5. “The Name of the Rose” and the Postmodern Attitude to
Religion
a. Postmodernity and
Postmodernism
One of the distinctive
characteristics of pop culture is that it is a vehicle of a cultural phenomenon
called postmodernism. But what
exactly does postmodernity or postmodernism mean? Words like these are used in
many critical studies of contemporary trends in architecture, pedagogy, arts
and philosophy, and others. Just what the terms mean, however, is a big puzzle
for people who are confused about its the proper usage.
Eco himself wrote: "I have
the impression that it is applied today to anything the users of the term
happen to like." (Eco, Post Script,
1989, 569). The theologian Tyron Inbody crafts a rather funny simile of
postmodernism as the " ‘intellectual Velcro dragged across culture’ which
‘can be used to characterize almost anything one approves or
disapproves’." (Adams, 1997).
Daniel Adams provides an easy
guide to understand and also to distinguish the two concepts. Postmodernity is
the cultural condition or state of being of people in the late twentieth
century. Postmodernism refers to a cultural movement or diversity of movements
within that culture. Postmodernity is the situation while postmodernism is the
reflection and response to that given situation.
b. Important Aspects
There are two important aspects,
among others, of postmodernity. First, it is a distinctly Western experience.
It is a reaction to the definition of modernity and modernism that came from
the West where these concepts took root. However, though Western in origin,
postmodernity travels the breadth of the entire world, given the rapid global
dissemination of ideas and technology.
The second aspect is the concept
of the “unsecularization” of the world. The modern world focused on the
material and empirical, to the detriment of the spiritual. Secularism pushed
religion away from the center of consciousness, only to be relished in private.
But the postmodern age sees the resurgence of religious and spiritual values.
Traditional religions are making a comeback. But so too new expressions of
spirituality are making headway.
“Thus,
alongside the oft-stated conviction that our society’s brash ephemerality and
greed are utterly meaningless, inimical not simply to religious belief but also
to conventional ideas of an interior quality of life, there have begun to be voiced
less usual but nonetheless compelling opinions: expressions of an apparently
irrational hope in the possibility of a different future, which may be informed
by reference to conventional religion on the one hand (King) or, alternatively,
by cryptic allusion to a numinous and nonhuman force that is loosely called
‘spirit’.” (Barry, 2004, 169).
This phenomenon of the return of
religion or religions has been viewed differently by observes. Some welcomed it
as a positive development. Still others received it with caution, unsure of
what the outcome will be.
“’Zygmunt Bauman asserts
that"postmodernity can be seen as restoring to the world what modernity,
presumptuously, had taken away; as a re-enchantment of the world that modernity
tried to dis-enchant.’ In other words, modernity brought with it the secular; postmodernity
is restoring the sacred. Gabriel Moran, on the other hand, expresses caution in
posing the question, ‘Is the postmodern world a return to the premodern world?’
For him the return of the old gods along with the rise of the New Age is a step
backward rather than forward. No matter which position we take, it is obvious
that religion lies at the very heart of the postmodern condition.” (Adams,
1997).
c. Implications
What does postmodernism entail then
for religion, especially for the institutional one? Postmodernity, while it provides room for religious
sentiments, still carries with it modernity’s basic stance of distrust toward
corporate expressions of faith, for organized religion. In many Western
countries, it suffices to observe the growing direction “where the most
important religious trend is neither swelling unbelief nor rising
fundamentalism, but the emergence of a generalized ‘religiousness’ detached
from the claims of any specific faith tradition.” (Douthat, 2009).
Pop culture is disposed towards a
distance if not a disdain for most institutions, among them, religious
establishments. Some elements of pop culture like the novels of Dan Brown, owed
its success to the fact that the stories mirror the present generation’s
tendency to “claim oneself as ‘spiritual, but not religious.’ In general,
everyone seems to like Jesus, but many hate and distrust His Church.” (Oropesa,
2006).
Religious institutions must
therefore contend with the fact that now it has to share the spotlight with
other religious or spiritual trends. It is no longer the time to boast of
dominant religion versus minority faith. There is a cogent force calling for
respect of all faiths and tolerance of each other’s beliefs. There is even an
invitation to look into the experience of the “nones” – those who are open to
religious experience while not attached to a particular religious tradition.
They are also called “seekers.” And the church no longer has monopoly on faith.
(cf. Tippet, 2017).
