UNDERSTANDING THE META-NARRATIVE IS CRITICAL

Jean-François Lyotard, a 20th century sociologist, philospher and literary theorist well known for his articulation of post-modernism said “Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards meta-narratives.”

Post-modern people are more and more resistant to meta-narratives. They feel that there are no grand stories which give meaning to all of life and which define what is true.

This is why it is imperative that we understand the Bible from its main meta-narrative themes, and be able to tell the story – His-Story – the big story from the back drop of those themes. Otherwise, we get lost in the forest and because of the trees, can no longer see the horizon – the panoramic big picture.

We end up majoring on the minors, and have forgotten how to focus on the major themes of the Bible and through them tell the story accurately.

A post-modern person would just view the Bible as a collection of odd stories thrown together in one book speaking with many voices and which could be interpreted in a myriad of ways. They would not see a main interpretive principle that would track throughout the 66 books.

We need pull back from the forest, and look at the main central meta-narrative themes that also provide the best hermeneutic for interpreting the details.

Another thing – since we are blessed to have available to us the entire canon of Scripture, we need start at the end, to understand the beginning and middle.

Start with Revelation chapters 21 and 22 to see what God was ultimately after, his original intent, – a garden-city full of glory where His throne is and where He and His people are enjoying face to face relationship. And then see how Genesis and the rest of the Bible fit into that picture and theme.

Sometimes reading the Bible from back to front can actually help your hermeneutics – your filter/lens by which you interpret Scripture.

I really feel so strong in my spirit that this is a season where God will have apostolic preachers and teachers to emphasize these meta-narrative themes until the body of Christ can clearly tell the Big Story in this post-modern age we are in.