So, I'm full of questions and invites today. (Note: I originally wrote this post yesterday!)
I'm considering working on a piece with a couple of friends about God. See, I think I wish that gods still had names. I hear a lot of "god-talk" in churches, in the news, in pop culture, and in society, but I'm not sure all of this talk, even when it's supposedly 'Christian' conversation, is about the God who is revealed in Jesus. It think it might be easier to differentiate between these gods if gods still had proper names.
So, I would love to hear some reflections on "god." When you hear people talking about God or when you talk about God yourself, what does that God look like? What does that God do? How does that God reveal Godself to people and to the world? What does that God value or think is important? What is that God's end purpose, dream, and goal for humanity and creation?
Consider this a little language and assumption audit. Thanks for indulging me.
While you're thinking, you might think about this different definitions of "God" the Regina Spektor explores in her powerful and probing song "Laughing with":
7 comments:
Interesting question
The question of what that God looks like,as you ask, is probably tied to some of the things Spektor brings out in her song. Interesting song...and interesting ending in that "we laugh WITH God"
You question of "how does that God reveal Godself" is important, for me at least, to couple with the other questions of what God people see revealed when I speak or attempt to live out my relationship with him.
I hope he is not reduced to a Santa Claus like character as she sang about.
As you point out in paragraph one I hope people see the God revealed on Jesus.
Thought provoking post.
If you work up the piece on God with your friends you need to post it.
I think that having a particular name for God would enable better dialogue with people of other faiths as well. Currently, I think the majority of Christians think that we are talking about "God" and they are talking about something else, which may be true in some cases. But I think in most cases we are all talking about "god"; our gods are just very different people.
Then again, even within the Christian faith, I tend to think that we're not all talking about the same being when we say "God".
I agree with your last line, Naomi, which is one of the major reasons that I have been pondering this question. That is one of the reasons that I wanted to wrestle with the God revealed in Jesus, because I think that forces Christians to wrestle a bit more intentionally with their understanding of God. That still opens the door to a lot of variance and interpretation, but it does provide one level of critique and challenge to our perceptions of God. Maybe the three focal images (community, cross, and new creation) suggested by R. Hays would be helpful not only in our thinking about Christian ethics, but also in our attempts to talk about the character, nature, and identity of God as well.
Good thoughts from both of you. More? Others?
In "If Grace is True" one of the issues the authors have is that people talk about God in such different ways and he/they want to differentiate as talking about the God revealed through Jesus.
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p. 48- "When I was in seminary, I spent most of my time talking about God. I made various claims: God is love. God is holy. God is just. One day a professor asked me, "What God are you talking about?" This seemed an odd question from a man who was supposedly an expert on God.
I said, "There's only one God."
"Are you talking about Yahweh or Allah?"
I was thoroughly confused, so he began to explain. He pointed out there are hundreds of different gods people worship and that even within Christianity there are many different images of God. He suggested it's never safe to assume when you talk about God with someone that you're both talking about the same God.
I asked, "Then what God have you been teaching me about?"
"I've taught you about the God revealed in Jesus Christ."
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Jenn's thoughts again-
I think there is never so much a true statement as "it's never safe to assume when you talk about God with someone that you're both talking about the same God."
I think it might be one of the reasons it took my sister a very long time to even consider wearing the name of Christ because she 1. did not want to be associated with some of the people who saw God in a way that was contrary to her understanding of who God is, 2. saw people who did not wear the name of Christ who did recognize God in some power that validated the God she experienced.
Hmmmm.
I've wondered about proper names, like all the names in the Bible- and we have some people around here who invoke those names at times.
I think I should know them... but I also think that God is revealing Himself to us continually- and then does His name change- or do we change?
I've gotta think some more on this.
By the way- I happened upon Spektor's song on Mike Cope's blog just a day or so before you put this up! I had never heard of her, and now am interested. Gonna have to check her out!
jduckbaker
(Stand by for a half-formed thought....)
God in scripture ascribes Himself several names (not mention a particular gender of pronoun.) When first asked for His ID, by Moses, the LORD said to tell the pagans that He is, "I am."
God is self-defining, or, rather, He is defined only by Himself. That particular attribute is peculiar to Him, divine. Nothing else, no one else, is self-defining, but all of creation and all creatures are named.
(This harks to the great ethical/moral question of whether God is bound by a moral fabric to be always right or whether God determines what is moral because of Who He is.)
My half-formed though: Can we name Him? I certainly dig your suggestion that we take up one of His proper names, those He has given to us to use, but we then will be plunged into the ambiguity of the particular meaning and limitations of that name vis a vis all the others.
Thanks for the thoughts here so far. I appreciate them in the context.
JRB, on your point over whether we can name God, it seems like the people of God named God a lot based on the actions of God. I'm especially struck by the first canonical instance of God being named. It comes in the middle of the Abraham cycle in Genesis. Surprisingly, it's not the celebrated father of faith who names God, but the mistreated, ostracized, banished Egyptian slave woman Hagar. God comes to her in the wilderness, meets her at the moment of her greatest vulnerability, and comforts her with a promise of blessing that sounds surprisingly similar to that given to Abraham. At the end of their encounter Hagar gives YHWH the name "El-Roi," "The God who Sees Me."
I think it's an interesting case to consider. Of course, this brings into play the idea that the names we give are deeply rooted in past actions and faithfulness, the way that gods have revealed themselves through their engagement with humanity and creation as a whole. This is seen most perfectly in the God revealed in Jesus. I think that's why I want to start with the narrative of Jesus to discuss the identity and name of our God.
Further thoughts?
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