and 'Postmodernity,'" ethicist Ted Koontz writes that "even if parts of the rest

of society are moving from modernity to postmodernity, the main agenda for

Mennonites is the move from tradition to modernity."This agenda is one

which worries Koontz, who -- while grateful for the move from the sometimes

oppressive and authoritarian nature of traditional societies -- seeks to shift

Mennonites away from their drift toward the classical liberalism of the

modern period, with its emphases on radical individualism, institutionalization

and bureaucratization, the language of rights, and procedural justice.¹⁷In

many respects, premodern Mennonites foreshadow(ed) dimensions of

postmodernism. While Mennonites are far from anti-foundationalist, they've

long been suspicious of universal reason. As a people on the margins

throughout most of their history, Mennonites accepted early on that no

publicly espoused master-narrative was inclusive enough to include them, and

that made them distrustful of meta-narratives and public rhetoric's potential

manipulation. They have been content to remain faithful to their history and

religious tradition, perceiving themselves as biblical "salt and light" rather

than wielders of power over nature or nations.¹⁸Their historic commitment

17_{Ted Koontz, "Mennonites and 'Postmodernity,'" Mennonite Quarterly Review}
63.4 (October 1989). See also the quite differently structured and argued thesis
of Elaine K. Swartzentruber, "Marking and Remarking the Body of Christ:
Toward a Postmodern Mennonite Ecclesiology," Mennonite Quarterly Review
71:2 (April 1997):243-265.

18_{With some stretching and twisting, this "salt and light" metaphor may be}
creatively aligned with Nancy Fraser's notion of "subaltern counterpublics,"
which she describes as "various discursive arenas where members of
subordinated social groups invent and circulate counterdiscourses."From
these settings, she says, the counterpublics move out to "interact discursively"
and disseminate their discourse into "ever widening arenas."Such
counterpublics provide spaces for "withdrawal and regroupment," and also
bases and training grounds for agitational activities directed toward wider
publics. See Fraser's challenge to Jürgen Habermas in "Rethinking the Public
Sphere:A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy," Social
Texts25-26 (1990):66-68.

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