Truth is Stranger Than It Used to be - Term Paper Example

 2. A) In your own words, explain the three reasons that Middleton and Walsh believe the biblical meta-narrative is a socially non-violent narrative B) Why do you agree or disagree that the biblical meta-narrative is inherently non-violent? Middleton and Walsh describe or admit that the biblical meta-narrative is socially non –violent. Authors provide significant reasons for justifying their views. Here the readers get the picture of Yehweh who was moved by human suffering and acted to reduce the sufferings and adversities. The story reveals the truth of breaking the bonds of slavery and making Israelites a free nation. The elementary problem demonstrated in the story is that of human suffering resulted by severe injustice. It suggests a solution for the problems through the action of Yehweh, the God of compassion and righteousness. The remedy of the problem is not a violent movement but breaking the bonds of slavery. The third and final reason which Middleton and Walsh remark is that the whole story reveals the simple meaning of faith and it has authenticity, material base and time. It is a natural response to what the God has done for the human race. Analyzing the book; Truth Is Stranger than It Used to Be, one can recognize that biblical meta-narrative is inherently excluded from violence because, the story discusses the human strife for justice and peace. The mighty God breaks the bondage of slavery and sets the Israelites as a free citizen. 3. A) In your own words, explain at least three ways in which the biblical meta-narrative demands compassion and inclusion of the marginalized? B) In what way(s) should your own life be more compassionate and inclusive? The book entitled; Truth Is Stranger than It Used to Be, explores a grave criticism about Christian faith in light of both modern and post modern culture. Middleton and Walsh critically analyze the philosophy of modernism and post- modernism. In post modernist view, human experiences appear more excruciating and daunting. Post modern philosophers have often admitted the fact that the Bible is a collection of odd stories presented in numerous ways. The post modern worldview leaves people with utter stupefaction and meaninglessness. Biblical meta-narrative requires compassion and inclusion towards the marginalized. The authors introduce different ways that biblical ideologies demand compassion and inclusion. The first and obligatory one is that the submerging of biblical ideologies with life. It admits biblical doctrines as the nonnegotiable foundation of life in this world. Realization of social construct is the second way by which biblical doctrines acquire compassion and inclusion. Instead of standing outside the biblical ideologies it is better to apply it in one’s life. Another way in which the biblical meta-narrative demands compassion and inclusion is that instead of promoting violence the story changes the reader to God’s side. Middleton and Walsh mention that according to the Christian belief Jesus definitively embodied the biblical trajectory of taking on marginality and sufferings. Jesus’ life and death become a symbol of the offset ideological intent or model of ethical human reaction in the midst of injustice and inequality. Based on biblical ideology one can reveal his/her exceeding love towards the marginalized. It enables one to share other’s pain and develop an attitude to bear up the sufferings and offense of other living beings. 4. A) If modernity claims that we are already at home, and post modernity claims that home is only a facade, describe at least three ways in which Middleton and Walsh propose for humans to be on the way home in this world, again in your own words B) In what way(s) would your life be different if you were seriously trying to be on the way home in your life? Middleton and Walsh propose different ways for men to be on the way home in this world. In order to deal with the concept ‘home’, they brought to us the example from the fifth book of Douglas Adams,’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. Presenting the character, Arthur Dent, a cosmic nomad, the authors attempt to define the modern and post modern concepts of ‘home’ and ‘homelessness.’ Arthur has been presented in the novel as the one wandering through a homeless and apparently meaningless universe. The authors express their concern over the modern concept of home, when they describe the words of a soothsayer to Arthur in Hawalius, the planet famous for prophets. Analyzing this, one can infer that it is one’s perception that really forms a particular concept. Here the soothsayer enlightens Arthur, “You cannot see what I see because you see what you see. You cannot know what I know because what you know. What I see and what I cannot be added to what you see and what you know because they are not of the same kind. Neither can it replace what you see and what you know, because that would be to replace you yourself”(Middleton & Walsh (1995 p.143). Through these words they convey the idea that what one hears or experiences is entirely belongs to that person and each one creates his own universe. As it is really concerned with one’s perception, the perceiver will be the only responsible person, if the universe appears as awry to him. Thus it makes clear the fact that the concept of home may vary in accordance with perceptions. The concept of his own home does not satisfy Arthur, the real proto type of postmodern man who is looking for the commonly shared world—the “actual earth” with all its specialties. This postmodern ‘homelessness’ can aptly be compared to the concept of postmodern science-fiction genre which regards self as a “wanderer.” in order to make it clear Middleton and Walsh (1995 p.144) borrows the words of the postmodern theologian Mark Taylor when he observed, “the post modern self as a “wanderer,” a “drifter,” “attached to no home” and “always suspicious of stopping, staying and dwelling.” This “rootless and homeless” self is no more than a “careless wanderer” yearning for neither “completion” nor “fulfillment” and therefore is not unhappy. It makes clear that post modern man is inconsistent and is continuously searching for home. If one tries to be on the way home in his life, he can attain self-reliance by totally ignoring the factors that makes him a wanderer. He could take way the suspicion from his mind and concentrate by throwing away the state of “careless wanderer.” If he wins in his attempt to achieve the former state, he can gradually approach to the state of fulfillment or completion. 6. A) Describe why Walsh and Middleton believe that Americans are confused, feeling both autonomous (modern) and victimized by everything (postmodern). B) How would your life be less torn between modern autonomy and postmodern victimization if you embraced the biblical ideas of being both gifted to rule and called to serve? Middleton and Walsh share their worries with readers over the devastative influence of modern autonomy and postmodern victimization on man. As it is an age that marks the conversion from modern to postmodernism, one can find people as getting more and more confused. Many writers have noted down such an inconsistency in spiritual as well as in social relations. Majority of the writers are of the opinion that only staunch faith in religion and God can save humanity from such a discrepancy. Middleton and Walsh (1995) make it clear in the preface of their book; Truth is stranger than it used to be: biblical faith in a postmodern age. According to them, “… we wanted to do so by means of a rearticulation of the biblical world view that would attend to its narrative character and its rootedness in God’s response to human suffering, communicated especially the story of the exodus.” In their book the authors also identify that postmodernism regards the world, self and story are all human (social) constructs. Since postmodernism considers everything as merely human inventions, decisively conditioned by the social context in which they occur, and certainly not given to us by either nature or revelation, strict biblical principles should be followed to save the entire humanity. The authors are of the view that western culture strictly follows autonomous rule. They found it as away from being a valid, life-enhancing freedom which is quite similar to the one described in Genesis 3as the primal human sin. This was the declaration of moral independence from our Creator by placing ourselves as our masters of fate. Man attained this autonomy when he discarded God’s words by eating “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17). It is a radical and self-determining freedom which often leads modern life to sin as described in the bible. To conclude, one can infer that modern American is really puzzled regarding the autonomy of modernism and the victimization of postmodernism and he does not know where to clutch on. Work cited: Middleton J. Richard, Walsh J. (1995) Truth is stranger than it used to be: biblical faith in a postmodern age, Brian InterVarsity Press Pp.22, Read More