I'm sure I've learned something along the way. Bet there's a lesson in there....somewhere.
All I know is that I'm thankful to that things seem to be calming down an eensie bit so I can perhaps think and blog and pray a bit more. (Okay, I've been praying A LOT over the past few months!)
Someone emailed this to me, and I wanted to get your opinion:
"One of my observations about a postmodernism worldview is that it's reliance on inward validation (it's true because I believe it to be true) as opposed to outward validation (it's true because it corresponds to known facts) enables one to insert into that worldview whatever ideology they like, kind of a convenient coincidence."
What do you think of this observation? Do you agree or disagree? How does this impact the way we do theology and biblical criticism? Discuss....
4 comments:
I would suggest that this has been the SOP for many generations, not just the postmoderns. It is only in the encounter with repeated incidences where this internal reckoning is set against the world at large that this worldview is broken apart. I also posit that the greater the information, the easier it is to insulate oneself with "it's true because I believe it to be true" because there is just too much that assails any common thread that would enable external belief. This comes as a result of hearing at least one competing view for any view that is presented. It is therefore safer to live by one's own beliefs rather than depending on constant external confirmation.
BTW-welcome back!
Erika
I'm sorry for all of the stressors in your life. Glad to hear they are calming down.
To your post: I think there is some truth in the statement. And I think it's truer for this time in history more than in others because for the first time we have grown suspect of external "facts." If they aren't there, where does truth come from? There was once a time when history was history; now we learn that history is a story written by victors. There was a time when we believed in the truthfulness of our political leaders (at least to some extent); most people I know find our system ineffective at best and, worst, corrupt. There was a time when people took for granted that their religious leaders would be safe people; clearly that assumption has been shaken loose. There was a time when a "man was a man and a woman was a woman." Those taken for granteds have been challenged. There was a time... Now I'm not saying that times gone by were better. I'm also not saying that we were naive. I am saying that since the 1960s many of the things that we've taken for granted as true have come under close scrutiny and many of them have fallen apart. So, I think more and more people are finding truth internally. This turning to self has unfortunately resulted in the thinking "if I think it's true then it is true." It's "wiki-thinking." This, obviously, is not the case, but, to quote a real villain, "What is truth?" And, where do we find it?
Sorry for the long comment.
Erika, it was good to see your recent post. Glad you are 'back on the grid.'
What you posted about has some resonances with the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and his suggestions about the loss of our ability to engage in moral reasoning. MacIntyre sees the legacy of Enlightenment individualism as leading us all to be "emotivists." We make claims about truth and goodness with nothing to back them up other than our own personal convictions. What is lost here is not the notion that truth corresponds to external facts, but rather than communities no longer have the ability to adjudicate goods based on a conception of the common good. Essentially, both political individualism and market economics render the good to be what is good "for me."
Clearly this has problems both for society and for the church. In fact, it may be what is killing the church.
Not sure if you will see this....and have no email address for you...but wondering how you are doing - and the family too!
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