John P. Richardson: Bishop Tom Wright may be Right
August 19th, 2005

A recent… [article] in the Guardian from Bishop Tom Wright criticised the declining quality of debate in the councils of the Church of England. ‘Reason,’ he wrote, ‘is in short supply right now,’ adding, ‘When someone says in a debate, ‘What I feel is…’ the chair ought to intervene. What people feel is neither here nor there in a debate.’ Wright is undoubtedly correct, but the rot has been allowed to go on for too long, encouraged by our educational system, not least in the area of theological ‘equipping’.

Meta-narrative
As a philosophical movement, post-modernism is both hard to define and already passé. However, as Francis Schaeffer observed, it is the tendency of intellectual systems to transfer into popular culture in an attenuated but significant form. The impact of post-modernism on our culture is thus ‘incoherent’, yet massive and likely to be enduring.

One of the key features of post-modernism is the rejection of ‘meta-narrative’ – ‘a grand overarching account, or all-encompassing story, which is thought to give order to the historical record’ (Wikipedia). The post-modern philosopher could give reasons for this which the person in the street may not share. At the popular level, nevertheless, the effect is seen in the way that all statements which might express absolute truths are reduced to the status of personal opinions. ‘This is true,’ becomes ‘I believe this is true.’ The difference is enormous.

Excellent esssay at titusonenine