Archive for the ‘Evangelism’ tag
What kind of story is it?
We’ve been discussing the nature of the Christian story in my evangelism class over the last few weeks, mainly whether or not Christianity is a metanarrative.
Of course, historically there is no doubt that Christianity unfortunately deserves to be placed alongside some of the more violent and totalizing metanarratives of modernity. That is true. I won’t dispute it. However, I want to speak, more or less, normatively.
If we are to reify the Christian narrative after modernity, so to speak, how do we classify its narrative?
My conviction is that we have to be honest about the universal claims the Christian story makes on humanity and the course history, but unlike the metanarratives of modernity I think we also have to make room for respectful disbelief. So the story is, I think, universal but not totalizing, invitational but not impositional.
That being said, I’m not sure I am happy or comfortable with calling the Christian story either a metanarrative or a micronarrative It is universal but not domineering, it is contextual but not simply ad hoc. I think it is a different story altogether and I find myself groping for another category. I know, categories are limiting and so on, but I think it is important to have some sort of reference point, however limiting or provisional.
What do you think? Meta, mirco, or something else?
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