Postmoderní kritika křesťanství Jeana-Françoise Lyotarda a její teologická reflexe

Abstract

The article deals with the postmodern criticism of Christianity. Our investigation focuses on French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard who was the leading figure of the theory of postmodernism. Lyotard’s postmodern thinking includes a philosophical reflection of Christianity. He criticizes Christianity to be an oppressive hegemonic narrative of love. This article wants to deal with Lyotard’s critique of Christianity theologically. Nevertheless, Lyotard’s description of Christianity is understandable only in the context of his thinking about the shift between modernity and postmodernity. Therefore, Lyotard’s theory about the end of modern master narratives as a significant characteristic of postmodernity is offered in the first part of the paper. We elaborate the notion modern master narrative and then we ask the question, whether is possible to apply this category to Christianity. Our answer is that a certain type of Christianity could be described as a master narrative of love. We point out the reasons why Christianity could become an oppressive (modern) master narrative and we look for a (postmodern) solution. We propose the outline of the theological concept which is called the open narrative of Christianity developed by Flemish theologian Lieven Boeve.

Keywords

• jean-françois lyotard
• postmodernism
• christianity
• love
• modern master narrative
• open narrative