The truth is just fine, thank you.’ Jesus, the Word, continues to speak to those with ears to hear in his word, the Scriptures. He has returned to his glory with the Father and awaits his return from there at the Father’s appointed time.”
October 2, 2014
As the editor, Andreas Köstenberger, himself admits, the only fresh essay from this collection is Kevin Vanhoozer's piece on hermeneutics and truth. Vanhoozer, whose larger work, Is there meaning in this text?, begs engagement challenges the propositional revelation as the form of Scripture, traditional definition of innerancy as well as the postmodern jettisoning of author, meaning and narrative cohesion. Vanhoozer then offers his own approach, which itself isn't exactly novel, of hermeneutics: taking cognisance of Scripture as a metanarrative or "theodrama"; retaining the importance of authorial intent and literary context; and regaining the Reformation's insistence of studying Scripture in community, with the illumination of the Spirit.
That being, Köstenberger's essay on truth and the Gospel of John is excellent: both in his treatment of Johannine themes and the philosophical question, "What is truth?". Mohler's critique of postmodern culture is far from novel, yet his points are valuable and helpfully packaged. His writing is also witty and sometimes cuttingly satirical, which makes for enjoyable reading. Lastly, and in my opinion, is the weakest essay: Moreland's philosophical treatise on postmodernism. The content is crabbed, because the author doesn't have the space to develop his points. However, I think his conclusions are some of the most important ones for our age's abandonment of coherent and objective truth.
That being, Köstenberger's essay on truth and the Gospel of John is excellent: both in his treatment of Johannine themes and the philosophical question, "What is truth?". Mohler's critique of postmodern culture is far from novel, yet his points are valuable and helpfully packaged. His writing is also witty and sometimes cuttingly satirical, which makes for enjoyable reading. Lastly, and in my opinion, is the weakest essay: Moreland's philosophical treatise on postmodernism. The content is crabbed, because the author doesn't have the space to develop his points. However, I think his conclusions are some of the most important ones for our age's abandonment of coherent and objective truth.
January 25, 2012
A collection of four essays by Andreas Köstenberger, Al Mohler, J. P. Moreland, and Kevin Vanhoozer which were presented to the Evangelical Theological Society in 2004. The essays all address certain aspects of truth in the face of the challenges from postmodernity. Topics include: "What is Truth?"; Truth and Contemporary Culture; Truth, Contemporary Philosophy, and the Postmodern Turn; and Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics.
May 31, 2015
Don't bother with this book (except for the fourth essay - it's amusing, quite good, and a much-needed antidote to the third essay which made me want to throw the book at the wall but, alas, it's on the Kindle). Instead, read James K.A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church.
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