Monday, October 08, 2007
Book Blogging: Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? - Chapter 2
Our discussion of Jamie Smith‘s Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church continued with chapter 2, an examination of what Derrida really meant when he said “there is nothing outside the text.” (excerpt of this chapter) (previous discussion)
Key Statements By the Author in this Chapter
- “Like Leonard in Memento, we have a condition (a disease, an illness) that requires us to use language to make our way in the world.” (p.36)
- “It is not just that writing or texts are the portal through which we must pass in order to get to things or the gates that provide access to an uninterpreted reality; rather, when Derrida claims that there is nothing outside the text, he means there is no reality that is not always already interpreted through the mediating lens of language. ... everything must be interpreted to be experienced.” (p.39)
- “The Scriptures give us good reasons to reject the very notion of objectivity, while at the same time affirming the reality of truth and knowledge.” (p.43 fn10)
- “Deconstruction’s recognition that everything is interpretation opens a space of questioning--a space to call into question the received and dominant interpretations that often claim not to be interpretations at all. ... To put it differently: Wall Street and Washington both want us to think that their rendering of the world is “just the way things are.” Deconstruction, by showing the way in which everything is an interpretation, empowers us to question the interpretations of trigger-happy presidents and greey CEOs--in a way not unlike the prophets’ questioning of the dominant interpretations of the world.” (p. 51)
- “When Derrida talks about how contexts are “determined” or “filled in,” we find a very important (though largely ignored) emphasis in his work: the role of community in interpretation.” (p.52)
- “Deconstruction does not entail that one can say just anything at all about a text; it is not a celebration of sheer indeterminacy. ... the context for understanding a text, thing, or event is established by a community of interpreters who come to an agreement about what constitutes the true interpretation of a text, thing, or event.” (p.53)
“If all the world is a text to be interpreted, then for the church the narrative of the Scriptures is what should govern our very perception of the world. We should see the world through the Word.” (p. 55)
“To say that there is nothing outside the Text [of Scripture] also entails that there is no proper understanding of the Text--and hence the world--apart from the Spirit-governed community of the church.” (p. 57)
Key Statements By the Author in Discussion (Paraphrased)
The problematic view is that interpretation is only what your opponents do.
What changes for Christians is not our claim to truths, but the ways we try to legitimate those truths. (We proclaim through story, not purely a philosophical appeal.)
Our worship is our apologetic.
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