2A - The nature of God

What evidence is there for God as male?

• The original Bible languages, Hebrew and Greek, spoke of God as 'Father', and Jesus as the 'Son of God'
• HS = referred to in masculine terms
• In NT, G's fatherhood conveys two distinct ideas:
1) G as creator of world
2) Relationship between God + Jesus conveys an approachable, personal deity
• 'Father' suggests lordship over creation + loving kindness

What Bible passages portray God as female?

• Isiah 66:13 - described as a comforting mother
• Matthew 23:37 - Jesus uses a motherly illustration for himself
• Luke 15:8-10 - compares God to a woman searching for a lost coin

How does the Bible make it clear that God was neither male or female?

• John 4:24 - Jesus said that "God is spirit" (a spirit has no gender)
• Galatians 3:28 - "there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."
• Genesis 1:27 - "male and female he created them." God made all people in his image and likeness

Who is Sallie McFague?

• An American Theologian who writes from an ecofeminist perspective

Outline McFague's argument

•All language about God = metaphorical; names/titles (Father, King, etc) = simply ways that we think about God, and say very little about his true nature
• We often turn the metaphors into idols and worship the metaphor instead of God; many metaphors become outdated with time
• She wanted to provide new metaphors for understanding God in ways meaningful today - the metaphor of God as Mother does not mean God is female, but that the image of 'mother' highlights certain characteristics of God (e.g. love for the world)
• Masculine lang. conveying God's unilateral, sovereign rule, has led to the abuse of the natural world and domination of women by men

What is panentheism? How does this relate to McFaugue's argument?

•The belief that the universe is a visible part of God
•If God is called 'Mother', the natural world is no longer ruled over by God, but it is the part of God's womb ∴ to harm nature = to harm God
• Maternal images of God e.g. giving birth, nursing, comforting, caring - highlights our complete reliance on God
• We should not sentimentalise maternal imagery. We cannot assume that mothers are 'naturally' loving, comforting, or self-sacrificing, as these are social constructs

According to McFague, why should God be imagined in female, no feminine terms?

• "the first refers to gender while the second refers to qualities conventionally associated with women"

Why do many scholars reject McFague's views as unbiblical?

• Jesus asserted that God = "Father"; if he was wrong on this fundamental 'fact', how can we trust him on anything?
• God cannot be Jesus' mother as Mary was

What does traditional Christian theology proclaim about God's suffering?

• That he is impassible (English word to translate the Greek, 'apatheia' - 'without suffering')
- First meaning: 'unable to suffer'
- Second meaning: 'incapable of emotion of any kind'
• Asserts that God has no feelings analogous to human feelings + is closely related to his immutability ∴ nothing can change his inner emotional state
• While he displays a range of emotions (love, anger, grief), he consistently acts with compassion and mercy
• The ability to feel emotion through the incarnate Jesus does not affect the impassibility of his divine nature as it has always been his plan to overcome suffering with the resurrection

Why have several prominent theologians challenged the traditional view of God as impassible?

• Due to many genocides, Christians cannot have faith in a God immune to suffering

What was the basic point that Jürgen Moltmann argued?

• That God suffers with humanity

What was the name of Moltmann's book in which he discusses the nature of God in relation to suffering? What year was it published?

'The Crucified God'
* 1972

What does Moltmann's book attempt to answer?

• Jesus' cry from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Eli Eli lama sabachthani)

What does Moltmann say happened in the cross of Christ?

• God experienced death
∴ the cross = of great importance, not just for humankind, but for God

What was Moltmann's theology of the cross the reverse side of?

• His theology of hope
- Christian hope = based on res. but cannot be a realistic/liberating hope "unless it apprehends the pain of the negative"

According to Moltmann, what is Christian identity?

• "an act of identification with the crucified Christ"
- God has identified himself with those abandoned by God; uses example of a Jewish boy hung in Auschwitz: God hung with him
∴ Christian identification w/ Christ = soldiarity w/ poor, oppressed, alien
• Its power = "creative love"

What does Moltmann say that many Christians do not truly understand?

• What the cross symbolises
- The c.ch has made the cross attractive by stripping it of its true significance; e.g. the Catholic concept of mass as sacrifice denies the finality of J's death
- Middle Ages: the poor came to see the cross in a mystical way, in which G = recognised into the suffering Christ
- This "mysticism of the cross" = imp. ∵ it shows God as suffering w/ the oppressed, which is meant to be the impetus for their liberation

What does Moltmann say about following the crucified Christ?

• He argues that in the crucified Christ, God has identified himself with those abandoned by God - God suffers with those who suffer.
• Therefore, Christian identification with the crucified Christ means solidarity with the poor, the oppressed and the alien.
- It "is no longer a purely private and spiritualised matter, but develops into a political theology"
The "abandonment on the cross [...] is something which takes place within God himself [...] The cross of the son divides God from God to the utmost degree of emnity and distinction."

Moltmann: "What does the cross of Jesus mean for God himself?"

Moltmann thinks the answer comes when consider that the crucified Christ really is God:

• "God is not greater than he is in this humiliation. God is not more glorious than he is in this self-surrender. God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness. God is not more divine than he is in this humanity."

• "The Christ event on the cross is a God event".

What does Moltmann assert is resolved on the cross?

The contradiction between God's justice and God's mercy is resolved. The cross is seen as the place where God's justice is satisfied through the punishment of sin, while also demonstrating God's mercy and love for humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This reconciliation of justice and mercy on the cross is central to Moltmann's understanding of the atonement and the significance of Christ's death.
• "Protest atheism [...] where G himself protested against suffering in the death of the godforsaken son."

What does Moltmann dismiss?

divine impassibility provided by past articulations
• Docetism (heresy): The idea that it was only the human nature of Jesus that suffered while his divine nature was unaffected

Moltmann: What did the cross mark the start of?

- A new understanding of God's relationship with humanity and the world.
- Moltmann sees the cross as the place where God enters into human suffering and solidarity, taking on the brokenness and pain of the world in order to redeem and transform it.
- The start of Christianity
• The divine process whereby the death of the Son and the grief of the Father led to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

What metaphor does McFague replace 'Father' with? What doctrine, love, and ethical element does this represent?

• Father is replaced with mother, it represents a shift towards a more inclusive and expansive understanding of God as nurturing, caring, and sustaining, rather than solely paternal or hierarchical. Agape/ selfless love which is the type of love God has for the world.
• Doctrine of creation
• This change in metaphor challenges traditional hierarchies and power dynamics, calling for a more inclusive and egalitarian understanding of God's nature and action.

Metaphor: Mother
Doctrine: Creation
Love: Agape
Ethical element: Justice

What metaphor does McFague replace 'Son' with? What doctrine, love, and ethical element does this represent?

• She uses the metaphor of 'Child' in her theological work. This change represents a shift towards a more inclusive and relational understanding of God's presence and activity in the world.
• Doctrine of salvation
• The ethical element of healing- Eros/ desire

What metaphor does McFague replace 'Spirit' with? What doctrine, love, and ethical element does this represent?

• Friend- instead of the traditional title of Spirit
•Doctrine of Escathology
•Element of companionship, Philia/companionship- the way humans should act in the world.