To a newcomer to the 1992 SoF Conference the clearest sign that non-realism was in the ascendancy, in full flow, was the sombre sight of the real ale pumps with their labels facing the rear wall of the bar to indicate that they were not in use. Only the non-real stuff was on tap. Obviously some malign authority had been at work to prevent us having access to our traditional, or more accurately our post-modern, brew.
I had the temerity to remark on this sad aspect of the conference towards the close of the business meeting but was not completely convinced that its theological significance was accorded the seriousness it deserved by ALEeen in the chair. Nevertheless, the dilemma is clear and must be familiar to many beer-loving SoFties. How can I continue to drink real ale in public with my friends and religiously imbibe non-real spirit in private on my own?
On the face of it, these are incompatible activities and are likely to create the kind of double-life that leads to ulcers or schizophrenia. But are we really dealing here with contrasting opposites? This is not merely a rhetorical question and I will attempt an answer in the following manner.
Real ale is a living, organic substance. It is plural in nature, is infinitely variable and manifests itself through numerous outlets. It is strikingly independent and resists any attempt at homogeneity from a single omnipotent producer. Its adherents are spontaneously creative since it generates an uninhibitive atmosphere in which the best and most imaginative stories are told. Objectivity certainly disappears. In short, it has precisely those features which characterise the spirit of non-realism. A few selective quotes from Don Cupitt reveal the similarities: *Non-realism gives up all objectivity...(Non-realism and God) *The huge diffusion of information this century has made us all so pluralistic...(Radicals and the Future of the Church) *Post-moderns like to be protean, mistrusting selfsameness and strong identity and preferring plurality and difference...(Ibid) *The arts are there to help us unwind, and the typical practitioner should be like Dylan Thomas... a wild, undisciplined, hopelessly subjective and traditional alcoholic wunderkind...(Ibid) It would appear, then, that real ale is not archaic, authoritarian and monopolistic but modern, liberating and democratic. Thus "realism" and "nonrealism" have the same attributes. Paradoxically, they are synonyms rather than opposites. I had a lot of sympathy with the questioner at Conference who pleaded for "realism" to retain its usual colloquial everyday meaning rather than be relegated to describe what has for many become an outmoded ideological view. Somewhere along the line linguistic gymnastics have conspired to transpose these two terms.
Perhaps we can resort to some quasi-mathematics to solve this equation:
Realism - God = Non-realism If we subtract God from realism, what we are left with is non-realism. Since God has been reduced to zero, at any rate by post-moderns, we are clearly left with realism and nonrealism being identical. I can therefore relax in the knowledge that non-realist real ale will be flowing at next year's Conference. [MORE CONFERENCE STUFF page 10]