INT-525 topic 5

5. Worldviews in the Developed World
Thursday, August 5, 2021

5. Modernity, Postmodernity, Critical Social Theory

Modern Worldview
1. Human reason became primary source of knowledge

2. Human authority is from society not God

3. Human and Natural Laws are absolute and universal

4. Di
ff
erence between the secular and sacred

5. Inexplicable phenomena have rational explanations

6. Scripture is accessible and subject to inquiry

Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving, 1819

Model of Bible Interpretation
Text Reader
Writer Language Translation
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Evangelical: Meaning Begins in Text
Meaning
God

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Historical
Events
Writer
Describes
Rationalist: Meaning in Socio-cultural Milieu of Writer
Meaning
Meaning

Postmodernism
1. Meaning is determined by the person

2. Human authority is a social construct

3. Human Laws are all relative

4. Di
ff
erence between secular & spiritual is relative

5. Reason can NOT explain everything

6. Bible is one of many Sacred books

7. Search for Neo-Spirituality

Text Reader
Translation
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Postmodern Bible Interpretation: Reader Gives Meaning
Meaning

2019 1994 2017 1949 2018 2021
1949 2014 1978 1987 1958 1918 1970
1917
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

Church’s Disengagement
From American Culture

Scopes-Monkey Trial (July, 1925)

Dr. King with Rev. Billy Graham

Another Brick in the Wall

(Pink Floyd, 1979)

Give her a Hoover

and you give her the Best!
(Hoover Magazine Ad, 1937)

Critical Theory
De
fi
ned
A “critical” theory is a method of inquiry that seeks human
emancipation from slavery, liberation from oppression, and
works to create a world which satis
fi
es the needs and self-
determination of individuals. This approach has been applied
to many disciplines such as social science, literary theory,
legal theory, theories of education, and most recently race
relations.
“Critical Theory”. 2005. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/

“The history of all…society is the
history of class struggles”
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
(Marx, Karl.1848/1913. Manifesto. p. 5)

• Theory of Psychoanalysis

• All text emerges from subconscious

• All text contains implicit bias

• We can deconstruct the text to
explode the bias
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
Whitebook, Joel. 2006. “The Marriage of Marx and Freud” Cambridge Companions.

Max Horkheimer
• Brought together: Freud, Marx,
literary theory, and philosophy
of education.

• Traditional & Critical Theory

(Horkheimer,1937)
1895—1973

• Response to WWI

• Response to upheavals in Germany

• Marriage of Marx, Hegel, and Freud

• German Marxism 1920s

• Shut down in 1933

• Continued at Columbia University
Frankfurt School (1918 - 1933)

Critical Theory
Premises
1. Oppressed v. Oppressor

2. Oppressors oppress through power

3. Oppressed conditioned to accept their oppressed status

4. First goal: Expose the structures of oppression

5. Second goal: Gain knowledge about the oppressed

6. Third goal: Dismantle the structures of oppression
Shenvi, Neil. 2019. “Critical Theory”. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Critical Race Theory
Premises
1. Oppressed v. Oppressor

2. Majority races oppress through power structures in society

3. Minority races taught to accept subordinate social status

4. First goal: Expose the social power structures

5. Second goal: Understand their mechanisms

6. Third goal: Dismantle oppressive power structures
Shenvi, Neil. 2019. “Critical Theory”. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Brown v Board of Education
May 17, 1954

Critical Bible Hermeneutics
Critical Interpretation
The Bible needs to be liberated from its captivity to one-sided white,
middle-class, male interpretation. It needs liberation from privatized
and spiritualized interpretations that avoid God’s concern for justice,
human wholeness, and ecological responsibility; It needs liberation
from abstract, doctrinal interpretations that remove the biblical
narrative from its concrete social and political context in order to
change it into timeless truths
Russell, Letty. 1974. “Introduction”. Feminist Interpretation of the Bible. Westminster Press, p. 12.

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Evangelical Hermeneutics: Meaning is in the Text
Meaning
God

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Modern
Audience
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Critical Literary Theory: Expose Oppresser
Find the oppressed
Meaning
Women, homosexuals, slaves, racial minorities, immigrants, impoverished
Oppressor

Queer hermeneutics
Then Jonathan made a covenant with David,
because he loved him as his own soul. And
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on
him and gave it to David, (1 Samuel 18:3–4 ESV)

Example
When two men come from a society that for 200 years had lived
in the shadow of Philistine culture which accepted
homosexuality…and one of them is the social superior of the
other, [and] the two meet secretly and kiss each other…we have
reason to believe that a homosexual relationship existed.
Horner, Tom. 1978. Jonathan Loved David. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 27-28.

Example
• Oppressor: Ancient Israel’s society

• Oppressed: Jonathan, David, and the Philistines

• Oppressive structure: Biblical editor

• Goal: Expose oppression of homosexuals in the Bible
Horner, Tom. 1978. Jonathan Loved David. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 27-28.

What are the weaknesses in
Critical Social Worldview?

Critical Worldview vs. Christian Worldview
• Critical Narrative

• Identities: Oppressed/Oppressor

• Objective: expose oppression

• Goal: Human self-determination

• End: There will always be
oppressors and oppressed
• Biblical Narrative

• Imago Dei, Sinful, Redeemed

• Objective: Reconciliation with God

• Goal: Glorify God & Enjoy Him forever

• End: Reign of God

6. Worldviews in Conflict
Friday, August 6, 2021

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2021ResidencySurvey

https://gcu.libwizard.com/f/libraryclass

Israeli Palestinian Con
fl
ict

Israeli Worldview
• Jewish homeland

• Jews were scattered

• Jews wandered, expelled, and persecuted

• Holocaust proved Jews will never have a home outside of Israel

• Jews returned to an empty land

• Arab neighbors tried to drive them into sea

• When they couldn’t they used Palestinian refugees politically

Alternative Narratives
• Arab / Israeli Con
fl
ict is an apocalyptic struggle
between the Islamic Civilization and Judeo-
Christian Civilization

Palestinian Worldview
• Palestinians original inhabitants

• Jews are Europeans whom Europeans didn’t want

• Europeans dumped the Jews on Arab land to colonize

• Holocaust is an excuse (and may not have happened)

• Israel is a tool of the Western Nations

Alternative Narratives
• Holocaust never happened

• 9/11 was secretly planned by Israel

• Israel secretly erased evidence of Palestinian cities in the land

• Jews are descended from Khazars in 900 AD

• Jesus was a Palestinian, not a Jew

Critical Social Theory Worldview
• Men & Women are either oppressors or oppressed

• Oppression happens because dominant class exerts power

• All (most?) of what dominant class does is to maintain power

• Oppressed redeem themselves by tearing down power structures

• Reconciliation happens when oppressors brought to justice

• Oppressed will eventually become the oppressor (cycle)

Christian Worldview
• Men & Women are made in the image of God

• Oppression happens because of sinful hearts

• Redemption happens when Christ transforms the heart

• Reconciliation happens when people are brought together

• Christ will return, subject all the world to Him, establish peace

Other Worldview Families
•Honor / Shame

•Innocence / Guilt

•Power / Fear

INT-525 topic 5

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INT-525 topic 5