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The Meaning of meaning

In contemporary discussion about religion one of the most commonly used words is “meaning” – probably considerably more than “God.” What is meant by saying religion yields meaning?


There is, of course, semantic and logical meaning where we ask: what am I trying to communicate to another through this form of words? But that’s not what we mean here. Rather, the considerations we have in mind are responses to the existential questions that teachers and preachers have used to encourage their hearers to ask themselves: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” “Can I ever get there?” “How should I live?”


Rarely was the prospect entertained that the relevant questions had no answers or no good answers. An interpretation that exposed the possibility of unrelieved nihilism and emptiness was not part of this multiple choice test. To deal with these questions was said to deal with the problem of the meaning of life.


The educational context in which these questions were raised, however, usually guaranteed a positive or satisfying answer that allowed the questioners to say: “my life has meaning.” Rarely was the prospect entertained that life is meaningless, that is, pointless and valueless. The French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, in investigating the causes of suicide coined the term “anomie” or the absence of value – “what’s the point?”


But let’s take another stab at defining meaning because, in fact, the human condition cries out for answers to the threats to life’s flourishing and fullness.


Paul Tillich, in The Courage to Be, set out his understanding that life is threatened by emptiness and meaninglessness; guilt and condemnation, that is moral failure; and by death. The role of religions is to give answers to these vexing existential anxieties.

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz gives an explanation along similar lines. Our basic existential anxiety is that life is uninterpretable – not that it is uninterpreted but that it is intrinsically uninterpretable. Hence, religion is a cultural system whose function it is to convey an interpreted world in which to live and thrive.


My own reflection on this search for meaning focuses on four ineradicable dilemmas with which life confronts us:


· First, what does it mean to be human, given the conflicting angelic and demonic track record?


· What is the meaning of the historical flow, that is, all the clashes reported in our daily newspapers?


· What is the nature of nature, its constraints and benefits – asked while we stare ecological devastation in the face?


· What is ultimate in the total package of reality? That is, the God question.


Religions, including Christianity, if they are to survive, have to give insightful and credible answers to these fundamental dilemmas of existence. Answers are hard because the data is confusing and contradictory and the answers not demonstrable. That’s why we call the response faith.


If my premise is right, namely that religions seeks to evoke life-affirming answers to this search for meaning, then the Christian preacher’s (not necessarily an ordained minister) mandate is clear. To present the Christian an interpretation of life that gives meaning.

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