“The strong counterattack against the values of the European Enlightenment has come just at the time when, for the reasons already given, the confidence of Europe in its own culture is collapsing. The result of the conjunction of these two forces is the phenomenon of multiculturalism, an ideology that celebrates cultural diversity as an unqualified good in its own right. When this ideology takes over, value judgments claiming to discriminate between different cultural traditions in terms of their intrinsic worth are ruled out of order. Cultural diversity is an unqualified good; judgments of good or bad with respect to different cultures are condemned as cultural imperialism.” ValuesDiversityJudgmentMulticulturalismCultural ImperialismThe Enlightenment Book:Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship Source: Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship
“By calling into question the very ideal of a universal, autonomous reason (which was, in the Enlightenment, the basis for rejecting religious thought) and further demonstrating that all knowledge is grounded in narrative or myth, Lyotard relativizes (secular) philosophy's claim to autonomy and so grants the legitimacy of a philosophy that grounds itself in Christian faith. Previously such a distinctly Christian philosophy would have been exiled from the 'pure' arena of philosophy because of its 'infection' with bias and prejudice. Lyotard's critique, however, demonstrates that no philosophy - indeed, no knowledge - is untainted by prejudice or faith commitments. In this way the playing field is leveled, and new opportunities to voice a Christian philosophy are created. Thus Lyotard's postmodern critique of metanarratives, rather than being a formidable foe of Christian faith and thought, can in fact be enlisted as an ally in the construction of a Christian philosophy.” PhilosophyChristianityKnowledgePrejudiceNarrativeBiasObjectivityMetanarrativeLyotardThe Enlightenment Book:Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church Source: Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church