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CREATED ANEW

by Gerry McCarthy

The first time I heard about postmodernism I was intimidated. What did it mean? I soon discovered it was a term everyone understood, but struggled to define.

     Some say postmodernism is summed up by the expression, "Yeah whatever." Or by the flippancy of American philosopher Richard Rorty who once remarked that: "Truth is whatever your contemporaries let you get away with."

     I'm assuming these were the sort of remarks on Cardinal Ratzinger's mind last year when he explained (just before the Cardinals went into conclave to elect him Pope) that: "We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism that recognizes nothing definite and leaves one's own ego and one's desires as the final measure."

     But it depends on how we understand postmodernism. In her new book The Magdalene Moment, Joanna Manning writes that: "The postmodern shift in cultural and cosmic awareness has come through the emergence of hitherto marginalized groups, such as women and previously colonized peoples, into mainstream academic and political discourse." She says this has affected theology as much as other disciplines, "although churches have lagged behind other social groups previously deemed to be of less significance in their divinely ordained hierarchy of being."

     Manning says believers have reacted to the "postmodern moment" in different ways. For some it's a harbinger of a total breakdown in the fabric of society. "They deal with this by retreating into a strident dogmatism and rigid observance of traditional religious practices," she explains. But others argue that the present crisis is "a prelude to a new and inevitable breakthrough in human consciousness."

     But in the midst of the postmodern moment (and the backlash that's followed) the question of how to live an authentically Christian life remains. How do we put our faith in action? How are we the Body of Christ to each other?

     One of the under-discussed challenges faced by Christians today is how dualisms are inflicted on us indiscriminately. For example: We're either liberal or conservative. These labels impede creativity and imagination. They also stuff people into airtight boxes. Frequently we have to remind ourselves that we're on a journey with Christ, and not supporting actors in a made-for-TV movie "The Battle for the Future of the Church."

     Although I make social justice a serious priority in my life, I'm fully aware that implementing progressive societal structural changes will not bring us to the Promised Land (although that's the label consistently applied to social justice Catholics). One can insist social justice is critical, but I realize that it begins with how we are with each other.

     A few months ago, a review of several books about marriage appeared in The Times Literary Supplement. At one point, the reviewer (Terri Apter) turned her attention to The Best Kept Secret: Men and Women's Stories of Lasting Love by Janet Rebstein. She says the book has the advantage of demystifying lasting love, which is not merely a state of feeling but a "quality of interaction."

     I spoke about this quality of interaction with a number of friends and acquaintances over the past few months. It usually made for wonderful conversation. But when I mentioned it to one acquaintance, she paused and looked unhappy. She then revealed how she could be particularly nasty to her husband over unimportant and routine matters (and this was a man she loved deeply).

     Quality of interaction is something that can be worked out on paper, but it's challenging to enact. Living with people (and in community) can drive us to distraction and anger at times. Frequently it's in the mundane, ordinary, and routine matters that we find ourselves tested. Professing our faith is one thing, but interacting with love (and bearing with each other) is another thing altogether.

     How revolutionary it would be if we paid more attention to loving acts (and quality of interaction) in the ordinariness of life. As Jesuit John Dear writes in his book You Will be My Witness: "According to Thérèse of Lisieux and Dorothy Day of New York, the smallest act of willing love, united to the God of love, is more powerful than the atomic bomb itself, more explosive than a nuclear weapon. It is a spiritual explosion of love that disarms, heals, transforms, and reconciles."

     Still the challenges remain. Where do we find the energy and time for each other when busyness takes hold? How do we inject life into conversations where there is bitterness and anger? How do we liberate ourselves from negative assumptions about people? How do we escape the prison of labels and dualisms?

     In his book Contemplation in Action, Richard Rohr writes that: "Just as all human seeing is stereoscopic (two eyes seeing two different things but our mind making them into one image), maybe East and West, mind and spirit, male and female, body and soul, liberal and conservative are all the split dualisms that Christ has come to overcome. But we must pay the price for their overcoming just as he did. That is our Christian vocation. There is nothing elitist or triumphalistic here --just the following of Jesus."

     Whether the postmodern moment is here (or in retreat) we're "created anew" when we live out the Gospel --even in those seemingly routine and mundane moments of life. By following Jesus in day-to-day living we recognize possibilities for love and reconciliation, and bear good fruit for the world.

Gerry McCarthy is Editor of The Social Edge.