I just finished Vinoth Ramachandra's magisterial book "Subverting Global Myths" and I was going to start reading Stephen Prothero's new book "God Is Not One" but decided that it was more important to reread Vinoth's book in order to better appreciate the details and nuance that Vinoth brought out in his book and to let me put together a more detailed review. I still want to read Stephen's new book forthwith, but it'll have to wait till I unpack what Vinoth is saying in his tome.
In chapter one, Vinoth deals with the "myths of terrorism"
In chapter two he deals with the "myths of religious violence"
In chapter three he deals with the "myths of human rights"
In chapter four he deals with the "myths of multiculturalism"
In chapter five he deals with the "myths of science"
In chapter six he deals with the "myths of postcolonialism"
In the days ahead, I'll explore how these various myths have shaped our understanding, whether as modern Westerners (as I am) or as those reacting against the latest onslaught of intellectual hegemony. As Vinoth Ramachandra has pointed out, in light of his own (and my own) Christian understanding, each of these perspectives is shaped by the particular shape, and dare I say, distortion of whatever culture we happen to live in, combined with our own inherent self centeredness, also known within the Christian tradition as "sin."
Thus, each of these situations described represent both individual and corporate/collective brokenness/sin or a deep fracture from the reality that actually exists. As I've already said in other venues, Vinoth challenges both the left/right divide as well as the religious/secular divide. Every ideology and idolatry will be confronted.
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