A rhetorical history of postmodernism: A condensation symbol constructed by the American evangelical tradition

Over the last few decades the evangelical tradition has negatively symbolized postmodernism, turning it into a condensation symbol of significant rhetorical force. This rhetorical history traces the construction of the symbol within three evangelical demographics (rhetorical events)---the academic journal Christian Scholar's Review, the popular evangelical periodical Christianity Today, and the worldview curriculum of Summit Ministries. The anti-Christian and "boogeyman" depictions of postmodernism in these rhetorical events are symptomatic of the uncharitable and divisive rhetoric that has come to mark much of evangelical public discourse, especially discourse concerning matters of theological conflict or debate. This study demonstrates that a deeply-rooted modernist epistemology has been the cause of both postmodernism's negative symbolization and the evangelical tradition's problematic public discourse.