Religion and Theology

Postmodernity is a concept that has often remained to be revenant and irrepressible. We cannot afford to get rid of it and our attempt to disconnect from it, its ghost reappears. Postmodernity is likened to a ghost who eludes definition. Hassan (n. d), identifies that it is not unusual to have understood the concept of postmodernity thirty years ago better than we understand it today (Hassan, nd.). Probably, the reason behind his argument is because postmodernity is dynamic, it keelsons changing, the world too, keeps on taking a fresh appearance. In addition, human beings and the way they reason have also changed by a large extent. We do not have to be perplexed with these transformations. Ideas with concrete historical bases are subject to interpretation and hence future revision (Epstein, 1997). Perhaps what may escape such scrutiny, revisions and interpretations over time can be spiritual ideas, or abstract analytical facts such as triangles and circles. It is thus an exception with modernism, postmodernity and romanticism which like realism and humanism have to shift over time especially in a society weighed down with ideological conflicts and media propaganda.

The main interest of this paper is to explain how the postmodernity has and continues to shape religion and theology. However, the concept of postmodernity cuts across a diverse order ranging from arts, architecture, humanities, social and even physical science. The discussion on postmodernity and these areas will not be the scope of this paper. In a nutshell, the paper will focus on how this revenant issue has remained in the minds of theologians and in general religions in the modern day. The influence of postmodernity will be dealt with in the paper. In order to examine this concept, a clear definition has to be established on what postmodernity mean. However, the restriction to the area of theology and religion will create more relevance. Other areas where postmodernity has touched include the public speech in the area of business, media, politics and entertainment sector. Postmodernity may not escape the blame of causing a haunt in the language of personal lifestyles such as postmodern cuisine.

The term postmodernity received several mentions by religious leaders including the late Pope John Paul II who applied the terminology to condemn the extreme relativism in beliefs and values, denial of divine or human possibility of truth and skepticism towards reason and acute irony.  It should not be confused when defining post modernity and postmodernity. The two are independent elements having different definition (Dobbelaere, Liliane, 1990, S4). While postmodernity refer to the cultural sphere particularly in philosophy, literature and other arts like architecture, post modernity concerns the geopolitical scheme that has become common in the last few decades. Postmodernity can also be termed as postcolonialism which features localization and globalization which are often fused in an erratic and lethal manner.

In literal meaning, postmodernity has been used to refer to the period after the present. Used among scholars, the term has been applied to indicate the point of departure for literal works, architecture, drama, journalism, cinema and design. In religion and theology, postmodernity can be used to mean the shift in the interpretation of law, history, religion and culture.

Some writers have argued on the concept of postmodernity and the changing fortunes in the postmodern times. Postmodernity has been linked to the change in the social status and its influence on religion at the wake of the twenty-first century. Modernity had a significant impact on religion, changing the way individuals think and they way practice various religions. It is therefore predicted that the postmodernity will have to cause a lot of transformations in the world to come the idea of secularization which centers the classical theory has been opposed by a number of scholars. These scholars argue that the realms of religious categories remained heavily influential on the lives of people in the past in spite of the historical institutions of Christianity being relegated to the margins of discourse and public life (Banai, 1993, 389). In Postmodernity, the structure of postmodern society is characterized by particular elements of modernity which become inflated by information and communication technologies (ICT) with the advent of advertising, mass media and consumptive programs.

David Lyon (2000) in his book, Jesus in Disneyland utilizes the foregoing explicitly to the function and role of religion. It is clear that the role religion plays here takes the title of the book from the intersection of two major phenomena (David, 2000, 13). In the book, we are introduced to a large Christian congregation which is at the Harvest Day Crusade and has an attendance of over 10,000 Christians. The gathering is held at Disneyland despite the odd policies of the Disneys corporation which do not match with the Christian cultures. In Disneyland, the marketing and theme parks have changed to be paradigmatic for the majority of characteristics of the postmodernity cultures that at initial stages appear to settle uneasily with the traditional faiths of religion which emphasizes on the community, authority and the transcendent meaning. Lyon creates a picture how Disney sacrifices knowledge for a staged spectacle and at the same time converting the history into a mere nostalgia. In Disneyland, there are a lot of settings which has been characterized to value shopping as an integral part in business activities and entertainment. Perhaps what makes Disneyland be emblematic on the manner media duplication and technology has blurred the line drawing a difference between the reality and its associated representation is the highly advanced technology in the theme parks. These have extremely changed the perception of space and time in a rapid way. Religious believers in the postmodernity times are said to have started to adopt the characteristics of having different perception over space and time and this has greatly influenced the manner in which religious faith should be practiced. The recruitment of these characteristics into the religious practice has led to the erosion of religious practices and the in stead the strict adoption of altered perceptions (Olson, 1990, 42). Critically, the Christians are not achieving anything strangely new rather, they are going back to the old past digging through the old soils again and again. In adoption of these perceptions, the Christians are struggling in the same old way of bargaining between subversion or capitulation, resisting or adapting. The Christians believe that they are in but not of a specific group or culture they live in.

Harvey (1990) in his article, The Condition of Modernity, describes the passage from modernity to postmodernity in the contemporary culture. David Harvey explains the concept of postmodernity in the city basing a major perspective to urban design and architecture. The political and economic transformation of the end of the twentieth century capitalism has been highlighted theorizing the transition. The effort to explain the experience of space and time and the condition of postmodernity best addresses the concept of postmodernity in the religion and theology (Harvey, 1999).

According to Harvey, a lot of manifestations of postmodernity have been observed to flow from the basic capital operation. He perceives the concept of capital operation to be a constant over the past two decades of history.  Capital is thus considered as the most essential element in postmodernity. This then makes postmodernity to appear more than unique and take up the perception of a special form of culture in the development line which can be traced back into the middle of the 19th century in America and Europe. In his work, Harvey provides a clear description of postmodernity perhaps emanating from his field of specialty, urban design and architecture. Postmodernity is seen to have an origin from transformation of the modern system involved in mass production (Harvey, 1999). This relevantly fixes the system of capital accumulations. One of the most relevant analyses to theology and religion done by Harvey is the investigation of space-time compression. It still remains that the most important change in culture in the transformation from Fordism to a rather flexible accumulation and also from modernity to a state of postmodernity is the human experience change of space and time. The change in the sense of time and space has been carried over to the financial arena catalyzed by the faster and wide reaching telecommunication technologies and financial markets which have transformed the entire globe in a very short span of period. This is relevant to religion (Brunner, 1993, 46). It is observed that the perception of postmodernity has made Christians to accumulate their perception over space and time to become totally changed individuals.  It is expected in the decades to come that Christians even experience more transformation as a result of the accumulation of space and time.

In relation to religion which has stopped to be practiced the way the norms dictate, the production of real commodities has also ceased to essential to the system of capitalism. This indication shows a good example of analog between business environment and religion and theology both of which are affected by postmodernity transformation. Harvey observes that, through the space and time, the financial system became disconnected from the actual production of the desired commodities. There became an instable production system of capitalism where the valuing of each commodity was represented in terms of money. In religion, the same may be seen to take roots. Evangelists have moved a step a head to even ask for payments on the services rendered, through indirect. The theological colleges have changed course and are charging exorbitantly on the programs offered. Perhaps, keen observer may be talking about the running costs of a college which necessitates the levy. In the concept of compression of time and space, there is the linking of the idea of simulacra. The simulacra interweaves in every-day life resulting into different worlds coming together in the same time and space. In business language, the worlds represent the commodities which are ever changing, produced to suite the dynamic peoples preferences. The production of the commodities is mainly determined by the money value. Through postmodernity, the production is highly concealed and it is difficult to tell the exact origin of the product (Mizrach, n.d.). In religion and theology, this concept is very similar in the manner the churches have been started by members of even same belief. The religious groups have mixed and have propped from main branches in the name of postmodernity. It is a totally disturbing concept which has slipped into our lives in a dangerous way.

In business speaking, postmodernity has hidden the labor processes which have an imperative role to bring forth the real product. Similarly, the social relations that are implicated in their production have totally been concealed. These consequences show how simulacra can become a reality. An important examination is how postmodernity has caused the disruptive spatiality which triumphs over the coherence of narrative and perspective of postmodern fiction. There has been an observation of the lack of coherence in our daily life. This ubiquitous lack has resulted into two sociological effects. One of these effects is that individuals have decided to take the advantage of the conflicting prospects and grow a wide range of simulacra as fantasy, milieu of escape and distraction. This ideology of excpressing postmodern sensibility is likened to the mimetic of an element or something being fragmented in ephemeral and collage way. Another important sociological effect of the lack of coherence is the peoples ability to reach out for the collective or personal identity when they are struck by fragmentation, collage or ephemerality. Perhaps, this sounds like the true opposite of the first effect (Olson, 1990, 48). The same can be traced in the church where after religious groups lack a stand, they will always wish to identify themselves with an existing group to keep the movement on. However, this aspect shows a connection between the social identity and the place. Postmodernity, according to Harvey is just a historical condition which is still undergoing some historical shaping and molding. It has not acquired a full metamorphosis stage which we can say that it is the end. Some economist scholars and financial analysts can represent this trend on the prism of economic-financial representation. Harvey observes the characteristics easily seen in the postmodern tradition but not unique although very distinct. This observation of Harvey can be said to have an origin from the dynamics of over accumulation of capital (Banai, 1993, 391). The over accumulation crises can be connected with the very strong esthetic movements which also include the political decoration. In whichever direction we may take in our perception of the concept of postmodernity, it permanently remains that the issue has profound effects on the general human activities and practices on the earth that we live. Religion is an important aspect I human life and each individual will seem to identify himself or herself with a certain type of religion. With an exception of pagans, religion is part of our daily lives. It is therefore important to examine the factors which may derail the development of this most important issue in our lives given that the world is becoming one dynamic round mass, rolling with response to the gradient. The steep gradient will always make this round mass to roll faster and it is our responsibility to keep the required norm so as we can exist without compromising the quality of life.