Page - 45 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 2:1

45 | www.limina-graz.eu way of dealing with Otherness (e.g., Malpas [1999] 2018). At the same time, however, it must be admitted that temporality plays an important ordering role in any narrative, and the capacity to embrace a common narrative is important for unified thought and action. The pressures of the Postmodern put further strain on articulations of uni- versality beyond those of Postcolonial argument. Indeed, the rejection of “master narratives” was one of the hallmarks of the postmodern discourse of the 1980s and 1990s (see Lyotard 1984). Yet the need to find a common realm of discourse about the human made the quest for such universals a continuing enterprise, even as it was acknowledged that such an articula- tion would fall short. The search for a “Global Ethic” by Hans Küng (Küng 1996) and parallel efforts by the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1993 showed that universals could be articulated only at a very high level of abstraction, and needed “middle axioms” to be translated into different cultural contexts (Schreiter 2001). What all of this quest for universals means is that it has become increas- ingly difficult to find genuine universals which parties from very different experiences and backgrounds can agree on. At the same time, some level of commonality is needed in order for common discourse and common ac- tion to take place. As will become apparent in the next section, it is often easier to find a common discourse developing around something every- one is against, albeit for slightly different reasons. The nature of the object against which all react need not be detailed in full or even in the same way. This partially explains the popularity of the category of “resistance” in postmodern and postcolonial circles as a basis for common discourse and action. Globalization as the Matrix of the Current Rise of Nationalism and Populism Globalization in its most general sense refers to the interconnection of peo- ples and cultures through patterns of exchange—the movements of ideas, goods, and people (Schreiter 1997, 1–27). Some measure of globalization has been going on since the early ages of humanity. The term is most often robert J. schreiter | Globalization and Plural theologies It has become increasingly difficult to define human universals which parties from different backgrounds can agree on.