Intellectual Freedom and the Agnostic-Postmodernist View of Reading Effects

One of the more confusing aspects of contemporary librarianship is its support for collecting “all sides” in its institutions while, at the same time, arguing for the positive nature of reading for all. This article focuses two positions toward knowledge effects. One, the postmodernist view, is agnostic toward the effects of gaining new knowledge while the other, the traditional–modernist view, holds that the effects of new knowledge can be known and are inevitable. It is the postmodernist position that undergirds contemporary librarianship’s support for intellectual freedom.published or submitted for publicatio

Religion, literature and identity in South Africa: the case of Alan Paton

This article draws on recent research into the early unpublished work of Alan Paton to suggest that the interrelationship of (English-language) literature and religion in South Africa is a much under-researched field despite numerous examples of such research elsewhere. One short case study based on Paton’s lecture on “God in modern thought” (1934) is offered. The value of a hermeneutic approach to literature that considers human identity in terms of incarnation, for example, is briefly argued and other possibilities suggested

"Deconstructing Postmodernism and the Mainstream Developmental Discourse of Women's Empowerment in the (South) Asian Context"

This paper starts with an initial gesture accepting the validity of many of the criticisms of modernity by some leading postmodern thinkers. From this initial position, it then evaluates the postmodernist positions themselves with regards to democracy, women's empowerment and justice by paying careful attention to the arguments of these leading postmodernists. It then develops a theory of deep democracy and radical subjectivity which can be used to deconstruct the rhetoric of international organizations on women's empowerment. However, shallow and self-serving as this rhetoric is, it nevertheless can lead to a limited improvement in women's status contrary to the claims of the conservatives. Furthermore, the theory can also be used to de/reconstruct the liberal and social democratic positions on women's empowerment. Such a deep democratic perspective in South Asia focuses attention on enhancing social capabilities through all means, but most importantly through the political self-activities of the multitude---- particularly the radical subjectivities and actions of the most oppressed women who can and will increasingly take leading roles in overcoming the rule of global capital.

On the Brink of the Waters of Life and Truth, We are Miserably Dying: Ralph Waldo Emerson as a Predecessor to Deconstruction and Postmodernism

Between his pivotal essays Nature in 1836 and The Poet in 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson\u27s increasingly negative and distrustful view of language can best be described as a precursor to deconstruction and postmodernism. Contemporary critics are too quick to dismiss a deconstructionist Emerson. There is evidence within his major essays that Emerson\u27s understanding of language not only leads him to public and private displays of pessimism, but also to feelings of internal solipsism, agnosticism, and epistemological anxiety. Emerson demanded that mankind should utilize nature and aesthetics to experience the sublime and an immediate and original relationship with God. Yet, Emerson\u27s essays evidence the idea that art and language itself futilely failed in bringing about an original relationship with God. By the time he wrote The Poet, Emerson officially succumbed to the belief that truth and God were ultimately unattainable, a belief that 20th century literary criticism defines as deconstructionist and postmoder

On the Brink of the Waters of Life and Truth, We are Miserably Dying: Ralph Waldo Emerson as a Predecessor to Deconstruction and Postmodernism

Between his pivotal essays Nature in 1836 and The Poet in 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson\u27s increasingly negative and distrustful view of language can best be described as a precursor to deconstruction and postmodernism. Contemporary critics are too quick to dismiss a deconstructionist Emerson. There is evidence within his major essays that Emerson\u27s understanding of language not only leads him to public and private displays of pessimism, but also to feelings of internal solipsism, agnosticism, and epistemological anxiety. Emerson demanded that mankind should utilize nature and aesthetics to experience the sublime and an immediate and original relationship with God. Yet, Emerson\u27s essays evidence the idea that art and language itself futilely failed in bringing about an original relationship with God. By the time he wrote The Poet, Emerson officially succumbed to the belief that truth and God were ultimately unattainable, a belief that 20th century literary criticism defines as deconstructionist and postmoder

Progressive Christianity: The Postmodern Mutation of Theological Liberalism

The intention of this thesis is to historically track Liberal Christianity, distinguishing its different shapes, dissecting its current form of Progressive Christianity, and then refute its tenets by holding them to the standard of orthodox Christianity. This project is organized into a chronological, historical approach to Liberal Christianity followed by a comparative approach to Progressive Christianity and orthodox Christianity. The historical research aims to identify and connect common, theologically liberal elements, a distinct man-centered theology, across different historical horizons, including the delineation of modernity, postmodernism, secularism, and humanism, which are influenced and shaped by theological liberalism. Focusing on the current postmodern era, Progressive Christianity’s logical inconsistency and theological incoherence is contrasted with orthodox Christianity. Finally, the culminating purpose is to advocate for the adoption of apologetic education within the church and a renewed church culture toward intellectualism to promote biblical literacy: a priority to equip the saints in order to love God intellectually and guard their hearts so they will not fall victim to Progressive Christianity

"Markets, Democracy and Economic Justice in the Age of Postmodernism: Fictions, "Factions", orFrictions? "

This paper starts with an initial gesture accepting the validity of many of the criticisms of modernity by some leading postmodern thinkers.From this initial position, it then evalutess the postmodernist positions themselves with regards to democracy and justice by paying careful attention to the arguments of these leading postmodernists Following this procedure, Lyotard's characterization of the discourse on morality and justice as phrase-regimes can be shown to lead to an ethical impasse. His appeal to the Kantian sublime, in this context, would seem to be a category mistake. The aesthetic category of sublime does not fit the requirements of moral judgments even in Kantian terms. Epistemologically, the postmodern dilemma arises from a correct critique of metaphysics and transcendentalism. However, the critique is partial and negative. It is partial in the sense that it does not take the challenge of Kant to develop normativity seriously enough to explore alternatives as Hegel did. It, therefore, pursues entirely the negative critical path leading to thoroughgoing skepticism and nihilism.Derrida's belated attempts to rescue philosophy from a linguistic nihilism may succeed. But it still falls far short of offering a positive account of normativity. This paper offere as an alternative to natural law and transcendental norms an approach based on Hegel's explorations in dialectics. Following this alternative offers a way of exploring democracy and economic justice. A concrete set of institutions consistent with the development of self-determination can be seen as necessary for the idea of economic justice to have meaning. In the spheres of production, distribution, exchange, law and contracts among others, the development of appropriate economic and political institutions allowing this inter-subjective idea of freedom to unfold becomes the thematic development of economic justice.At the microlevel, by carefully considering poststructuralist psychoanalytical theory of Lacan and others a dynamically oriented approach to the question of the subject becomes possible. Pre-Freudian thinkers such as Hegel or Marx did not see the formation of the individual in all its deeply problematic aspects.A continuum of subjectivity ending with the fully liberated individual offers various possible levels of moral agency. In an economically and socially unjust setting radical analytic and social interventions will be necessary for these possibilities to materialize.

Acts of the imagination: postmodern thought and the writing of history

There are several reasons why postmodernism is generally regarded as incompatible with doing history, and by exploring them, I will be able to better address the primary goal of this thesis: to articulate one of many possible postmodernist methodologies for inquiring into history. Before I do that, however, it will be helpful to look at my working definition of postmodernism, especially since the term is highly overused and misunderstood. While I am not prepared to sort out the strands of postmodernism or give a definitive explanation of all the nuances of its different forms, I do wish to address the aspects of postmodernism that I believe could have important bearing on the writing of history