Postmodernism and Metanarratives - Essay Example

Postmodernism - Have we been Liberated from Metanarratives? Should we be? Introduction The philosophy of post modernism theory s that people should do away with correspondence theory of truth and begin treating scientific believes and morals as tools of attaining more and greater human happiness instead of just as a representation of reality’s intrinsic nature ( Jean-Francois, 71, 1984). In colleges today, students find post-modernism in their ruling in their social studies and humanities, but modernism will still be evident in their mathematics, engineering and sciences. In the department of American philosophy, postmodernism approach is little accepted to knowledge and truth. A metanarrative is an idea that people think it’s a comprehensive explanation of knowledge or historical experience. It is a global cultural narrative schema that explains and orders experience and knowledge. As used, Meta means “about “while a narrative is a story that is built in a fashion that is sequential. A metanarrative is therefore a story that explains a story encompassing other small stories within schemes that are totalizing (Jean-Francois, 73, 1984). This notion, that reality is community oriented, also appeals to very few Christian theologians. Because there is no any universality accepted postmodern philosophy, but there are many, there are few consistent themes that happen to emerge from every mainstream postmodern writer. The many issues surrounding postmodernism today leaves us asking ourselves if we have been liberated from metanarratives and if we should be. Subjective Truth The main theme of postmodern philosophy is that it denies the objective truth, which is universal. This is well declared in a statement that is so famous, “incredulity towards metanarrative” by Jean- Francois Lyotards. A meatanarrative is a unifying story that tries to tell about the world. People should be skeptical of broad explanations like those ones. For instance, the statement, that God so loved the world is treated as nonsensical by postmodernists, because they do not believe that God exists and it reflects the whole world. Since there is no any universality accepted truth, postmodernists believe that there is no Truths but only truth, which is particular to a certain group or society of people and is limited to perception of individuals. Verbal or written statements can only reflect the point of view of a particular individual or culture. With this regard, there is always a very popular saying which says that that truth can only be true to someone but not to the other. However, postmodernists have created a metanarrative by saying that metanarratives do not coexist. They believe there are no explanations about world, and that is the story they use to explain the world. They further say that only stories from various cultures are true, but not about the world. Therefore, postmodernism is referred to as a worldview which is anti-worldview. Language and Deconstruction Postmodernists are mainly concerned with the language used in written texts, in regard to literature. The major methodology of literary of postmodernists is defined by the term deconstruction. Deconstruction includes text reading to ferret out multiple or hidden meanings. Therefore, the way the reader interprets a text becomes more valuable compared to the text itself Myron, 48, 2005). This is however subjective because the reader may fail to understand the intentions of the author. An example to illustrate this is “The Death of the Author “by Roland Barthes’s. This easy meant that the author, text origin, is not as important as the reader, destination. The reader it hence allowed to find out new meanings, thus freeing the text from the author’s tyranny of a single intended meaning. Each author represents his culture and uses language that that fits her condition. The criticism of postmodern literacy is that words never explain the objective world. Instead, they only mean other words. Therefore, no writer can write a sentence that can explain about the real world but only as he himself understands it. The phrase which says that that interpretation is just yours has been used to sum up this concept. Anti-Realism and Reality Constructions Deconstruction concept in the philosophy of postmodernism is far from area of literature. Anti realism means that there is no real world but only world constructions that are about six billion. Traditionally, Truth meant the relationship between objective, real world and statements, which coincide with the real world. This is referred to as the correspondence theory about truth, which postmodernists believe that it cannot be achieved. Myron. (52, 2005) argues that truth is only personal and never universal, while subjective truth only exists in a particular cultural surrounding or situation. Therefore, the anti-realism of postmodernists’ paradigm is that a real world that corresponds to truth does not exist. Reality is only created when our words correspond to other words and if words can only signify other words, then they can not be used in Truth’s pursuit. The idea behind all these is the insistence of post-modern, which states that people are conditioned by their language and culture- their life’s situations. Furthermore, there is no that can be able to break this situation to engage the world with statements that are objectively true. Truth in a community is determined by the words that that community decides to use. According to Fowler (237, 2006), truth is whatever his scholarly community allows and accepts. For example, if he says that an egg is green and his community accepts, then that is truth. On the other hand, truth does not objectively exist; reality is only a produce of our agreement of exactly what it is. Real world’s true facts are never discovered but are created. Jean Baudrillard, a French cultural theorist concluded that the Gulf war was a simulation of CNN television, which was not real, since the truth that people were really killed did not equate. This was however too extreme that postmodernists like Glenn said that these words discredited Baudrillard and the abandonment of evaluation and truth of postmodernism. Christian Response to Postmodernity The church believes that embracing postmodernity is extremely dangerous while running and hiding from it neither an option. The call for Christians to be the light of the world is also becoming postmodern (Jean-Francois, 76, 1984). Then, how can Christians live faithful lives as according to the scripture while they are living in a context that is postmodern? Christians believe that postmodernism is on its own a metanarrative. However, this has never been accepted since postmodernism advocates for metanarratives to be discarded. The Bible is also believed to be a metanarrative. Like metanarratives, both the bible and post modernism say something about the way we should live and think. Even though they move in opposite directions in some areas, they also share some ground that is common. Modernity and Demise of Modernity Modernity is a movement with natural delight. Individuals are normally stressed by this movement in the power that their minds have to get the truth. The reaction of postmodernity to modernity is described as an electric mixture of past traditions that characterizes it as transcendence and continuation of modernism. Postmodernity is advanced modernism, which is a succession of modernism but it utilizes the strategies and assumptions of the modern with the aim of challenging them. Challenges of Postmodernity to Christianity Christianity views are challenged by postmodernism through its desires to deconstruct the metanarrative of Christianity. They aim at cutting the grand story into snippets collection, which can only said to be authoritative when applied pragmatically and locally. The Christian faith is founded on the scriptures which constitutes universal claims. The truth is that presentations of redemption and creation cannot be reduced local tales (Fowler, 237, 2006). Fowler (238, 2006) observes that a grander narrative is not easy to find. To be fair, he insists that people should ask themselves if the metanarrative that is biblical is guilty of totalizing violence. However, the argument is that it is not, but we are. Pluralism Though it is true that pluralism exists in religions existed in some form or shape, its popularity has recently grown because of being fuelled by postmodernism. According to radical pluralism, no religion can claim to be superior over the others. Inclusive affirms the fundamental truth that God revealed Himself in Christian salvation. Therefore, postmodernists and Christian’s have one thing in common, that is, distrust of modern knowledge claims. Furthermore, when Christians are confronted by deconstructions of modernism, they understand their faith’s implications and here; they are normally tempted to support modernity in their arguments (Anderson, 133, 1995). Anderson observes that this is so because they happen to share a trust in truth’s reality with the modernists. Even though Christianity can never embrace postmodernity, they should also not run and hide from it. Conclusion Opposing the philosophy of postmodern relativism, students who are Christians need to know that Christianity world view is that truth exists. Almost everything in Christianity has a universal application and scope. God, sin, death of Jesus for our sins, Gods love and many communities are universal truths of Christianity. Even more important is the fact that God decided to reveal the truth about his world and himself, by words that are in his scriptures and heavenly language. The words of God never depend upon the interpretation of the reader. However, the reader has to interpret the words of God according to the intentions of God. Peter, the apostle,, said that people must understand that there is no prophecy of scripture that came about by interpretation of the prophet. In order to understand the truth contained in the scripture, people should heed the advice which Paul gave to Timothy that they should do their best to present themselves before God as approved, like a workman who is not ashamed of and one who handles the word of truth correctly. Finally, it’s evident that we have not and we should not be liberated from metanarratives since postmodernity only simply warns us not to misuse the biblical metanarrative and metanarratives are still common in our societies today. References Anderson, W. T., (1995). The Truth about Truth: De-Confusing and Re-Constructing the Postmodern World. New York: G.P. Putnams Sons. Fowler, J. W., (2006). Faithful Change: The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Jean-Francois, L., (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Myron, B. P., (2005). Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005, 210f. Bibliography Nancy, P., (2004). Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 107. Read More