Anne Dunlap on Who God is and How do we know?

Anne Dunlap is a thoughtful, deep-thinking, social justice type pastor.  I’ve enjoyed connecting with Anne at La Communidad, a church plant of the United Church of Christ.  But, to use social signifiers and situate Anne more concretely, she says herself the following:

I am a 39-year old woman, although sometimes I feel like I’m 27. Or 6. What does 39 feel like? Heck if I know. I still like to splash in mud puddles, play catch, and eat popsicles.

I am a graduate from Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO  and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC), which welcomed me with open arms after thirty years in the Presbyterian Church (USA). As a progressive, feminist, peace-and-justice-loving, I’ll-speak-my-mind-if-it-pleases-me, lesbian woman, it’s good to have a place I can call home with my whole self. I pastor a base community made up of Latino immigrants and gringos that is trying to change the world.

I Give My Heart to God

“God the source of goodness cannot be conceptualized in images and terms that serve to maintain either sexism or racism or any dominance of an elite class of beings at the expense of the other.”¹

^{The voices of the martyrs, the voices of the suffering, the voice of the earth herself, cry out, “There must be another way.  There must be another way than violence and domination and terror and starvation and killing, profits and dogma before people and earth and animals.  There must be another way.”  My search for another way, and a theology that reflects that way, begins with this claim, echoed in the quote above: The God who loves us refuses domination.}

I give my heart to this God, to the Divine who is at the center of the creation of the universe, who set natural processes into motion and yet took the time to imagine the whirling geometry of the packed seeds of the sunflower, the never-the-same spots on the giraffe, the mystery of the color blue, and the intoxicating smell of the back of my beloved’s neck.  I believe that Alice Walker’s claim that “the universe responds and takes care of us, no matter which god we believe in,”² is reflected in the tender, intimate detail of the second creation story in Gen 2, when God molds the earthling out of the very earth⁶ and has to kneel down so close as to breathe the Divine Breath into the earthling’s nostrils, and that this same God yearns for our well-being and the well-being of all creation.  The “rules and regulations” (as arcane and odd as some of them may be) of the Torah and the rantings of the prophets portray a God who is deeply concerned about our life together as a healthy community, a God who desires no one to be poor or outcast, who desires everyone to have a voice and a vision for peace and love and wholeness.  Regardless whether we believe Scripture is divinely written or mere historical artifact or something in between, our sacred text records the longings and struggles of a people who somehow know that there is a different way than violence and subjugation: there is God’s way, a claim cried and sung out by generations of oppressed peoples ever since, no matter how they name the Divine (or don’t).

Our tradition’s sacred text records the human perception of Divine interest and involvement in creation, an interest and involvement which rarely spill over into domination.⁷ One might describe the story of the flood in Gen 6-8 to be God’s regret for using domination over creation and promising never to do so again; incredibly, several stories find humans talking God out of dominating behavior (Gen 18, Num 14).  The narrative arc of the Torah finds God less and less utilizing power-over and opting instead to work together with humans,⁸ such as in the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, where we find God hearing the cry of the oppressed and deciding to do something about it –  and yet, rather than simply speaking the slaves into freedom (a la Gen 1), the Divine works through humans (Shiphrah, Puah, Moses, Aaron, Miriam) for freedom.  God works with humans through the voices of the prophets, the life and ministry of Jesus, and the communities that Paul urges to embody the subversive ethic of love in the midst of empire.  “God’s own being, then, is seen as one characterized by relationships of self-giving, reciprocal compassion, respect, and sharing.”⁹

^{If God is the creator of all, so powerful as to concoct an unimaginably vast and mysterious universe, why cannot God simply intervene to stop the empire, stop the earthquake, stop the man putting his fist upside the woman’s head yet again?  This is the eternal problem of theodicy: if God loves us so much, why do we suffer?  I am not sure there can ever be a satisfactory answer,10 but for me the answer is tied up somehow in God’s refusal of domination and our human free will.  In our faith tradition, we are offered a choice, as individuals and as communities: to follow God’s way or not – God sets before us the choice between life and death (Gen 3, Deut 30:19) – but God will not force our choice.  God refuses to dominate us, and I can only attribute this to God’s love for us, even though we choose death over and over and over again.  God refuses domination, coercion, violence.  God chooses non-violence as God’s way of being, and invites us into that way of being as well.}

²Paraphrase by Kwok Pui-Lan, Post-Colonial Imagination and Feminist Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 229.

⁶Gen 2:7.   “Earthling” as a translation of  hmda comes from Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978), Chapter 4.

⁷The Bible, of course, is often captive to its own domination-, imperialist-, and colonialist-oriented context, and those layers must be sifted through.  I find that certain narrative arcs (for example, the conquest of Canaan is in many respects a failure) and the outbreaks of prophetic imagination to be correctives to those elements of the text.

⁸Or even animals, as in the story of Balaam’s ass in Num 22!

⁹Jones and Lakeland, 55.

¹⁰In fact, I have said on occasion that eternity is so long because we have so many questions to demand of God…God has a lot to answer for.

Tags: iGod

Deborah Creamer on Who God is and how do we know?

I have the pleasure and opportunity of working with Debbie Creamer.  By far, she is one of the highlights of my time thus far at Iliff School of Theology.  She is a professor and Associate Dean for the School of Theology.  She is trained as a theologian who specializes in feminist theologies and is a leading scholar in Disability Studies.  She is a disruptive feminist theologian!

Some more proper social signifiers for Debbie Creamer are:  white, female, middle aged, single, economically comfortable, and yet invested in living in ways that disrupt privilege, cultivate relationships, imagine possibilities, and offer space for co-construction of a better world.

Who is god?  I ordinarily wouldn’t even try to answer this question – in part, because I know how damaging definitions and labels can be, particularly when we try to name something that holds as much value for some people as “God” does.  But I’ve been playing with the idea lately that I might think about god as being the empty spaces.  I don’t mean that god is “in” the empty spaces – as if, sitting quietly in an empty space, we might find or become aware of an entity or substance that we would name God – but rather I wonder what it would mean if we were to say that god *is* empty spaces.   By this I’m thinking of potential and possibility, of fissure and disruption, of questions and the next moment and all that is gone or is not-yet.  In a way, this evokes images of peace, or hope, or even eschatology in ways that might be familiar to those coming from Christian perspectives.  But I like that it also evokes change, uncertainty, and even the openness that comes out of fracture.  This leaves issues of justice, community, and relationality in our hands, rather than naming those commitments as part of god – this makes me a bit anxious, but I think I’m okay with that for now.  Anyhow, I’m not sure I’d answer the same way tomorrow, but for today, I’m enjoying trying on this image.

And, as far as your question of “how do we know” goes, I think that we don’t.  That’s part of god for me, too –  that god is something that we experience or make sense of at a significant level in ways that are fleeting and elusive.  That’s overstating, because I know that god is sometimes felt or known in deep and concrete ways, but more often than not, for me at least, god is somewhat akin to memory we have of a dream as we wake up.  Or, god is something that we build only to deconstruct and then build again, which is where my picture of “trying on” a definition comes from.  And beyond that, I think, it all needs to be worked out in community – where we together share our own tentative constructions and imaginations, and together weigh the consequences of any particular definition or description; where we repeat traditional stories as a way of holding ourselves together, and create aspirational pictures as a way of moving ourselves forward.  Which, I guess, is why I’m feeling bold enough at the moment to give you this description, not because it is anything solid in and of itself, but because it will then go out to community for further reflection, evaluation, discussion, exploration – keeping it active and lively, instead of static and oppressive.

Tags: iGod

Coleman A. Baker on Who God is and how do we know?

I went to school with Coleman.  At that time I called him J.C.  He and I shared classroom space, and we both journeyed in baptist life in a variety of ways.  After college he served rural churches and then went onto pursue Ph.D. work in Early Christianity/New Testament Studies.

Coleman Baker is a PhD candidate at Texas Christian University, Brite Divinity School.  An ordained Alliance of Baptist clergyman, he has served churches in West and Central Texas.  His interests include social science criticism, narrative and literary theory, and hermeneutics.  In addition to scholarly biblical criticism, J.C. also enjoys reading and writing on issues of inclusion and justice in the church.

Let me begin with the second half of this question; how do we know who god is? First, I would say that we cannot “know” that god exists but choose to believe it as a matter of faith. Given that “faith” statement that god does exists, we may address the question of who we believe this god to be and identity sources for it.

As for sources, I would argue that all religions of the world have something to contribute to humanities understanding of the divine. I do not believe that Christianity has all the answers or that being a Christian is the only way to follow god. For my own understanding of god, I draw on Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhists, and other sacred texts. These texts represent a variety of human perspectives on god and god’s work among humanity. Beyond that, I think that philosophy and theology can help us frame our understanding of god and god’s work. I also think that modern scientific discoveries, especially those related to quantum mechanics and physics make significant contributions to this conversation. I am sure I will think of more later, but these are some initial thoughts.

Now for the first part of the question; who is god? Luke’s statement (put in the mouth of Paul) in Acts 17 that god is the one “in whom we live, and move, and exist” is my basic framework for understanding god. From my understanding and perspective, which is heavily influence by Hindu thought, god is the eternal animating force behind the universe and that the universe exists within godself. In theological language, god is panentheistic, or existing and penetrating all parts of the universe but is not synonymous with the universe; god is bigger than the universe for it exists within god.

Tags: iGod

Jordan T. Garcia on Who God is and how do we know?

Jordan is an amazing person!  I’ve known him for several years, and continue to be moved by his passion for justice.  Jordan does social justice work in the Metro Denver area and works for the American Friends Service Committee.  Originally from the Hill Country of Texas, Jordan is a Latin@ Transgendered/GenderQueer person who always provides insightful statements concerning the reality of injustices.  The following is Jordan’s entry, which is provocative to say the least!

there is no god, we can’t know
or

Tags: iGod

Steve Bezner on Who God is, and how do we know?

Robert Jenson has aptly stated, “To the question ‘Who is God?’ the New Testament has one new descriptively identifying answer: ‘Whoever raised Jesus from the dead.’”  An answer like this is appropriately frustrating in both its simultaneous specificity and ambiguity.  On the ambiguous side, we are left asking, “But what or who IS this person known as God?”  With regard to specificity, we confirm that God’s being is directly related to the person of Jesus Christ.  The conclusion is a both/and.  On the one hand, God is ultimately incomprehensible; on the other hand, God is available for encounter through Jesus.

Perhaps, then, I would pose an answer to your question in light of your second question: “How do we know?”  We know who God is through the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospel accounts of the New Testament.  This is the most complete revelation of God that has been given, and in my approach to God, I must filter what I believe about God through the lens of what I know about Jesus.  To put it more simply: some vague notion of ‘God’ cannot color my perception of Jesus; my knowledge of who Jesus is must shape my belief and perception of God.  To be sure, the Scriptural accounts of the Bible and the vast tradition of the church inform that position, but, ultimately, the most complete way that one my know God is by understanding that God is made manifest and incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Tags: iGod

iGod blog series: Who God is and how do we know?

I’ve taken Systematic Theology 3 times: once as an undergraduate at Hardin-Simmons University, my second time in a graduate seminar at Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University, and then my third time was while I was pursuing my Master’s at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on the campus of Northwestern University with D. Stephen Long.  My first two times to take this course were taught by baptists of the Southern Baptist persuasion, though they each had a different expression of their baptist identity, certainly.

James Shields taught me “Christian Doctrine” from O’Connor’s text, and Dan Stiver took a different approach by using Jürgen Moltmann, a German Protestant Theologian.  Steve Long, a United Methodist, Aquinas loving, Radical Orthodoxy theologian took yet another approach to the teaching of Systematic Theology.  We looked at Systematic Theology from a Thomist perspective, and it was here where I first encountered the question:  Who God is, and how do we know?  Thomas asks this question in the Summa, and then explores it at great depth.

I remember writing a very Orthodox treatment of this question, borrowing from Aquinas and some Feminist Theologians.  I recall being moved by the idea that God is Holy Other and not the sum of parts.  God is that which nothing greater can be conceived . . . but what does our experience tell us about who God is and us knowing this?  It is the question of experience which prompts me to ask this question now.  And, I wanted to solicit ideas from varying people.  So, I did.

I initially cast my question to 4 white, straight, males, all of whom have higher ed. educations.  A few hours after soliciting them, I recast my question to women, people, of color, queers, lesbians, and those outside the realm of traditional or orthodox Christianity, including Muslims and “heretics.”  I’ve gotten a favorable response from many.

And so, I’m rolling out the iGod blog series exploring the question:  Who is God and how do we know? I will present one entry a day until I’ve exhausted the entries.  Some will be orthodox, un-orthodox, heretical, and all across the board.  These entries will raise up the Christian scriptures, other sacred texts, feminist theories and theologies, and queer theories and theologies, including some liberationist bents.  I think it will be a great series.

As always, all of my research questions come from the self, and in this case, my own self.  I am looking forward to seeing how this series unfolds.  Who is g/God and how do we know?  Let’s explore this!

Tags: iGod, Theology

On Teaching, Content Distribution, & the Like

I’ve been thinking a lot about teaching.  And, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to distribute content in pedagogically productive ways.  What prompted this post is a conversation which I had with an adjunct faculty member.  Our conversation revolved around history and how to teach history online.  Can genealogies and histories be filtered through an online medium?  And, if so, how?  This question is the exact place to begin thinking about pedagogy and content distribution.  If classes are online, which there are many online classes at various universities, then how do instructors produce content and encourage knowledge production via the online medium?

A friend recently became an adjunct for an online class.  He lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metro area, and the university is in Arizona.  He is currently thinking about content distribution and pedagogy for his class and going thru their extensive online training.  I’m wondering if he’s considering how his students will become knowledge producers?  I’m certainly thinking about this with the adjunct faculty member with whom I’m working.

So, the craft, skill, and challenge of teaching and the embodiment of a critical pedagogy is central to the classroom which is beyond the brick and mortar room.  How do instructors, in my case, theologians, do this well?  Just some passing thoughts I am having around teaching…

Tags: phd, Technology