Read the previous ‘Metanarratives’ posts: 1, 2. In my first post on metanarratives, I said that one of the defining features of postmodernity was the suspicion of metanarratives. What I never wrote about was why the postmodern is outright hostile to the giant stories. In a historical sense, it could be that postmodern philosophy was born from the […]
Read the previous ‘Metanarratives’ posts: 1, 2, 3 Previously I said that though postmoderns reject metanarratives (in favour of smaller, local narratives) on account of their violent totalizing, my view of scripture is that it does not have to be read as presenting that kind of metanarrative. Here’s why. We can discern two metanarratives woven […]
In my last post, I mentioned the story of Redemptive Violence as one of the dominant metanarratives that the media feed to us. I am sure you will recognise it when I describe it – it is the basis for every action movie ever! Whether the story takes place in history, in space, or in some […]
“Time is money” the old saying goes and we’ve thoroughly bought into it. But I don’t want to be ruled by capitalism in that way. Sometimes my time can be bought and sold. But sometimes it just isn’t up for sale. Time can be treated as a commodity rather than simply as an object to […]
I’m reading some of the people who are writing about Emerging & Missional Church for my MA Dissertation, including Alan Hirsch. He quotes a statistic that says only 4% of Southern Baptist churches will plant a daughter church – 96% will not ‘give birth’. By analogy, if 96% of women did not have children it […]
Some of my friends joke that I can get the word ‘metanarrative’ into any conversation. Probably true. Warning: this series of posts may have an overdose of the word ‘metanarrative’! This first post in my metanarrative series will try to define what I’m talking about for those who don’t try to slot it in to […]
Unless you understand that Jesus invites us through faith in him… to actually live in the Kingdom of God now, there will not be a basis for discipleship and transformation. Dallas Willard, http://www.outofur.com/archives/2011/05/ur_video_dallas.html As the conversation goes on to say, faith in Jesus is not about a new life after death, but death in our life […]
Krish Kandiah has been musing on Bin Laden’s death and how scripture has been used by Christians responding to it on Twitter. If we are not careful Bible verses become bumper stickers – ways of publicly labeling our beliefs. Or worse we end up not trying to seek God’s will but rather draw on the […]
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Dad, give me my share of the company.’ So he divided his business between the sons and, taking nothing more than a warm coat, left them. The younger son squandered all he had been given – drink, drugs and dubious […]
I woke up this morning to the headline “Osama Bin Laden is dead”. President Obama declares “Justice has been done”. Has it? It sounds like the kind of justice Holywood loves, the kind of redemptive violence that makes good action move. It’s the type of justice that has been doing the rounds since ancient Babylon. And […]