“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
Ultimate reality is found in a Person. That Person chose to describe Himself as the Word. It is clear that God created language to reveal that ultimate reality to His creation. It did not take long for language to begin alter the first humans’ view of reality through language. After the fall of Satan described in Isaiah 14:13-14, we see the first example of the language of God being twisted to challenge the existing social order. Genesis 3 records a conversation between the serpent and Eve. The serpent began by questioning the meaning of God’s Word, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Eve then provides us with the first recorded human interpretation of God’s Word, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” The serpent proceeds to completely transform the meaning of God’s Word, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Ever since creation, the battle over language and communication has fierce.
Socially constructed reality “is that persons and groups interacting together in a social system form, over time, concepts or mental representations of each other's actions, and that these concepts eventually become habituated into reciprocal roles played by the actors in relation to each other” (Berger & Luckmann) . Linguistically constructed reality is essentially symbolic. Words provide meaning for both the concrete material in the world, as well as, abstract concepts. Both social and linguistic constructions of language have been active in language development since the beginning of creation. In the last century, we have observed man’s attempt to reach meaning via these two constructions. Modernism sought to construct reality by discovering ultimate reality through human reason. Postmodernism has focused on the deconstruction of language by minimizing the original intent of the author. “A text, then, is not a book, and does not, strictly speaking, have an author. On the contrary, the name of the author is a signifier linked with others, and there is no master signifier present or even absent in a text” (Derrida, 2005) . Reality and the language that represents it gains meaning based on the interpretation by the hearer and is not bound by the intent of the author.
Does what we observe in our world today accurately reflect what the Bible describes as a result of the fall? I certainly believe that it does. A Biblical worldview requires that one view the realities of the world in which we live through the lens of Scripture. Broken communication was one of the first visible evidences of the man’s fall into sin. Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Word in the garden to avoid the consequences of a conversation with God. This Truth will have a great impact on us as we seek to communicate with others.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (n.d.). The Social Construction of Reality. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from Iowa State University Department of Sociology: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/Berger.pdf
Derrida, J. (2005). Postmodernism. (G. Aylesworth, Ed.) Retrieved March 23, 2013, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/#5
Good News Publishers. (2001). Genesis 3. In The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway.
Thank you for introducing this important discussion.
ReplyDeleteSome thoughts come to mind - first - the 'language' of creation itself: Psalm 19 begins "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
There are at least five Hebrew words in these few verses which indicate information as the basis of the visible order of Creation.
Modern information theory confirms this observation, as well as all that we know of the physical sciences. In every domain, cosmological, biological (genetic, etc.), and the earth sciences, order and information are everywhere apparent. Language is rooted and based in the more fundamental fact of language, order, information, and meaning as the base of physical reality.
The message of deconstruction uses 'information' to convey the 'information' that there is 'no information'.
It needs to be pointed out with gentleness and respect that to use language to deny meaning is self-defeating and self-contradictory.
To my knowledge, the most honest of those who practice belief in absurdity are Buddhists who forsake all speech entirely.
I would suggest that there are at most only two honest alternatives: To honor language and speech as intrinsic to the nature of God Himself (The Word), or absolute silence in self-renouncing commitment to absurdity.
The latter option will bring forth such beautiful 'information' as the existence of the silent one, his or her breathing, expressions of face, and his or her human relations day by day, and so, while attempting to deny meaning, such souls will express meaning by their very existence, which is beloved of God.