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# Joseph Bottum and Postmodernism
- URL: https://thedailyeudemon.com/joseph-bottum-and-postmodernism/
- Published: 2022-07-30T04:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-07-30T14:12:38.000Z
- Author: Eric Scheske
- Tags: Existence Strikes Back Part III, Biography, Briefly

I frequently wondered what happened to [Jody Bottum](https://www.southdakotamagazine.com/bottoms-south-dakota?ref=thedailyeudemon.com). I hear he was forced out of *First Things* after Fr. Neuhaus died. Wikipedia says it was an argument over funding and the direction of the journal. I've liked to speculate it's because he wrote a surprising piece about [the compatibility of Catholicism and postmodernism](https://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/03/christians-and-postmoderns?ref=thedailyeudemon.com). It was one of the first essays I turned to when I started exploring Derrida and Foucault and wondering why their theories were so opposed by Catholics when, from what I can tell, they criticized modernity, not Catholicism. Moreover, I thought, because modernity tore down Catholicism, the postmodernists might be allies, albeit of a queer sort. [Bottum corroborated my hunch.](https://thedailyeudemon.com/excerpts-from-joseph-bottums-christians-and-postmoderns/)

In any event, the man is back in his home state of South Dakota, teaching classics and apparently writing great stuff. The most recent publication: a collection of his poetry. I haven't read it, but in light of my ongoing counter-culture conduct of promoting right-hemispheric propensities like localism and poetry, as well as essays from outlets like *University Bookman*, [here's an essay about it](https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/oh-yeah-baby-eat-it/?ref=thedailyeudemon.com).