ABSTRACT
The critique of metaphysics as an onto-theology is generally associated with postmodern philosophy and theology. Postmodernism has been a widely used term, but frequency of use is not necessarily an indication of the clarity of an expression. The wide applicability of the postmodern label is perhaps more indicative of the term’s complexity, ambiguity, and polyvalent character which often corresponds to the historical period or body of work that it intends to name. I would concede that postmodernity as a word is often more evocative, specifying a mood or crisis at the end of an era, than informative. In the simplest and broadest sense, postmodern in the philosophical arena denotes developments coming after and reacting critically against the main tenets of Modern philosophy, and in particular, developments during the Enlightenment. The origins of Modernity, from the perspective of the history of western philosophical thought, is generally considered to be rooted in the Renaissance and first brought to fruition in the philosophy of René Descartes. His turn inward to the subject and search for a foundation for knowledge ushered in a new methodology and obsession. The first task of the Modern philosopher was to give an account of knowledge that would serve as a legitimizing foundation for all human inquiry. Two things should be especially noted insofar as they identify Chauvet’s theology as postmodern. First, Modern philosophy shifted primacy from ontological to epistemological concerns which continues to be the case among postmodern thinkers. Secondly, Modern philosophy assumed a representational model of knowledge that relied on the objective or disengaged reason of a disembodied knower.1 Chauvet, in accordance with postmodernism, rejects this model of knowledge.
