An Ethos of Deconstruction in Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious Contexts
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by Johann-Albrecht Meylahn in
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The essay will focus on the role of Derrida’s différance in opening a space for an alternative ethos in religious or cultural plural contexts. In postcolonial contexts individual human rights, as the universal norm, is challenged by religious and cultural traditional practices. Some of the traditional practices are incompatible with individual rights and this is aggravated in a postmodern context as there is no universal meta-narrative to arbitrate between the conflicting practices. The result of this conflict is often a stalemate between the universal rights of individuals, often marginal individuals (children, homosexuals and women), over against religious and cultural values and traditions of the particular local context or religious or cultural group. The question this article focuses on is how deconstruction can help to move beyond such ethical conflicts. The article proposes that deconstruction can offer a way of reading, interpreting and understanding these cultural practices within their contexts, by taking the various practices (texts) within their contexts seriously as there is no beyond the text. This reading creates an inter-textual space between the various dominant narratives for the emergence of an alternative ethos. This emerging ethos is not presented as the ethical norm, but rather as an open, expectant attitude towards all the texts involved. This attitude can maybe open the space for alternative practices beyond the stalemate in multi-religious and multi-cultural contexts.
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3
Adam Withall, “Denmark Bans Kosher and Halal Slaughter as Minister Says ‘Animal Rights Come Before Religion,’ ” Independent, 18 February 2014, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/denmark-bans-halal-and-kosher-slaughter-as-minister-says-animal-rights-come-before-religion-9135580.html.
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Jeffrey Gentleman, “Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push,” New York Times, 3 January 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html?_r=0.
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See John D. Caputo, Heidegger and Aquinas: An Essay on Overcoming Metaphysics (New York: Fordham University Press, 1982), 151–152.
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Martin Heidegger, Identität und Differenz (Pfullingen: Verlag Günther Neske, 1957), 63.
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Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (New York: Anchor Books, 1967), 32, in reference to the role of religion argues: “Finally there highly theoretical constructions by which the nomos of a society is legitimated in toto in which all less-than-total legitimations are theoretically integrated in an all-embracing Weltanschauung.” Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (London: Fontana Press, 1993), 90, describes religion as follows: “a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in humanity by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.”
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An Ethos of Deconstruction in Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious Contexts
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by Johann-Albrecht Meylahn in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The essay will focus on the role of Derrida’s différance in opening a space for an alternative ethos in religious or cultural plural contexts. In postcolonial contexts individual human rights, as the universal norm, is challenged by religious and cultural traditional practices. Some of the traditional practices are incompatible with individual rights and this is aggravated in a postmodern context as there is no universal meta-narrative to arbitrate between the conflicting practices. The result of this conflict is often a stalemate between the universal rights of individuals, often marginal individuals (children, homosexuals and women), over against religious and cultural values and traditions of the particular local context or religious or cultural group. The question this article focuses on is how deconstruction can help to move beyond such ethical conflicts. The article proposes that deconstruction can offer a way of reading, interpreting and understanding these cultural practices within their contexts, by taking the various practices (texts) within their contexts seriously as there is no beyond the text. This reading creates an inter-textual space between the various dominant narratives for the emergence of an alternative ethos. This emerging ethos is not presented as the ethical norm, but rather as an open, expectant attitude towards all the texts involved. This attitude can maybe open the space for alternative practices beyond the stalemate in multi-religious and multi-cultural contexts.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 227 | 51 | 6 |
| Full Text Views | 182 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 22 | 3 | 0 |
