In the chapter on postmodernism he provides an accurate and broadly appreciative overview of postmodernism.  His is no knee-jerk response.  He sees it, rightly, as more than a reaction against modernism – it is the result of the long history of Western thought, from the sophists through Socrates and Plato to the rationalism and the irrationalistic tendencies that look for ‘the law in the subject’.  He provides an ‘immanent critique’ of postmodernism – postmodernism’s lawlessness is one of the results of historicism. Here he draws upon the work of D. F. M. Strauss and Roy Clouser on historicism: how can we have history if everything is history?  Postmodernism is characterised by a mistrust of metanarratives, they are regarded as oppressive and untrue.  And yet, as van der Walt points out, postmodernism ‘is nothing but (another) grand narrative, for it is the universal base on the grounds of which all other viewpoints are regarded as restricted versions. For itself postmoderism claims common validity while all other positions are relativised’ (p 147).

He takes on board the postmodern warning that worldviews can become oppressive or legalistic and identifies where this may happen in a Christian worldview. This can be avoided by being prepared to keep on listening to God’s revelation both in creation and scripture.