Word on the Street: What if God wasn't one of us?

Word on the Street is Gower Street's book review department

A review of God Is Not: Religious, Nice, One of Us, an American, a Capitalist , ed. by D. Brent Laytham. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. 2004. 152 pp. 14.99 paper.

It is sometimes remarked that sacred cows make good hamburgers. In this slim volume, six authors set out to show that the same is true of golden calves.

There is a long tradition in the church of apophatic theology, a kind of negative theology which cautions that any purely univocal speaking of God tends to verge into idolatry. This is a natural implication of the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo and the Judeo-Christian insistence that God radically transcends and is other than that creation (and hence, ultimately unable to be represented in human images). This sort of theology tends to be iconoclastic, questioning what might seem to be settled or comfortable notions of who God is.

This volume, in six chapters, sets out to do just such a theology for the church today. The first five chapters of the book take on five of what the authors think are “golden calves”, subjecting these notions to withering analysis. The final chapter puts forward a more constructive account on the grounds that, for Christians, negative theology ought to be balanced by positive (analogical) affirmation of who God is.

The first chapter features Rodney Clapp with his usual keen insight on popular culture. He cautions Christians to be actively discerning in their engagement with popular culture, not because it is evil or to be rejected (“Following what might be called the logic of the incarnation…the Christian can marvel at and praise specific, actual culture of many sorts, including the most common or ordinary” P.26), but because it is neither perfect nor infallible. Put plainly, some is good, some bad. Given this mixed nature he counsels a case-by-case engagement with the elements of popular culture.

In another stark, bracing chapter, Steve Long challenges the idea that God is "nice", locating this aberration in the spread of a culture of therapy, promoted by a clericalism that he characterizes as “a monstrous hybrid of the Grand Inquisitor and Mickey Mouse.” (43) Against this he paints the triune God of Christian tradition, who is not nice, but who is kind and loving.

Michael Baxter, a professor at Notre Dame, takes on the idea that God is an American in his chapter, whose subtitle is “Why Christians Should not Pledge Allegiance to ‘One Nation Under God’”. He particularly focuses his critique on an editorial by written Richard John Neuhaus in First Things, entitled “In a Time of War”, which paints the war against terror as an unambiguous war against evil, in which the duties of Americans and Christians converge. Baxter levels several serious criticisms at this portrayal, and calls into question the notion that America is a “Christian nation” in any relevant sense. He concludes "In a time of war, therefore, the challenge of Christians, scattered among the nations of the world, is to live as the one body of Christ and to pledge their allegiance not to one nation under God, but to one church under God." (75)

In the next chapter, Michael Budde takes on the idea that God is a capitalist – which seems absurd, until one realizes that if God is not a capitalist, then God’s church should not be, either. Budde sifts through the writings of people such as Laurie Beth Jones, who wrote the bestselling – bestselling! – book Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership, which in turn spawned other similar “spiritreneurs”, which would make me laugh derisively if I could stop crying long enough. Budde then turns to Michael Novak, a more serious proponent of capitalism as a divine means of spreading wealth and blessing throughout the world, and thoroughly critiques this view. One especially helpful part of this chapter was Budde’s re-reading of the Parable of the Talents, usually a favorite of the pro-capitalist camp. Quoting Steve Long, Budde writes "a fundamental difference between the Christian God and capitalism is that God presumes plenitude and abundance, and capitalism presumes -- and creates -- scarcity." (92)

The penultimate chapter features William Cavanaugh making short work of the idea that God is “religious” – and the related idea that we should be. He offers extended treatment of the historical problems behind the idea of “religion”, and concludes that “religion” is unacceptable to Christians, as it attempts to carve out two realms, one sacred and one secular. For the Christian there is no peculiarly secular realm. Or as Cavanaugh writes, “The Church should carve out spaces of political truth-telling and economic sharing that resist the twin idolatries of state and market.”

In contrast to the featureless, history-less idol so often offered in place of God, D. Brent Laytham in the final chapter offers a more positive account of God. He looks at the way that language has traditionally been seen to refer to God in the Christian tradition, and then examines in some detail the commandments about idolatry in the Decalogue. He closes by proposing that the God the embodied church discloses is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

This is a provocative and exhilarating volume, sure to prompt thought, discussion, maybe even argument. At times the rhetoric can seem a tad overheated, but it is never shrill or tiresome, and always based on careful thought and exposition. The authors no doubt would claim that topic matter – idolatry – warrants the strong language. It is clearly written and not needlessly technical: nearly anyone with sufficient interest and passing familiarity with basic theological terms would be able to tackle the book with profit. On the whole, it is a very rewarding read, and highly recommended.

Word on the Street: Tryin' Real Hard to be The Shepherd

("Word on the Street" is the working title of the book reviews department at Gower Street.)

A review of RealLivePreacher.com by Gordon Atkinson. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans. 2004. 165pp. $14. paper.

If you were waiting for a connecting flight in the Comair Terminal at Cincinnati International Airport a few weeks ago and saw a largish, bearded, thirty-something man weeping openly, it was me. If you were able to muster the courage not to shuffle off uncomfortably, you would have seen that I held a copy of RealLivePreacher.com in my hand. More than most any I can remember, this book has been able to move me effortlessly to laughter and tears.

Gordon Atkinson has a gift. He writes about faith and life in the church and the world in such disarmingly honest, loving detail, that you almost can't help but be moved and caught up in the story. His is the voice of someone who has been through Hell, but not back; it seems more to me that he has come out the other side and kept going.

He grew up in a Christian home -- not a precious moments, unread Family Bible, Christmas-and-Easter-whether we-need-it-or-not, by-God-we-drive-a-Buick sort of Christian home, but the real deal: loving, giving, challenging, nurturing. He experienced some real crises as a young man and nearly walked away from his faith; he talks about it in the book, and it is one of the most moving entries there. In the wake of this soul-searching, he committed himself to living the Christian faith as honestly and faithfully as he could, despite his doubts. (I think one of the reasons I love this is because it fights against the notion that Christianity is primarily about believing certain propositions.)

The other entries -- calling them "essays" sounds too formal -- include recollections of people he has met, dramatized readings from the Bible, and goings-on in his church. (Did I mention that Atkinson is pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in San Antonio? If I were a Baptist, and lived in Texas, I would find a way to join, quick.(I am also reminded that, like most preachers and pastors in the world, Atkinson has a day job, too, working at his computer web design business.)) In these pages you will meet Rabbi Jonah; Gordon's daughters; the blue shoes girl; Deacon George, who had AIDS and introduced a new element into communion; Christina, Jenny, and Everett Joseph Smith; you will even meet the Moon. And I suspect in all of this you might also meet God. At heart, these are spiritual reflections, told in parables and metaphors, never disembodied or abstract, never smoothing over the rough parts of the faith, and never presuming to speak for anyone other than himself.

The writings in this book originated on his blog Real Live Preacher, which I have linked to since the first days of Gower Street, and heartily encourage you to visit as soon as possible. I actually discovered his blog through an Eerdmans catalog which announced the book coming out, so I guess I learned about the blog through a book which is from the blog: Wheels within wheels. Either way, I'm glad I found it.

Virtually anyone would benefit from this book. Those inside the church might benefit from one man's honest voice and dogged "nevertheless" in the face of doubts and trials. Those outside the church might benefit from seeing that our faith is not about haircuts and b.s.. Everyone could do with a dose of the Preacher's self-effacing love. Several people on my Christmas list will be getting copies this year.

My only hesitation in any way about this book is that the author is not only a Real Live Preacher, but a Real Live Baptist. That is to say that sometimes he contrasts "the church" with God's creation in ways that seem too simple to me. Baptists always have a healthy suspicion of tradition and institutions (which may explain why they start so many, I don't know). As an Anglican, I'm not nearly as suspicious of institutions -- or I guess I should say that I am not only suspicious of them. If God called Israel as his own, if the incarnation is true and God "entered" our world in Jesus Christ, then why might God not also call the church as his own, in a way analogous to Israel, but not as unambiguous as Jesus? And even though we often seem more like clowns than saints, we still can't have the church without some institution. There's a lot more to say here, but I don't want the paragraph of criticism to be too long, because I love this book and think you should read it.

In the end, I thought Julius' final line from the movie Pulp Fiction was an appropriate title, because The Preacher is trying real hard to be the shepherd; so should we all.