Postmodernism and Religion

Postmodernism challenges the grand narratives, objective truth claims, and foundational certainties that have characterised both traditional theology and Enlightenment rationalism. For postmodern thinkers, there is no single, objective truth — only multiple perspectives, interpretations, and language games. This lesson examines the impact of postmodernism on the philosophy of religion, focusing on Don Cupitt's non-realism, Derrida's deconstruction, narrative theology, and the death of God movement.

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What Is Postmodernism?

Key Features

Postmodernism is a broad, contested intellectual movement that emerged in the late twentieth century. It is characterised by:

Feature	Description
Rejection of grand narratives	Postmodernism is suspicious of overarching stories that claim to explain everything — whether religious (God's plan for the world), scientific (the march of progress), or political (Marxism, liberalism)
Anti-foundationalism	There are no secure foundations for knowledge — no self-evident truths, no unquestionable starting points
The death of the author	Meaning is not fixed by the author's intention but is created by the reader/interpreter
Plurality and difference	There is no single truth or correct interpretation — only multiple perspectives shaped by culture, language, and power
Suspicion of metanarratives	Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924–1998) defined postmodernism as "incredulity towards metanarratives" — a refusal to accept any single story as the definitive account of reality

Key Definition: Postmodernism — A broad intellectual movement characterised by scepticism towards grand narratives, objective truth claims, and foundational certainties. Postmodernism emphasises plurality, interpretation, and the role of language in constructing reality.

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Don Cupitt and Non-Realism

Theological Non-Realism

Don Cupitt (b. 1934), a Church of England priest and Cambridge philosopher of religion, developed theological non-realism — the view that God does not exist as an objective, mind-independent being "out there" but is a human creation — a symbol, ideal, or spiritual value that functions within human language, culture, and practice.

In Taking Leave of God (1980) and The Sea of Faith (1984), Cupitt argued that modern critical thought — from Kant to Wittgenstein, from Darwin to Freud — has made it impossible to sustain belief in an objective, metaphysical God. But this does not mean that religious language and practice must be abandoned. Religion remains valuable as a human creation — a set of symbols, stories, and practices that express and shape our deepest values, aspirations, and sense of meaning.

The Sea of Faith

Cupitt founded the Sea of Faith Network (named after Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach," which laments the retreating "sea of faith") — a movement of Christians, clergy, and others who practise religion while holding non-realist views about God. For Sea of Faith members, religious practice — worship, prayer, ethical commitment, community — is meaningful and valuable even without belief in an objective God.

Feature	Realism	Non-Realism (Cupitt)
God's existence	God exists independently of human thought	God is a human creation — a symbol or ideal
Religious language	Describes an objective reality	Expresses human values, aspirations, and commitments
Truth	Religious claims are true or false	Religious claims are neither true nor false — they are expressive
Prayer	Communication with an objective God	A spiritual practice that shapes the self — not addressed to an external being
Worship	Response to a real, transcendent God	A communal practice that reinforces shared values

Criticisms of Cupitt

• Incoherence — can one meaningfully worship, pray to, and commit one's life to a God one believes does not exist? Most believers would regard this as deeply confused
• Loss of transcendence — if God is merely a human projection, religion loses its distinctive character as a response to something genuinely beyond the human
• The comfort of religion — religion's power to console, inspire, and transform depends on the belief that God is real. A non-realist religion may lack the existential power of genuine theistic faith
• Why bother? — if God is merely a human creation, why not create secular values and practices instead? What does religion add?

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Derrida and Deconstruction

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)

Jacques Derrida, the French-Algerian philosopher, developed deconstruction — a method of reading texts that reveals the hidden assumptions, contradictions, and exclusions within them. Derrida argued that all texts — including religious and philosophical texts — contain internal tensions that undermine their apparent meaning. Every concept depends on what it excludes; every assertion conceals what it cannot say.

Implications for Theology

Derrida's deconstruction has been applied to theology in several ways:

• The name of God — Derrida argued that God, as the ultimate signified, the meaning behind all meanings, is always deferred — never fully present in any name, concept, or image. Every attempt to name God is inadequate; God exceeds all our categories. This echoes the tradition of negative theology (apophatic theology) — the claim that we can only say what God is not, never what God is.

• Differance — Derrida coined the term differance (a deliberate misspelling of the French difference) to describe the way meaning is always deferred, never fully present. Applied to theology, this suggests that the meaning of "God" is never fixed or final — it is always in play, always exceeding our grasp.