Postmodern Deconstruction - Vol 1 No 7
- Joanne Chastain
- Feb 7
- 3 min read
Postmodern Deconstruction
If you looked at the building above and thought, "What in the world?” you are not alone! Mike's first reaction was, "Was this guy on drugs? What a distorted mess!" He was surprise when his professor showed them this as something to be admired and appreciated for it exemplifies the current mindset being encouraged in architecture and beyond...postmodernism.
What does this mean? What does postmodernism teach us? The word they use is "DECONSTRUCTION." Postmodernism is reflected in the current scientific, industrial, educational, and sexual trends in the world as these areas needing to be deconstructed. At his school, they are being told that this is a better way to think in general. They are told that the physical universe needs to be pushed back against in every area, and postmodernism does that. They need to push back against the antiquated ideas about what is true and good and beautiful. They need to push back against the prevailing views of gender, deconstruct those ideas, and in its place build their own. They need to redefine what is beautiful and what is good, and tear down the millennia of worn-out social, moral, and even physical frameworks and rebuild them according to their own imaginations. Of course, truth is a myth. It is the mantra of the philosophy department that there is no truth. (Again, "Is that true?") The professor said that "we have gone beyond religion and put religion in its proper waste bin." We assume it is because "religion" has absolutes, and postmodernism detests them. Before you dismiss this as a small cell of ridiculousness, you need to know that the students are all ears. They are soaking this up like a Bounty paper towel.
Postmodern Architecture
Mike's professor brought in a fellow postmodern professor from another school, and they were shown various examples like that above of postmodern architecture. The buildings were designed by the architects to literally demonstrate that the way God made the physics of the world could be overcome. They wanted them to appear to be deconstructing the laws of physics and gravity in the world. They showed hideous buildings, one after the other. Some looked like helicopter crashes in the middle of a field. One in particular looked like it grew out of the ground and curved to the side like a bent tube. Inside this bent tube was a kitchen, bathroom etc.. but the rule was, "you could have any angles but 90 degree angles." They were upside down, twisted, or appeared to be sliding to the ground. In essence, it is rebellion.
But no postmodern engineers!
As the slide show ended, this professor again made the point that the overarching goal of all of these "wonderful" postmodern architects was to make it look like there was a suspension of the laws of the universe.
Mike raised his hand, "May I ask a question?"
"Of course," he kindly answered.Mike posed, "Did a postmodern engineer build it?"
It wouldn't have worked!
Without hesitation the visiting professor exclaimed, "Oh no! It wouldn't have worked! " He gave them an example of a postmodern architect in Belgium who overruled an engineer, and the building fell killing a number of people.
Mike said, "So the postmoderns can only give an illusion of overcoming the laws of the universe. In actuality, they cannot be overcome. Could that be because the true and unchangeable God has hardwired the world to work in such a way that we cannot overcome Him?"
Helping some to think God's way
The professor very kindly and winsomely passed over Mike's comments and moved on in his talk, but some of the students didn't miss Mike's point. After class, some of them came over, and they discussed the fact that postmodernism actually defies the way God has made the world to work and that it will ultimately fail because is it an illusion.
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