David Burrell writes, “Modernity was fairly constituted by a quite specific opposition to medieval thought, as we have noted, so could be called ‘post’ or even ‘antimedieval’ . . . this mode of thinking proceeded by avoiding, if not aggressively removing, any reference to creation and the creator/creature relation. It would follow from that characterization that some forms of ‘postmodern,’ in the sense of ‘antimodern,’ discourse would display affinities with medieval inquiry, since ‘postmodern’ could be translated as ‘anti-antimedieval.’” Burrell cites John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio as an example, with its claim that “we have lost our faith in reason,” and its antimodern insistence that faith is the “fruitful context within which reason can flourish.”
