More on our situation: postmodernism
We have thought, written, and talked quite a bit on these pages about postmodernism, but since it is the biggest challenge to evangelization and formation that we face we must continue to clarify our thoughts on the matter. Here is a bit from the British theologian Graham Ward's introduction to The Postmodern God: A Theological Reader:
Surfing the net is the ultimate postmodern experience ... Cyberspace is a cultural metaphor for postmodernism."
and
The postmodern culture is "a culture of seduction and flagrant, self-consuming sexuality; a culture of increasing sophisticated drugs and drug use; a culture of virtual, videotaped realities."
I am most intrigued by his assertion that postmodernity is "a culture of virtual, videotaped realities" in which "surfing the net" is the ultimate experience. I believe this is certainly true and we can see it in a variety of ways, most especially in a culture for which moral considerations are absent, because they seem not to pertain to a virtual world. There are no moral considerations to take into account when something is not really real. That's not so dangerous if virtual reality is mainly peripheral and truly only "virtual", but what happens when the virtual world becomes the real world for so many people? When a whole culture becomes one of "virtual, videotaped realities?" Are not Facebook, MySpace, and the multitude of other social networking sites an example of how a whole culture (seemingly parallel to the "real" world's culture, but with highly permeable boundaries) can arise from virtual reality?
How then is the Gospel presented and received in such a situation? What space can be created in these virtual realities, cultures, and habitats for Christian witness, particularly as mediated through Christian community? Is it even possible for Christian communities to make an authentic witness to the Gospel in virtual space?
I am eager not only to hear reflections on this subject, but also for you to draw our attention to Christian witness in virtual space.
Labels: postmodernism
posted by Joe Waters @ 7:53 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
I'm trying to sound realistic; not pessimistic, but I think these virtual culture devotees have to crash and burn before they'll get a wake up call and maybe start examining their lives to see what went wrong. But even then I think they'll still get back up, dust themselves off and try again to make it work - for them. St Paul has them categorised in 2 Cor 4 and 2 Thess 2. They are unable to see because they don't want to. There's either a veil drawn across their eyes or they've got the delusion they've always sort, or both. We soldier on as witnesses, right? In much the same way that the example of the early Christians brought about the conversion of the Roman Empire. Yes, I see our times as not too dissimilar.
Steve Sparrow
Well, I do think the web is emblematic of our fractured, fractious postmodern culture in many ways. At the same time, it is also a tool like any other and can be thus used for good or ill.
On the one hand, social networking sites, anonymous bulletin boards and the like allow people to create - and in some cases live in full-time if they wish to and are able - fictive identities, which clearly distort the purpose of genuine, deep human contact. Our flawed, real neighbors can look quite unappealing compared to the ideal selves we and our online 'friends' can inhabit. And that is dangerous, just as is comparing a date or spouse's looks to those of an airbrushed and Photoshopped model.
On the other, though, people do read spiritual and religious sites, and people do sometimes pour out true personal stories on blogs, which resound in a personal and rich way for some readers. Likewise, for one example, the wealth of information on vocations and religious communities on the web is positively staggering! I consider that a huge blessing, and for individuals who might not live near many communities, or who might think every Benedictine or Claretian apostolate is about the same as every other, or who might not have enough money to go on retreats all across the country to discern, having such deep and broad information available is a truly beautiful thing!
For me, I read a lot of books, and I also do a lot of service work, so I am entrenched in 'real life,' to be sure, but with the Internet I can read whole books for free anytime, read people's accounts of their own personal journeys - and many times, my Internet contacts about issues and social ministries can lead to good sharing of information and resources between groups, including across ecumenical lines or between secular and religious organizations.
Just this week, for research for fundraising for Blessed Sacrament's/ St. Vincent's kitchen fundraising, I volunteered to make a list of potential local churches who might be inclined to contribute a bit to the cause: without their websites being available to me, I don't know how anyone could have done the job. I would have had to telephone every church first (without knowing the pastor's name, too!) and asked them if they had any particular feelings about social justice or homelessness. But now I found out about a bunch of programs I wasn't aware of -- and I was pretty aware, already. Or so I thought.
I wish I had a nickle for every valuable spiritual site I have bookmarked; then, I could start my own soup kitchen!
I don't think there is anything intrinsically anti-Christian about the new media, any more than the old media. This site is a good example of Christian witness in virtual space.
At the risk of tooting my own horn, I wrote about these issues in Postmodernism 101: A First Course for the Curious Christian.
Postmodernism is an ideology, a way of thinking that assumes nothing is for certain and truth is found wherever one finds it. In other words, there is no objective reality.
Cyberspace and virtual reality are only coincidences.
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