What is a metanarrative? Simply put, it is a 'big story,' a story of stories, a story that explains our story. It answers the questions
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
What is my purpose in life?
Why does evil exist?
How is it that anything exists at all?
What happens when I die?
But not in an academic paper or a theoretical answer, but rather in a story. Let me give an example...
In the beginning, God Eternal created the universe, and most especially humans, in whom He placed a bit of His image. He created us to serve and worship Him for His pleasure and our joy. But we chose to reject our calling, and so disobeyed God our Maker, and condemned ourselves to lives of unfulfillment and eventual death. But He did not reject us. He calls to us all throughout our collective and personal histories. But being a God of Justice, He could not simply ignore the fact that we disobeyed Him. We who He loved must take the punishment which we deserved - but He found another way. If we could find a substitute who had not rebelled against God, we would be free to enjoy the benefits of relationship with God again. But we had an insoluble problem: the only one who had not rebelled against God was God Himself. And so God Himself came, became Jesus, and took our punishment! Now, we are called to return to our fellowship with and service of Him, and in so doing, to ensure that all know the greatness of God! One day, Jesus will return, and all those who have lived in His joy and served Him will be taken to Heaven to spend eternity there!
Do you see how this story answers those questions, yet in a much more exciting and enthralling way?
Where did I come from? God.
Who am I? Bearer of some reflection of the nature of God. Sinner against God. Called by God. Beloved of God.
What is my purpose in life? To worship, serve, and enjoy fellowship with God. To share Him with others. To speed His return.
Why does evil exist? Our disobedience and rejection of God.
Why does anything exist? God makes it so.
What happens when I die? You enter eternity - for better or for worse.
But do not misunderstand - metanarratives are cultural, even scientific, artifacts as well as religious ones!
You know the scientific metanarrative well:
The universe began spontaneously with a big bang. Primitive matter coalesced into stars, then planets. Primordial soup on our planet was sparked and became alive. Over aeons, the living things became more and more complicated through a gradual evolutionary process, eventually becoming us. Each of our lives are our own; we're lucky to be self-aware at all. If we can make something of ourselves, we will be remembered - whether that's children, fame, or power - whatever gives our life meaning, for when we die, we are gone. Eventually, the human species may evolve to become higher beings - perhaps even eternal!
Where did I come from? Primordial soup
Who am I? A highly evolved monkey
What is my purpose in life? To create my own purpose in life
Why do things we consider evil exist? It's part of natural selection
Why does anything exist? Because it does
What happens when I die? You're gone. But maybe you'll contribute to the furtherance of the race
And of course, there are cultural metanarratives too (the scientific one is quite prevalent in our particular culture)... to learn more about cultural metanarratives, and the impact of metanarratives on our lives, take a look at 'Story of Success'!
