The Series
1: Derrida and Textual Interpretation
2: Lyotard, Metanarratives, and The Christian Story
3: Foucault, Power and Knowledge, “The Golden Compass,” and Church Inc.
At the beginning of the academic school year in September I began a series of posts looking at the interplay of Christian spirituality and postmodernity using the book Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? , by James K. A. Smith. Specifically, we were looking at these “main” three postmodern thinks: Jacque Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, and Michael Foucault. Somewhere in the mix of Greek tests and Systematic Theology papers I forgot the last two installments. I want to finish examining these important cultural prophets over the next 2 weeks.
Today’s post is on Michael Foucault, the master institutional deconstructor. It’s a nice 2100 word essay so grab a cup of coffee AND a bagel! Since I also promised some thoughts on the recent The Golden Compass movie, I want to extent the conversation by considering this important artistic piece and examine both in relationship to the institution of the Church, or what I like to call Church, Inc. Because The Golden Compass is thoroughly Foucaultian and both critique powerful institutions, like Christianity, I hope examining both will help the Church understand Herself a bit more and become far more humble.
Popularity: 3% [?]
After I left three years of full-time ministry I worked a stint for Nordstrom, a department store known for their Yearly and Half-Yearly sales, in addition to their high-end merchandise. One of the interesting things about working at this Nordstrom is that it is located in the richest, most diverse county in the country: Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C..
Aside from the killer comission and earning potential, one of the joys while working during those few months was the sheer diversity of people with whom I came into contact. In my department, a tapestry of religions were represented, including six Muslims, an Orthodox Jew, a Sikh, a Buddhist, a few non-Western Christians and others who were spiritual, but non-religious. Additionally, 90% of my co-workers were originally from other nations. Ethiopians, a Moroccan, Somalian, Gabonian, an Indian, Afghani-Japanese-American, and a Columbian-Pakistani-American created a fantastic work environment. It was in this environment that a single question from one of my co-workers sparked some thoughts in me about pieces of my family tree that I had never considered before.
“Is your name African?”
That question set off a flutter of thoughts!
Technorati Tags: africa, bouma, christianity, colonialism, dutch, election, family tree, post-colonialism, african colonialism, slave trade
Popularity: 2% [?]
As I have begun (re)wrestling with truth and knowing, and especially how I know and “truth” within our postmodern, post-Christian world, I found renewed comfort that we can in fact know, because God has revealed. I wrote this post over two years ago during a similar “crisis of knowing.” I hope it comforts you as much as it has and did me.
The Modern Era (philosophical, not technological) was defined as the Age of Reason, in part, because of a cleverly concocted phrase by René Descartes: cogito ergo sum, “I think therefore I am.” In the face of the epistemological (how we know, and how we know that we know) conundrum of doubt and certainty, Modern thinkers tried to eliminate (or better, lessen the threat of) these twin threats in two ways: 1) elevating mind/reason through the scientific method; and 2) centering the knowing squarely on the individual man. The only thing Man could be certain of was himself and his ability to reason with his own mind. From that self, through engaging his mind and reason, he could know everything outside himself; knowledge begins with the individual’s mind, and works itself outward through the scientific method.
Postmoderns, however, reject a mind/reason centered explanation of our ability to know because outside stimulus can influence our mind and the tools our mind uses to reason (all of our senses: smell, taste, sight, sound, touch) are failable, thus casting doubt on mans ability to know purely through his own mind and reason. Man, however, isn’t removed from the equation, his reason is replaced by his experience. While doubt is actually elevated in the process, we can know because we can feel and experience. But in the face of this individualized experience, truth is once again relegated to the individual. No one, transcendent, knowable Truth Truth Story can exist, because my personal experience dictates and defines truth that story.
Where is this coming from you ask?
Technorati Tags: christianity, emerging church, epistemology, faith, god, postmodernism, truth
Popularity: 5% [?]
The Series
1: Derrida and Textual Interpretation
2: Lyotard, Metanarratives, and The Christian Story
3: Foucault, Power and Knowledge, “The Golden Compass,” and Church Inc.
“I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” -Jean-Francois Lyotard
This is the famous saying by Jean-Francois Lyotard that has caused much heartburn among professing Christians for its seeming rejection of “big stories.” While postmodernism is a (healthy) skepticism and incredulity toward these grand, sweeping big stories, Christians need not fear. As the logic goes, since postmodern thought is an incredulity toward reality-explaining stories and the Christian faith is informed by the Scripture stories, we must reject, wholesale, any postmodern sensibilities as it pits a “storied” belief system against an a-narrative worldview. Thus, Christians could never partner with postmoderns due to this skepticism and postmoderns could never sign-up for Christianity.
But as James K. A. Smith describes in “Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?“, “orthodox Christian faith actually requires that we, too, stop believing in metanarratives.” It is to this notion of grand stories that I turn my attention in this continued series on the intersection of postmodern thought and Christian spirituality.
Technorati Tags: christianity, da vinci code, dan brown, emerging church, lyotard, metanarrative, postmodernism, postmodernity
Popularity: 3% [?]
The Series
1: Derrida and Textual Interpretation
2: Lyotard, Metanarratives, and The Christian Story
3: Foucault, Power and Knowledge, “The Golden Compass,” and Church Inc.
Since I am feeling all academic while being on the cusp of a 3-year seminary season, I thought I would begin blogging through one of my my brand-spanking new seminary books called “Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?”. I’m starting a mini-series of posts (probably 4-5) that will give some consideration to Derrida, Lyotard, Foucault, and the implications of postmodernity for the 21st century church.
Jacque Derrida is the first of the 3 postmodern thinkers the author, James K. A. Smith addresses. To many Christians, Jacque Derrida is a part of the unholy Trinity of postmodern thinkers, including Jean-Francois Lyotard and Michael Foucault. Many, many evangelicals (which are not necessarily known for intellectual rigor [see Knoll's "Scandal of the Evangelical Mind"]) fear all things pomo and run for the hills at the drop of the word, a fear rooted in profound misreadings and misinterpretations. James K. A. Smith’s book seeks to help the Church engage these important prophets on their own terms, realizing that philosophy influences culture and is not entirely void of any constructive instruction.
The second chapter engages with Jacque Derrida, the father of French deconstruction and addresses one of Derrida’s primary thoughts: “there is nothing outside the text.” Earlier this summer, I began reading through his book, “Writing and Difference,” a collection of essays in which Derrida engages many themes of language, the act of writing and codifying thought, the relationship of words and meaning, and the important topic of textual interpretation. It is the later that Smith addresses and relates to Christian spirituality.
Technorati Tags: deconstruction, derrida, emerging church, postmodernism, postmodernity, textual interpretation
Popularity: 3% [?]
