Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World is a compilation of essays addressing the question, How should Christians do apologetics in light of the new and unfamiliar challenges of postmodern culture and philosophy? The essays are radically uneven in quality, from Philip D. Kenneson's excellent and groundbreaking "There's No Such Thing as Objective Truth, and It's a Good Thing, Too" to the mediocre and laughably ethnocentric "Christian Apologetics in the African-American Grain" by Ronald Potter. Of the 11 articles, only three merit the reader's attention. First, "Politically Incorrect Salvation" by William Lane Craig is a well-done defense of evidentialist apologetics in the face of the overwhelmingly presuppositional bent of postmodernism. The central idea of his essay is that the church must maintain its claim of particularism, in opposition to the gospel of tolerance propounded by the postmoderns with their distaste for metanarratives. Second, James Sire's "On Being a Fool for Christ and an Idiot for Nobody: Logocentricity and Postmodernity" is likewise a frontal attack on the anti-metanarrative mindset of postmodernism. Sire argues that Christians must stress their logocentricity in contrast to the pomos but must also provide subjective apologetical testimony to back up their arguments for logocentricity. His essay seeks a rapprochement between modernism and postmodernism. Third, the aforementioned essay by Philip Kenneson, the best in the book, in my opinion, directly applies the insights of postmodernism to Christian faith. Kenneson uses Sire as a foil for his argument and has quite a penchant for strawman construction; he woefully misrepresents Sire's plea for ontological realism as an argument for epistemological realism. Likewise, Kenneson underestimates the extent to which postmoderns like Rorty are actually adherents to ontological relativism, which Sire correctly denounces as self-defeating. But, overall, Kenneson's essay is very good.

Necessarily the idea that "objective truth" does not exist is going to strike a bitter chord with most Christians. I believe this book does a fine job of introducing the thinking Christian to what postmodernism truly is (not the denial of "truth" per se, but the denial that claims to truth can be made from an objective standpoint) and why the Christian should be concerned about it.

Of the essays in the book, James Sire's and Philip Kenneson's do the best work in representing either side of the view. Sire argues that postmodernism is nothing but relativism in a new package and should be treated accordingly. Kenneson argues that claims to "truth" are not necessarily wrong, but that we need to examine the method by which we arrive at those claims.

In the end, I'm sure, it is Sire's opinion that will be adopted by the vast majority of readers if only because it is a familiar one that most (if not all) Christians have been reared on. It's a shame that Kenneson will probably be dismissed as being "merely a relativist" simply because he is honest regarding the human condition--specifically its inability to interpret experiences apart from the experiences themselves. The model of thought he provides frees the church of the burden of "proving the truth" and instead allows it to return to its original mission of "living the truth."

When word got out that "The Twilight Zone" would make its move to radio with Stacy Keach filling in for Rod Serling as
host, the response was generally on the order of, 'Uh,
how can you go from TV back to radio? And why
Twilight Zone to make the regression?' Well, the producers
of the series obviously saw no problem with it...they
pay CBS their fees, get the product on the shelves,
and collect the cash from the sales.

This is, unfortunately, another example of an

over-commercialised, slapdash attempt to revive
and sequelize a classic masterwork....sort of like
taking Shakespeare and cutting out all the middle-English
so everyone on the planet can understand it in "plain"
English. Bad example...and call me a mindless dolt
for using it. But that's exactly what's happening
with these Twilight Zone radio dramas.

The producers hooked Dennis Etchison, an excellent
writer, to expand and water-down the great old stories
of Rod Serling (and yes, the stories of Richard Matheson,
Chuck Beaumont, and other writers are going to be
adapted for radio as well, sans a few segments
that don't work well on radio including Matheson's
near-silent "The Invaders" and Serling's highly visual
"Eye of the Beholder"). Sadly, it is all too apparent
that Etchison knows, deep down, that the work of
the old writers can't be topped. For a show like
"The Twilight Zone", whose domain was almost like
a world parallel to our own, with the entire universe
as its breeding ground,
to take its stories and bring them back to the mundane and the reality-grounded
as radio programs is pointless. These first two sets
really come off as no more than bland recitations of
old stories that fans know inside and out from the
original TV versions.

The actors for the first series of eight dramas
include Jim Caviezel, Lou Diamond Phillips, Tim
Kazurinsky, Jane Seymour, James Keach, Blair Underwood,
Kim Fields, Chris MacDonald, and Ed Begley Jr.
Of these, only Jane Seymour does a credible job
as star of Serling's episode "The Lateness of the Hour"
(which originally starred the late Inger Stevens).
Tim Kazurinsky and Lou Diamond Phillips do earn
their paychecks with fairly humorous performances
in episodes "Mr. Dingle the Strong" (originally
starring Burgess Meredith) and "A Kind of Stopwatch",
respectively. The rest of the actors quite obviously
have no clue as to what they were doing, reciting
all their lines as if read directly from a cue card
(which in fact is probably what they did!)

In the role of ersatz-Rod Serling, the narrator,
Stacy Keach pretty much mails in his performance.
His readings of the intro/closings are but
lacking the gripping sincerity and meaning that
Rod always imparted to each and every narration.

Further hampering the dramas is the inclusion
of sponsor commercials, which pop up several
times. The CD versions are all one continuous
42-minute track with no option of fast-forwarding
through the commercials unless done manually.

In short, this new radio series does not yet offer
anything that the original series didn't. The
days of good ol' radio are gone, never to return.
But there are many more of these dramas still yet to
be released. Collections 3 and 4 have already
been released and do offer some nice sound
effects and a fabulous performance by Morgan
Brittany in episode "The Passersby". So perhaps
there's hope. Brittany is the first actor who
appeared in the TV series, to star in these dramas,
and more celebrities are reportedly going to
appear in future installments. Stay tuned...but
keep the volume on low until the producers come
full circle and prove their worthiness to carry
Rod Serling's gauntlet.

Okay, So I was all geared to be disappointed with this whole package. And, unfortunately, the producers picked the weakest of the four stories to begin the set. The actor in "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" sounds like he just walked out of some ivy league acting school and not like a hardened pioneer who has been wandering through the desert for months on end.

The next story, "The Lateness of the Hour," is ruined by a too-long explanation of the "daughter" being a robot at the end. Does it take that much explanation for today's "dumbed-down" society? I hope not.

But the next two shows blew me out of the water. Lou Diamond Phillips is superb in "A Kind of Stopwatch." His over-the-top performance is one of the greatest I've ever heard in any radio drama. Then "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" followed and it was wonderful, too.

Another plus is the original Twilight Zone soundtrack music which is used and other pains that are taken to maintain the flavor of the original classic TV series. I would suggest buying one collection and seeing if you like it before buying the second.

This is not everyone's cup of tea, but the people who put these dramas together did the best they could and it's well worth a listen.