Colloquia Theologica Ottoniana

Postmodernity, on the one hand, combats Christian dogmas, while, on the other, proposes its own dogmas in their place. At the core of this article lies the following problem: Does dogma, in the pre-Christian sense function in postmodernity and how can it be evaluated in the light of Catholic dogmatics? The path to resolving this problem consists of three stages. The first stage outlines the basic dogmas of postmodernity, which are: progress, equality, and freedom from the tragedy of human existence. The next stage focuses on attempts to impose postmodern dogmas on societies through the mechanisms of political correctness. Indeed, postmodern dogmas possess not only a doctrinal dimension but also a binding one. Finally, the last stage presents a theological critique of postmodern dogmas. Postmodern dogmas are indebted to Christian dogmas. They aim to ground the transcendental content of the latter in immanent reality. They diminish the creative God to the creative man as a promoter of progress and emancipation, reduce equality to the negation of all differences, and redefine freedom from the tragedy of existence to the transhumanist “death of death.”