POSTMODERNISM RELIGION

LYOTARD ‘Collapse of the Grand Narrative’. This collapse has been exemplified by the collapse of Marxism/communism in E. Europe. SECULARISATION

Pick ’n’ Mix Culture Postmodernists assert that we are more receptive than ever before to the messages of the mass media, and there are more messages than ever before. This encourages a ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ culture…

JOHN BIRD We select and blend our (religious) beliefs and practices from a variety of sources, trying them out and then discarding them…

Bird John Bird says that we are constantly inventing our own selves. So WHO are you? What makes up YOU…???

Natoli (1997) states: “Postmodernity has questioned the authorizing and legitimising of both faith and reason…..science and religion continue to spin their stories…..on the shifting sands of a postmodern outlook’.

Madeline Bunting: Writing in ‘The Guardian’ (16/12/96) spoke of a ‘spiritual supermarket’ with ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ spirituality.

BUNTING Each person builds a mosaic of belief, practice and experience (in the past religious organisations provided non-negotiable doctrines and moral codes).

Selfe & Starbuck Religious belief as a ‘DIY cocktail’

SELFE & Starbuck In a postmodern world, you don’t need to commit yourself to an ascetic existence with strict rules and rigid orthodoxy. Just select the bits of the religion that suit you…..and apply to your individual needs …

Hybridity New Religious Movements and New Age Movements are hybrid: they contain a mixture of several different traditions e.g. the Moonies are a combination of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity

Detraditionalisation GIDDENS: This is the view that traditions lose their significance as more and more cultures and beliefs become available.

GIDDENS Believes globalisation (and global mass communications) tear traditions away from their points of origin.

FUNDAMENTALISM: MIGHT be a response to POSTMODERNITY… HOW?

Bauman & Gidden’s This is because there is so much ‘never ending’ choice. How does one choose what one wants? Therefore, for some to eradicate this sense of ANOMIE they may turn to find meaning NOMOS in traditional and conservative forms of religion.

Bauman (1977) adds “Fundamentalism is a thoroughly contemporary, postmodern phenomenon…..”

FUNDAMENTALISM With fundamentalism there are no “agonies of choice” and “risk-taking” – certainty is provided in an uncertain world with a particular set of absolute values.