Term
| Changes involved in the shift from antiquity to modernity/postmodernity worldview |
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Definition
Challenge to concept of 'Truth'
Challenge to concept of 'Self'
Shift from otherworldly objective truth to worldly Metanarrative to postmodern myth.
Creation of simulacra and replacement of the authentic/real
Change/challenge to traditional operations of knowledge (movement away from similitude) |
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Term
| Nietzsche: the shift from antiquity to modernity in Christianity |
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Definition
The History of an Error
Gradual diminishing of Truth into the distance
1. the True World
2. Christianity/deferral of the Truth
3. Modernity
4. Postmodernity |
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Term
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Definition
Really a 'Myth'
Platonic
Forms/Ultimate reality vs. the world of becoming
Special knowledge required to access the True World |
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Term
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Definition
The deferral of Truth
True world unattainable now, but promised for the sage/pious/virtuous
Not about special knowledge as much as action.
More egalitarian
Subtle, insidious |
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Term
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Definition
The True World is unattainable, indemonstrable.
'Truth' as consolation
Kant - we can never have empirical knowledge about the Truth (God), or even from reason. We must presuppose Him to account for moral obligation |
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Term
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Definition
True world as unattainable, unknowable, unknown. Essentially nonexistent
Dawn of positivism - empiricism alone. Death of metaphysics/theorising
Only the Sensible Realm
Removal of doubt - if it is not a given, it is not real. Scientistic
Melancholic |
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Term
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Definition
the Death of the True World
Rejection of the very idea of the True World
Bacchanalian celebration of life - pure materiality/"pandemonium of life"
Joyful |
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Term
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Definition
The rejection of the very distinction between 'Real' and 'Sensible', 'conceptual' and 'material'.
This is a rejection of meaning as a whole - the True World anchors meaning (like in Plato)
Re-evaluation of all values
Christianity as myth - assumed, providing meaning to the world. A conceptual framework.
Myth as the only guide to meaning - narratives
Removal of values -> degeneration of 'truth' |
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Term
| Modernity vs. postmodernity |
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Definition
Modernity: a newfound faith in reason/science - single mode of meaning
Worldview informed by science - Exegesis of Parable of the mustard seed as about growth is Darwinian, developmental.
Restyling of religion as private
Postmodernity - the re-interpretation/deconstruction of meaning |
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Term
| Modernity and the privatisation of religion |
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Definition
Separation from state leads to marginalisation - an 'add - on'
Following a conflicting metanarrative - a weapon in the war of ideologies (Christian vs. capitalist, Marxist etc) |
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Term
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Definition
| Madness and irrationality corrodes the enlightenment vision of man as rational creature - violates metanarrative |
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Term
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Definition
rationality
Analysis of world through Meta-narratives
individuality in morality
Truth as obtainable |
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Term
| The Nietzschean metanarrative and the meaning of Christianity |
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Definition
| Corrosion of claims to Religious truth - must find another reason to exist |
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Term
| The Corrosion of Truth in our worldview, and how it affects Christianity |
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Definition
Erosion of the Myth of the Self - a parody of the Cogito - the self as 'grammatical habit' - the self comprehended through reason
Nietzsche's psychoanalysis - the self as conflicting Wills (not a single, objective unit/ rational/ part angel) - reflects/reflected by 'truth' as a product of Will/desire. CORROSION OF CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MAN
Truth as a function of Linguistics: 'Knowledge' becomes a construction - subjective - corrosive to religious truth claims
destruction of claims to objective Truth leads to the creation of new mythologies/metanarratives by which we can form our conception of the world.
Selection of myth based on Will to Power - no commonality/ethical framework to choose (Sartrean!) Pro weakness, or strength?
Christianity revitalised as postmodern 'Myth' - we elect to identify as Christians and adhere to Myth |
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Term
| Does the portrayal of faith as Myth leave it empty? |
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Definition
Kierkegaard/Schleiermacher - religion as experiential, subjective doesn't mean it isn't real. The (experienced - not Cartesian 'rational')self is real. Incarnation can be portrayed as an affirmation of the apparent world.
God's first command to man to name the animals - acknowledging creative power of mankind - God goes to find out their names - he doesn't know! ACTUAL CREATION OF TRUTH IN IDENTITY. It is meaningful. |
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Term
| The Enlightenment/capitalism and monoculture/heard mentality |
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Definition
Claims about reason leading us to Truth, happiness and individualism is just another Myth. Capitalism is essentially one-party - the ruling class (Marxist). Leads to MONOCULTURE, and HEARD MENTALITY
This power structure is maintained through transvaluation (positive to evil, negative to good.)-> privileging weakness prevents deviation/resistance. DECADENT |
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Term
| Catholic context for modernity |
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Definition
| Amalgamation of multiple threatening intellectual currents - 1907 expulsion of religion from France, loss of Papal state |
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Term
| Catholic response to modernity |
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Definition
Assertion of Papal infallibility
Rise of neo-scholasticism |
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Term
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Definition
| A return to Thomist systematic theology - reconciling disparate viewpoints. Synthesising religion in the face of relativism, science, trade etc |
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Term
| Attitudes towards Aquinas |
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Definition
16C Cardinal Cagitan and Suarez: Systematic and solid.
Adoption of concept of Grace perfecting nature - giving of Grace is part of its goodness, hence it is not automatically present
Picked up in response to modernity. Priests who initially did this were cast out, but let back in to initiate reforms (Vatican II) |
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Term
| Modernism for Catholicism |
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Definition
Truth as subjective - epistemological/ethical individualism. Rationalism as individual reason, Romanticism as individual feeling.
Attack on reason - e.g. Kantian scepticism - the grounds of reason are merely mental categories (fallible, reason as founded on faith)
Scripture - historical criticism and contextual analysis erodes image of a monolithic Christianity
Denial of meaning in Metaphysics (positivism)
An enemy against which Catholicism came to define itself. A reactive identity. Priests required to renounce modernism up until 1967!
A systematisation of multiple threats reacted against by a systematisation of doctrine (adoption of Thomism)
Rise of manualism - priest training becomes rote learning. Divorcing theology from the world. |
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Term
| The relationship between Christianity and Liberalism is |
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Definition
| based in conflicting ideologies/narratives, with a gradual shift from overt public religion to covert public 'social' religion and private spirituality |
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Term
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Definition
Whiggish
Response to reformation-era religious war in europe
Religion is a source of conflict
Religion must be banished to the private sphere
Liberalism as provider of peace
Pluralism
Personal independence (rooted in the enlightenment, reason) and negative FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS IMPOSITION |
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Term
| Christianity's retreat from the public sphere |
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Definition
Rationality replaces Christianity as the guiding force
No more exclusive claims (pluralism)
No more imposition of religious ideologies upon the political and wider social sphere
Christianity becomes more personal/'feely'. Institutions eroding. William James: distilling the core of spirituality to create non-denominational religion.
Religion becomes a declaration of personal choice, as opposed to an expression of cultural history/identity |
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Term
| Post-liberal analysis of the wars of religion |
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Definition
ALL ABOUT POWER. RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IS ANALOGOUS WITH SOCIAL AUTHORITY. RELIGION AS A SOCIAL ORDER/SOCIAL ORDER AS RELIGION.
The liberal ideology gave rise to the wars
Middle ages POWER conflict
Catholic Church ('universal', transnational power) is challenged for its authority. Luther transferring power to the Princes.
A change in power base, not the overall model. Nationalism/liberalism as the new religion. The Prince as Pope. Hidden religion elements in Liberal Capitalist worldview (the 'Invisible Hand' of 'Market Forces' etc) |
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Term
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Definition
People as inherently selfish
Without regulation, we would degenerate into total war
Removal of right to total freedom (legislation) suppresses this war. Replaced by a placatory domain of personal power, uninfluenced by outside wills. |
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Term
| Liberalism and Capitalism |
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Definition
Economic Liberalism as the creation/imposition of liberal social/political freedom in the economic sphere.
Democratic liberalism ironically has been historically imposed by force - South Korea, Taiwan, Afghanistan |
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Term
| Weber, Protestantism and the rise of capitalism |
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Definition
Calvinism: no-one really knows what God wants
Stimulates search for certainty, with an aesthetic underpinning
Manifests in pursuit of wealth as a symbol of God's favour - prosperity = saved
Money is invested again, not spent (ascetic, creation of more certainty)
Money as the vanishing mediator - no real substance, but a link between the two 'realities' of the world and God.
Protestantism as a vanishing mediator in the translation from Catholic narrative to Liberal one - power to secular/non-catholic authorities/the self. Vanishes after this transfer is complete. |
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Term
| The Catholic advantage over protestantism in globalisation |
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Definition
'Ethereal' take on the divine - it is never fully objectified/manifestation never fully determined, so can appropriate the symbols of cultures it encounters.
Meaning without manifestation - there are set concepts, but different symbols can be applied to them |
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Term
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Definition
Free trade as an ideal
The transformation of everything into capitol
Dissolution of national identity/end of nationalism |
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Term
| The transformation of everything into capitol |
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Definition
| leads to the dissolution of meaning of objects - the loss of objects as symbols for national identity |
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Term
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Definition
Loss of symbols of national identity plus breaking down of barriers/borders leads to loss of the nation state as an entity
Corporations as the new global powers - Murdoch scandal: corporations dictating national policy, Berlusconi treated Italy like a company. |
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Term
| IMF: four markers of globalisation |
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Definition
Trade and transactions
Capitol and investment movement
Travel and migration
Dissemination of knowledge |
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Term
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Definition
| Developing countries will increase their share of the global economy |
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Term
| Capitol and investment movement |
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Definition
| Transfer of private wealth from developing countries |
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Term
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Definition
Migrant workers will work in MEDC for greater money, sending it back home. Raises wages at home as disposable income increases to converge with that in MEDCs (global wage convergence)
1965-90 proportion of labour forces migrating doubles
Transnationals invest in LEDCs (for manufacturing etc) |
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Term
| Dissemination of Knowledge |
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Definition
| Information and technology exchange benefits LEDCs. Also, information = freedom ('Arab Spring' and Youtube/blogs) |
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Term
| Issues with globalisation |
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Definition
Coercive nature of the Globalised worldview
Division of labour and exploitation
Free market liberalism as tenable only in the face of homogeny |
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Term
| Coercive nature of globalised worldview |
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Definition
Assumption that this is the only way to economically manage the entire world. Expected conformity
Nations simply told to adapt to this new global economic order - India and mega-power projects, CTBT.
Coercive introduction of economic liberalism via warfare |
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Term
| Division of labour and exploitation |
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Definition
Diffusion of industrial techniques shifts manufacturing to the 2nd and 3rd worlds.
'Cheap' labour creates a new global proletariat - alienation of labour (cannot afford to buy what they produce)
No way for developing countries to protest because of reliance on multinationals |
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Term
| Free market liberalism as tenable only in the face of homogeneity |
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Definition
Economic homogeny: erosion of concepts such as 'national identity' - prevents democratic dissent on part of small nations/development of political systems which reflect the needs of individual nations/areas
Cultural homogeneity: erosion of national identity, imposition of 'consumer culture'.
Friedman - "you cannot build an emerging society... if you are simultaneously destroying the cultural foundations that cement your society and give it the self confidence and cohesion to interact properly with the world"
Culture -> society/community -> development |
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Term
| Religion in the face of Globalism |
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Definition
Pope Benedict II at World Youth Day
Rowan Williams |
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Term
| Pope Benedict at World Youth Day on Religion and Globalism |
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Definition
Globalisation alone cannot build peace - develops division and conflict (e.g. Neoliberal intervention)
A need for a goal of PROFOUND SOLIDARITY (implying a spiritual dimension)
Globalisation should be employed as a tool against poverty |
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Term
| Rowan Williams of Religion and globalism |
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Definition
The Church as calling and responsibility
Responsibility to perform Public Theology (Engaging with/interpreting contemporary issues)
Economic globalism as descriptive, but not prescriptive - religion needs to provide the moral guidance absent in the Globalist ideal.
Globalism based in 'Realpolitik' - A Hobbesian 'reality' (worldview) of selfishness, total war. |
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Term
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Definition
Churches starting in South America - now based around airtime - televised religion
Religion becomes visual - a spectacle. More suited to Pentecostal style dynamism ("Testify!" *shakes tambourine*)
Encourages development of spectacle - managing the spirit. The church becomes a stage.
exclusion of non-spectacular bits (poor speakers etc). Time restraints mean further exclusion - selecting testimonies.
Creates expectations of spectacle - hyperrealism (loss of distinction between image/the staged, and reality) in religion. Pentacostals can still be quietly religious, but not on TV. |
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Term
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Definition
World Youth Day - a festival held every three years for Catholic youth in a globalised city - the de-territorialisation of Catholic Youth.
Sacred spiritual arrangements alongside nonspiritual celebration (pop concerts etc).
Commercialised event with merchandise
Advertised as a'Pope event' - the Pope is a brand. Unites sacred and secular under his brand. Gives identity to the event. |
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Term
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Definition
No room for preferential treatment/otherisation in global environment (Salman Rushdie)
There are commonalities between religions and societies, but also differences. No underlying global culture.
Repeated reminder of complexity of human experience (in relating to/distinguishing from others). |
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