Being a good "Christian Atheist"

Recently I came across an interesting concept...that Christians must become good atheists. The idea comes from something I read in Karl Barth, although I have forgotten where. Christian atheism...it just doesn't seem right. But what Barth is calling us to is the rejection of all attempts to make God into our own image. As Christians, we have the tendency to say too much...to go beyond what God has revealed to us. This leads to what Luther has called "the god who is not God". Contemporary Christianity is ripe with it. On one side we find the "Buddy Jesus" ("he's a booster...he's come to help us out..."), while on the other we find a tyrant, or the "unmoved mover" of Aristotle, which usually leads to determinism or a modified form of Deism. Barth believes that most of the time atheism is rejecting these false portrayals of God, and that we would do well to join them.

The God of scripture is not the "unmoved mover of Aristotle", He is the God who sees the misery of His people, and is moved to do something about it (Exodus 3:7). He is the God who in creating humanity has created a partner, not a slave; someone to commune with, not to rule over(Genesis 1and 2). The God of the Bible is a God who sometimes chooses to use scoundrals (Jacob), and who allows people to argue with Him (Abraham, Moses, Job). The God of the Bible is the God who has made Himself known in the person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has identified with the lowly, the suffering, the outcast (Luke's gospel). In Christ, God tells what he is like (John's gospel), and informs us of the way things are supposed to be (Matthew 5-7). On the cross, God has entered into our situation, our disobedience, our forsakeness, and he has taken it upon Himself. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He has given us a glimpse of the future he has planned for His people and for all creation.

Some may say I have skipped over some important stuff...some not very nice stuff. Violence, judgment, floods, exile - the wrath and judgment of God against our sin and disobedience. For sure, it's all there written in the pages of scripture. But wrath is never the final word. Judgment is never the final word. Darkness is followed by light, just as morning always chases away the evening. So too we do not stop at Good Friday...but we live in expectation of Easter morning. According to Barth, Jesus Christ is God's "yes", God's Word of grace, for humanity and for creation. This is what we as the Christian community are called to proclaim to the world.

So let's all become good "Chrsitian atheists" in Barth's sense of the term. Let us reject the gods of our own making, and proclaim to the world the God of Jesus Christ - the God of the Bible.

Answers in Genesis

Yesterday in Theology 101 we began to work our way through scripture, starting with creation. "And God said.....and it was so." What are we to do with Genesis 1? Some Christians argue for a six 24-hour creation, even to the point of making it a so called "salvation issue". The argument goes like this: if we cannot take Genesis 1 "literally" (meaning historically and scientifically in a modern sense), then we cannot trust anything in scripture. If God did not create the cosmos in six 24-hour days, then how can we trust the resurrection accounts found in the gospels? Thus, the entire Bible stands or falls on this issue.

But what if Genesis 1 has nothing to do with science? What if Genesis is not about history - in the modern sense? What if Genesis is really concerned with theology? Not the "how" but the "Who". As with any text if you begin with the wrong questions you end up with the wrong answers - and sometimes those wrong answers can be dangerous.

The beauty of Genesis 1 is how it engages the "stories" or "worldviews" of the reader. For the people of Israel - Genesis 1 undercut the ancient mythology of Egypt and later Babylon. The revelation of Genesis 1 concerns the identity of the God who led them out of Egypt. He is the Creator of all things, the one who brought order from chaos, who separated the waters and put the seas in their place. He is the one who merely speaks and creation happens. There is no struggle, no eternal conflict. He is not to be found in the sun, moon, and stars - they are not to be worshipped, for they are merely signs to mark the seasons. Finally, He is a God of grace and mercy. A God who makes a space for His creation - for His people - to exist in relationship with Him. A God who binds Himself to what he has made, establishing a covenant with all creation through the humans who bear His image.

The power of Genesis 1 is demonstrated in that it speaks the same Word to us in the 21st century. Genesis 1 competes with the modern myths of our day - consumerism, Freudian sexuality, atheistic existentialism, Darwinism, etc.... Maybe we don't realize how these "myths" have influenced us, as we end up making god, and religion, in our own image. Based upon these myths we define our human identity more in economic, competition, sexuality categories then by the revelation God has given us concerning who we are. In my own teaching experience , it is amazing how hungry young people are to hear the message of Genesis 1 - if only we would let it speak! If only we would get past these silly arguments about science, and leave those issues for the scientists to wrestle with!

Answers in Genesis? Yes! But not scientific ones. The answers we find are theological. They speak to the identity of the God we worship, and to our own place in creation as humans made in the image of this God. In this way the message of Genesis 1 under girds the entire Biblical story, and we can ultimately refer to Genesis as "gospel" - good news.

The B-I-B-L-E: That's the book for me...

We had an interesting Theology 101 class this morning. It started with a good discussion concerning the symbolism of The Magician's Nephew, but eventually turned to a more controversial topic. How should we view the different translations of the Bible? People take this very seriously - especially protestants. After all, the Bible is the final authority on all things. We use words like "infallible" and "inerrant", and usually qualify that with "in the original manuscripts"...which we no longer conveniently posses. Most Christians know the Bible was written in ancient languages - Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic - but for some reason when we start to discuss translation we forget.

Study the history of the Bible and I think you will find some interesting surprises. How was the Bible put together? When? What should we make of the fact that we no longer have the "original manuscripts"? Frankly, after looking into this a bit myself, we have nothing to worry about. I am confident we can trust the Bible as we have it today - in spite of the issues. What does strike me about the Bible is how cultural it is. The Bible involves language, worldviews, and ideas rooted in human experience. We need to take John seriously - "the Word became flesh". Of course, for those who believe it is God's Word, there is more to the Bible then human culture. But we must be careful to not emphasize the divine element of scripture at the expense of the human. The best theologians throughout Church history have understood this. Yet...many Christians today want to dispense with the human part - the culture - of the Bible. Instead, they understand it as a book of abstract doctrinal propositions and rules, which ironically end up justifying the preservation of specific manifestations of human culture (the 1950's for many in American forms of Christianity).

All of this leads to the issue of gender inclusive language. Is it ok to provide new translations that seek to move Biblical interpretation out of patriarchal categories? Or are we simply exchanging one form of cultural baggage, patriarchy, with another, feminism? To dig deeper, what should be the primary focus of interpretation? The meaning of individual words, or the wider story? Maybe it is impossible to separate the two.....