394 Why Christianity 7: Metanarrative 1 (Daniel Fitzsimmons)

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This is part 7 of the Why Christianity class.

So far in this class we have stuck to classic apologetics topics like reasons for God’s existence, the historicity of the resurrection, and the rationality of Christian epistemology. Now we are going to shift gears and do some work on worldview. One of the reasons Christianity appeals to someone is how it “works.” In other words, from inside a Christian worldview life makes sense. We understand where the world came from, how it got corrupted, what God has already done to remedy the situation, and what he still plans to do in the future. This four stage metanarrative provides us with a framework to understand not only history, but also our place in the world. Today we’ll focus on just the first half of the biblical metanarrative (creation and fall) and next time we’ll cover the second half (redemption and restoration).

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What Are Metanarratives?
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An overarching story or storyline that gives context, meaning, and purpose to all of life; a worldview

Examples of metanarratives, or the “-isms”
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• Marxism, capitalism, nihilism, atheism, agnosticism, enlightenment & scientism
• Religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam etc…

Why are metanarratives useful?
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• Give structure to our existence
• Give meaning and purpose to our lives
• Help explain why things are the way they are, provide a lens through which to view and interpret the world
• Metanarratives are comforting and allow us to think about other things besides the ostensible mystery of our existence

What is the Christian metanarrative?
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• God created the world and all that is within it
• God’s original design was that we be together in paradise, living in harmony with Him, the land and the animals
• Through original sin – the fall – both man and earth became corrupted
• The consequences of sin endure to this day and created the need for redemption