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Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping Our World
It is a myth that only the uninformed masses believe in myths and that power brokers, media moguls, leading scientists, financial tycoons, political luminaries and intellectual elites don't. The myths that the ruling classes believe may be more sophisticated, but they are myths nonetheless. These public, large-scale narratives engage our imaginations and shape the way we experience the world. They are the stories that tell us what is important to know and how to live. Subverting Global Myths takes up six areas of contemporary global discourse--terrorism, religious violence, human rights, multiculturalism, science and postcolonialism. Here powerful myths energize and mobilize considerable public funding as well as academic production. This book is not addressed primarily to theological specialists, but to all thoughtful readers who are concerned about the public issues that shape our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. Vinoth Ramachandra draws at length on his own experience working among university students and professors against a backdrop of militant religious and secular ideologies in Sri Lanka, a country that has suffered from "terrorism" and a "war on terror" that has claimed over sixty thousand lives since the late 1970s and shows no signs of abating. Reflected as well is his experience of living and traveling extensively not only in the West but in several of the trouble spots of Asia today. Thoughtful critical readers who care to explore reality rather than flip from one reality show to another will appreciate this invitation to subvert present reality in order to make way for another.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published June 2, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 10, 2013
What overwhelms me is Ramachandra's breath of insight and deep understanding. He is an outsider of sorts, a Sri Lankan Christian, an engineering Phd and lay theologian who critiques from outside and inside Western global myths. In the book he engages the myths of terrorism, religious violence, human rights, multicuturalism, science and postcolonialism with a brutal attachment to the truth generally and the truth specifically as found in Jesus Christ. He writes with such sharpness that he will offend you, but you need to listen. He is not kind to the left or the right, the confirmed rationalist, liberal, capitalist, academic, war hawk and on and on. Listen to some of these quotes that caught my attention:
Christian theology is more than a set of doctrinal beliefs or systematic arguments. It is a way of seeing, of so dwelling in a particular language and doing new things with that language so that its revelatory and transformative power is manifest in the world. That language arose out of specific historical events that both constitute us as the ekklesia of Christ and call forth characteristic social practices such as thanksgiving, forgiving, exposing evil, truth-telling, welcoming the broken and the hopeless, and bearing testimony to grace. Such a theology seeks comprehensiveness, because it seeks to bear prophetic witness to One whose speech-acts heal, renew and transform the world in its entirety, but its own speech is always broken, sharing in the not-yet-redeemed character of the world.
What frightens a people serves as a reliable guide to their idolatries. Idols are sustained by myths-public, large-scale narratives that engage our imaginations and shape the way we experience the world. Myths are an intrinsic part of human existence. They give meaning to our lives, sometimes at the expense of truth.
Furthermore, the methods we use determine the kind of society we become. This raises a deeper moral quandary that is rarely debated publicly. Popular talk of a tradeoff between liberty and security is too simplistic, for security is a collective good. In liberal democracies it concerns the protection of values (such as tolerance) and institutions (such as constitutional government) and is not simply a matter of securing the safety of the majority. If the "counterterrorist" tactics employed end up coarsening and brutalizing our collective life, resulting in greater intolerance and the loss of respect for human rights, is this a way of life really worth protecting?
The Christian hope that energizes a passionate and sustained engagement with this world, in the face of violence and terror, is a hope that looks forward to the coming One whose life began with the slaughter of the innocents, who fled as a refugee with his family to Egypt, who suffered torture and terrorism at the hands of the imperial power of his day, died so that both victims and victimizers may find forgiveness and new beginnings, descended into hell to show solidarity with all who have experienced its destructive power, and finally defeated death, fatalism and terror by his bodily resurrection.
Old Euro-colonial prejudices resurfaced: Western liberal democracy was contrasted with Muslim (and generally Eastern) political immaturity, secular rationalism (which was European and humanist) with "oriental" religious bigotry. No matter that not a single Western state was a democracy (by today's definitions) before the twentieth century. No matter that, compared to the few thousand who lost their lives in these major Western cities, there have been hundreds of millions of poor people who have been slaughtered, imprisoned and impoverished all over the world in the name, not of any traditional religious god but of the modern secular religions of nationalism, fascism, globalizing capitalism, revolutionary Marxism, and state socialism.
Christian theology is more than a set of doctrinal beliefs or systematic arguments. It is a way of seeing, of so dwelling in a particular language and doing new things with that language so that its revelatory and transformative power is manifest in the world. That language arose out of specific historical events that both constitute us as the ekklesia of Christ and call forth characteristic social practices such as thanksgiving, forgiving, exposing evil, truth-telling, welcoming the broken and the hopeless, and bearing testimony to grace. Such a theology seeks comprehensiveness, because it seeks to bear prophetic witness to One whose speech-acts heal, renew and transform the world in its entirety, but its own speech is always broken, sharing in the not-yet-redeemed character of the world.
What frightens a people serves as a reliable guide to their idolatries. Idols are sustained by myths-public, large-scale narratives that engage our imaginations and shape the way we experience the world. Myths are an intrinsic part of human existence. They give meaning to our lives, sometimes at the expense of truth.
Furthermore, the methods we use determine the kind of society we become. This raises a deeper moral quandary that is rarely debated publicly. Popular talk of a tradeoff between liberty and security is too simplistic, for security is a collective good. In liberal democracies it concerns the protection of values (such as tolerance) and institutions (such as constitutional government) and is not simply a matter of securing the safety of the majority. If the "counterterrorist" tactics employed end up coarsening and brutalizing our collective life, resulting in greater intolerance and the loss of respect for human rights, is this a way of life really worth protecting?
The Christian hope that energizes a passionate and sustained engagement with this world, in the face of violence and terror, is a hope that looks forward to the coming One whose life began with the slaughter of the innocents, who fled as a refugee with his family to Egypt, who suffered torture and terrorism at the hands of the imperial power of his day, died so that both victims and victimizers may find forgiveness and new beginnings, descended into hell to show solidarity with all who have experienced its destructive power, and finally defeated death, fatalism and terror by his bodily resurrection.
Old Euro-colonial prejudices resurfaced: Western liberal democracy was contrasted with Muslim (and generally Eastern) political immaturity, secular rationalism (which was European and humanist) with "oriental" religious bigotry. No matter that not a single Western state was a democracy (by today's definitions) before the twentieth century. No matter that, compared to the few thousand who lost their lives in these major Western cities, there have been hundreds of millions of poor people who have been slaughtered, imprisoned and impoverished all over the world in the name, not of any traditional religious god but of the modern secular religions of nationalism, fascism, globalizing capitalism, revolutionary Marxism, and state socialism.
March 13, 2025
I'll admit, it lost me a little towards the end, and is a pretty dense read throughout- but, it's solid.
Ramachandra, who lives in Sri Lanka, is very intelligent and well studied. He holds a PhD in engineering, and is a lay theolgian. His non-western Christian perspective should be very valuable to all American evangelical Christians.
Ramachandra, who lives in Sri Lanka, is very intelligent and well studied. He holds a PhD in engineering, and is a lay theolgian. His non-western Christian perspective should be very valuable to all American evangelical Christians.
December 31, 2015
I have to say that this book is incredibly rewarding to read. Ramachandra is able to present much of contemporary debates in theology and yet, also, give a rather unique and personal perspective on the issues. It is also very interesting that he tackles topics such a postcolonialism and multiculturalism (perhaps the best chapter in the book) from both a conservative (evangelical?) Christian perspective, and an Asian and non-Western perspective. That is in many ways a unique combination, but one that summarizes the Christian world rather well.
April 12, 2021
Muy buen libro. Hacía tiempo que no leía un libro cristiano tan transformador. Para nuestros días. No es de fácil lectura pero merece la pena el esfuerzo. Encantado de haber conocido a Vinoth.
April 14, 2019
Something of a fascinating ride with Dr Vinoth, equally brilliant and infuriating in parts. Vinoth excels once again in subverting myths of science and effectively undermines secular liberal fictions of neutrality. In the final chapter he obliterates pretensions of 'postcolonialism'. Moreover and more particularly, with epistemological interrogation and historical examples, Dr Ramachandra exposes the unsustainability of secular liberal myths that lay claim to human rights, reason and moral superiority. Unfortunately, despite some marvellous criticisms of 'subaltern' theories and other marxist/marxian myths, he gives way too much creedence to post-colonial and Critical Theory dogmas; somewhat favourably citing Derrida, Gramsci and others at times in the book, whose shibboleth categories of gender and race don't stand up any better than secular liberal myths he directs more ire to. The weaker methodolgical characteristic of the book involves an attempt to filter too much into the bottle neck of 'equality' rather than pairing the more fruitful combination of Justice and Mercy, like Wolterstorff does. That more encompassing Biblical pairing would have reaped sweeter fruits in analysing the follies shaping our world. Furthermore, by implicitly accepting Gramsci's notion of 'cultural hegemony' and Althussian spins on that particular dogma, he undermines what could have been a more remarkable historical and genuinely worldwide critique of 'global myths'. (Although the final chapter made a great start) Whilst I disagree with a lot in the chapters on human rights and terrorism, I appreciate wrestling with the ideas presented and this is a fun book to read and bounce ideas off; as it makes one probe in deeper historical context. Regrettably, Dr Ramachandra, for all his intellectual prowess, doesn't seem to have a coherent understanding of markets, Christian libertarian or anarchist thought- Gary Chartier, Jacques Ellul, Dr Gerard Casey, Fr Robert Sirico, Dylan Pahman and co- so, by failing to adequately understand property rights as Christian human rights, embedded in a Christian anthropology and desire for home, he often falls back on shallow collectivist; often governmental or UN led, solutions. This relies too much on the one-sided notion of Christians as 'resident aliens' and perhaps explains his inordinate attention on open, or porous, borders as supremely morally compelling. More Theology than sociology next time please, on these weaker points. It'd be marvellous if Dr Ramachandra turned his adept scientific hand to AI and transhumanism more completely next.
September 30, 2022
I had a difficult time deciding on my rating and review of this book because it is a little dated, (I read this book in late 2022), and because I am somewhat ignorant about some of the topics discussed.
I almost quit after "MYTHS OF TERRORISM" but I am glad I persevered. The subjects discussed were more relevant to my interests as the book progressed.
Having read numerous books by Western Christian authors it was both a challenge and a joy to be introduced to Vinoth Ramachandra who is from Sri Lanka.
I almost quit after "MYTHS OF TERRORISM" but I am glad I persevered. The subjects discussed were more relevant to my interests as the book progressed.
Having read numerous books by Western Christian authors it was both a challenge and a joy to be introduced to Vinoth Ramachandra who is from Sri Lanka.
February 22, 2010
Ramachandra engages the stories we tell ourselves about how the world works: Terrorism, Religious Violence, Human Rights, Multiculturalism, Science, and Postcolonialism. Refusing to rely on dismissive two-sentence summaries of his subjects, Ramachandra fleshes out stereotypes into concrete, detailed pictures.
Based on the early pages I fear some might write this book off as a mere anti-Republican screed, but he's got something bigger in mind than American partisan politics and dishes out criticism to everybody. By elucidating these stories we tell he creates room to criticize them and then renarrate culture.
This is what Christian apologetics could look like.
Based on the early pages I fear some might write this book off as a mere anti-Republican screed, but he's got something bigger in mind than American partisan politics and dishes out criticism to everybody. By elucidating these stories we tell he creates room to criticize them and then renarrate culture.
This is what Christian apologetics could look like.
November 1, 2014
I have always loved mythology, the ability to look to the metanarrative and examine meaning in terms of cultural context. I was challenged to rethink some of the easy and lazy ways I have been attempting to understand the times in which I live. I loved his nuanced analysis and thoughtful reflection.
Of particular note were the chapters on multiculturalism and post colonialism. Made me really think. I could not recommend it more highly. However, it is not for the faint of heart, accessible yes, but not a quick read. Really needed to chew on some parts. I can tell this will be a reread and probably several times over.
Found out he also has a blog, which I will look at as well.
Of particular note were the chapters on multiculturalism and post colonialism. Made me really think. I could not recommend it more highly. However, it is not for the faint of heart, accessible yes, but not a quick read. Really needed to chew on some parts. I can tell this will be a reread and probably several times over.
Found out he also has a blog, which I will look at as well.
May 3, 2010
This book is amazing. I am so thankful for the eye-opening writings on Terrorism, Religious Violence, Human Rights, Multiculturalism, Science, and Postcolonialism. Vinoth brings a wealth of information and insight into these six topics to show just how often what we have come to believe is often contradictory and not necessarily the whole picture on what is going on in this world. A great read for anyone seeking a global perspective.
March 26, 2015
Шри Ланкийн цөмийн физикч болон Христэч бичээч дэлхий даяар тархсан олон хүний хуурмаг итгэлийг дэлгэн харуулсан шүүмж бичсэн байна. Терроризм, Шашны хүчирхийлэл, хүний эрх, шашны олон урьгалч үзэл, шинжлэх ухаан, постколониализм гэх мэт үзлийг Христитгэлийн зүгээс хэрхэн харж дүгнэх ёстойг нарийвчлан зөвлөжээ. Иймэрхүү төрлийн ном уншиж үзээгүй байсан, харинч сонирхолтой санагдлаа. Мундаг нөхөр байна!
June 28, 2012
In a quite deep and thought provoking book Ramachandra explores some of the myths that dominate political debate and popular thinking confronting them with the Gospel. He examines terrorism, religious violence, human rights, multiculturalism, science and post-colonialism. Special value comes from his perspective as a non-western observer which is refreshing and thought provoking
March 14, 2012
The first chapter should get 5 stars when he tackles the myth of terrorism. It goes downhill from there when he tries to indict secularists for the same charges of which he just waved his hand and cleared religions. And his accounts of post colonialism and multiculturalism are so shallow as to not enough bear a reflection to either trend.
July 13, 2012
My second time through. I am definitely gleaming more this time around. A wealth of discernment on six myths that exposes as Hauerwas puts it, "the idolatry often masked in so much of the current discourse on globalization."
January 16, 2014
I love this book, so far. Great to read about Global issues from a non-Westerner
December 16, 2008
Couldn't get into it. It wasn't about what I thought it would be.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews