Chapter Three, pages 105-110

Adieu to the Grand Narratives


Volf boldly states in this section, "every one of the grand narratives has failed." He cites two examples, but it is not hard to find examples in our own society. The reality is that, because we are flawed human beings, we will never be able to arrive at justice for all simply by doing it on our own. Part of the problem is the fact that, not only are we flawed human beings, we are also very different human beings, coming from different cultures and experiences, from different value-sets and beliefs. Trying to cram all those differences under one over-arching umbrella, even an umbrella with as enticing a name as "freedom" or "justice" will never work. At least, not when it's attempted by human hands.

Because of these pluralities, a truly established peace will always be just beyond our fingertips. "What stands in the way of reconciliation is not some inherent incommensurability, but a more profoundly disturbing fact that along with new understandings and peace agreements new conflicts and disagreements are permanently generated." We will never be done with the work of reconciliation.

Which is why Volf points to a final reconciliation that will only be accomplished by the Divine. It is not, in the end, our job to bring about a complete reconciliation across the world. Any such reconciliation would be forced, would quiet gentler voices and disregard minorities, all in the search for a grand narrative of peace. Only God can hold the reigns of peace in hands that span the whole world, holding all the differences and similarities gently together in the beauty of the good creation. Therefore, "a nonfinal reconciliation in the midst of the struggle against oppression is what a responsible theology must be designed to facilitate."

In order to advance along these lines, towards a day when God's final reconciliation is enacted and God's perfect love is in all and through all, we must be at work in our own lives. To this end, Volf intends to argue "that reconciliation with the other will succeed only if the self, guided by the narrative of the triune God, is ready to receive the other into itself and undertake a re-adjustment of its identity in light of the other's alterity." How can we do this when our differences can be greater than what we can take into ourselves? This is what Volf intends to address.