Book Review: Not Even God

I’m not a big book reviewer. I may tell you what I’m reading and write a sentence or so about it. But this one is worth the effort.

A few weeks ago, a pastor named Bryan Rocine sent me his book to read and review. Bryan pastors Living Word Church in Syracuse, NY. Not Even God: The Curious Partnership of God and Man is a really interesting book simply for its ability to express complex theological issues in a pragmatic form. And that makes sense – Bryan is a pastor and thinks about things from a practical perspective that meets people where they are. Not Even God is a set of fifteen chapters that treats deep theological issues in a competent and unassuming way, similar to The Shack.

And this makes it a great book for average church members. Each chapter is laid out in the following way. Bryan tackles a serious theological topic usually associated with theodicy, God’s interaction with humanity, or the attributes of God. He then launches into a story/testimony of someone who is a part of his congregation at Living Word. The reason for this is to show that average people and everyday problems can provide good answers to tough questions. There’s no need to look for some outlandish story when the stories of those around you make the same point. After telling the story of salvations, tragedies, struggling marriages, and drug addictions, he often ties his original thoughts to the story, providing answers for serious life questions without requiring the reader to consult an entire Bible dictionary. For that reason, the book is pastoral and intelligent. Not Even God actually (unlike most books) asks the right questions – the relevant ones average Christians are asking.

For example, if you are interested in God’s response to prayer and the contingencies associated with a partially open future, you can go read John Sanders’ The God Who Risks…or you can read chapters one, four, and seven. Rather than take your congregation through Abraham Heschel’s The Prophets or tackle Old Testament views of God’s omniscience with Walter Brueggemann, just read chapter five. To understand the book of Job, you can drudge through Fretheim’s God and World in the Old Testament, Boyd’s God at War or Clines’ contribution to the World Biblical Commentary…or you can simply read chapter eight. Bryan sums up modern scholarship in five pages with great accuracy. Hellenistic intrusions on the attributes of God? Chapter thirteen. In chapter twelve, the book of Jonah is accurately interpreted in just a few pages. Is the book perfect? No, but Bryan has the gift of making complex theological topics understandable. Down-to-earth writing with not an ivory tower in sight. Not Even God manages to make theology accessible without being simple.

Now, that won’t impress those who consider themselves scholars. But that’s what’s so great about this book.  It wasn’t written for scholars. It was written for everyday Christians who don’t have the time or energy to sift through a thousand footnotes, but still have questions. And that makes it an invaluable tool in the hands of ministers. Those of the Reformed persuasion won’t agree with much in this book. Bryan takes a very strong stance in maintaining free-will as a pivotal trait of God’s interaction with humanity – I suppose the term “relational theology” is most accurate. But that’s the way most people live out their Christianity anyway, even if they’ve been taught something different. The Westminster Catechism can’t help you with a rocky marriage – this book can.

For the average church-goer, this book is gold. For pastors, this book can shed light on some questions that we may skirt around in sermons and never really confront with our congregations. It’s a great introductory tool into understanding some of the complexities that surround our Creator. And for this reason, Not Even God is a step in the right direction.

Bible Verses They Never Taught You in Sunday School…

I’ve been interested in gender descriptions of God lately. Of course, the buzz about “The Shack” has made this a hot topic again. Talking about this may freak some of you out. Not everybody wants to talk about God outside of male imagery. I personally think of God as father, mother, husband, wife, brother, and sister. He represents all those relationships to me and I respond to him within all of those as well. And though male imagery for God may be most dominant in our culture, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s biblically accurate.

For those who only see God as embodying male qualities and only sanctioning male authority, let me ask you a few questions. Jesus chose only men to be his disciples, right? That’s should settle it. But Jesus also only directly picked disciples of Jewish descent. So does that mean the church should only appoint Jews to positions of authority? No, the rest of the NT clearly states that Gentiles get in on the whole salvation thing, too. He’s another question: if biblical allegories for God such as “fire” or ”rock” or “tower” are meant to be representative of his nature, why don’t we literally pray “Dear Rock” or “Dear Tower Almighty?” We don’t because we haven’t been conditioned to do so. But it’s just as accurate as our prayers opening with “Dear Father” and that we have been conditioned to pray. Better yet, God describes himself as both a mistress and a slave owner in Psalm 123:2. For those who say, “If Jesus wanted us to call God ‘Mother,’ then he would’ve said so!”, does that mean it’s okay to call God “mistress” and believe that slavery is an action God condones? Things just aren’t that simple, are they? The reality is that all of those metaphors (includung father) are attempts to describe various aspects of God’s nature and cast anthropomorphic form around a genderless God.

So, is there biblical imagery that describes God in feminine terms? Sure. Here’s some:

In Psalm 70:5, God is described as our “helper,” (ezer) the exact same word used to describe Eve. The word actually doesn’t have feminine connotations, and is used to describe God 16 times in the OT. Now, there’s no problem if we respect the Hebrew meaning of the word which describes a helper who serves from an equal or divine position and never an inferior or subordiante one. Of course, if we translated it accurately, the game is up and women know the Bible sees them as equal to men.

Genesis 3:21 describes God as a seamstress, a domestic function primarily ascribed to females. Jesus breaks these cultural barriers as well. He washes feet and serves companions (female or slave “jobs” in first-century Judaism) and tells overworked women (like Martha) to take a break and rest her feet.

The Bible describes God as having a womb and giving birth in Jeremiah 31:20, Isaiah 42:14, and Isaiah 46:3-4. Paul describes the cosmic womb of God in Acts 17:28: “In God, we live and move and have our being.” Job 38:8-9 and 28-29 describes God as father, giving birth, and the womb of God all in the same chapter.

We constantly overlook the feminine imagery Jesus describes with Nicodemus in John 3:3-7: “You must be born from above.” Jesus uses feminine imagery of birth again in John 16:21-22 and then turns around and prays to “Father” in the garden before his crucifixion.

Oh yeah, and then there’s the nursing mother passages. Isaiah 49:15 and Numbers 11:11-14. Though scholars are still debating, El Shaddai may mean the God of many breasts! God describes himself as a comforting mother in Isaiah 66:12-13. Hosea 11:1-9 says Gods loves us as a mother lifts an infant to her cheek.

And the greatest mixed metaphor for God in the Bible? The distinction goes to Deuteronomy 32:18:

“You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; 
you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

Ah, what a beautiful, beautiful image of a God who supplies every need and refuses gender categorization.

What a Great Worship Song!

Sorry I haven’t been around to return comments and such for the last few days. You’ll understand when I say that I was here:

If you’ve read this post, you know I have a precarious relationship with worship music. I can’t exactly tell you why some songs get my attention and others don’t. But I’ve played one worship song several times a day for the past three weeks: “Only True God.” You can hear a little bit of it here and here. It’s by Paul Baloche and Kathryn Scott of Vineyard fame. Here are the lyrics:

Beyond us, God within us
Revealed, yet we see in part
Transcendent, but so near us
The mystery dwelling within our hearts

Father, Spirit, Son, only true God
Exalted three in one, only true God
Only true God

Majestic, God above us
Enthroned, yet You wash our feet
Humble, but so holy
All of creation bows when You speak

Father, Spirit, Son, only true God
Exalted three in one, only true God

God of all things, God Who saves us
God within us, You are God
God of all things, God Who saves us
God within us, You are God

Normally I don’t go for the whole “declare your doctrine” through praise music trend (I’ll be happy when Matt Redman and company move past it). But somehow this song does that and still finds way to make it personal. I don’t know – maybe it’s the 3/4 time feel or Kathryn’s voice or the intimate images that balance power and humility. But I totally love this song.  LOVE IT, PEOPLE! Maybe you can tell me why.

More than ever before, Christians are beginning to understand that it’s the interaction between the members of the Trinity that really demonstrates and displays the true nature of God – dare I say his playfulness. That’s why Paul Young’s “The Shack” is so popular – it gives a glimpse of that interaction which sharpens all Three. For me, this song really captures this. It feels like it was written by someone about their close friend – someone whose complexity they find difficult to describe, yet familiar all at the same time. That’s what Paul and Kathryn were doing. They were describing their friend when they wrote this song.

Reading List

I haven’t said what I’ve been reading over the last month or two, so I thought I would update that for you. Like you care, right?

Obviously, I read The Shack  by William P. Young since I blogged about that here.

Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation of 1 and 2 Samuel (good translation – interesting commentary)

Ellen F. Davis, Wondrous Depth: Preaching the Old Testament (eh, not as good as her other stuff)

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Faithfulness in Action: Loyalty in Biblical Perspective. (Excellent treatment of God’s covenant loyalty – a loyalty unmatched by human standards. Wonderful book!)

Robert Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job (Comprehensive, though I don’t agree with some of his approaches to Job)

Robert Hamerton-Kelly, God the Father: Theology and Patriarchy in the Teaching of Jesus (Deals with gender in the Old and New Testaments – a solid read.)

Terence Fretheim, First and Second Kings: Westminster Bible Companion (great accessible treatment of a difficult OT book)

Probably the best book is the one I’m in the middle of right now – Wendy Mogel, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children. What an excellent parenting book. I find myself agreeing with every sentence. Mogel is a clinical psychologist who uses tried and true Jewish teachings from the Bible and Rabbinical tradition to shape a God-centered approach to parenting. Read this book, people!

The Theology of “The Shack”

I just finished The Shack by William Young. I laughed. I cried. I finished it in two days. What a beautiful, beautiful book. If you have not read it, please, for the love of all that is decent and holy, pick it up.

Though it’s fiction, Young deals with some amazingly complex theology in the book. And, though most reviews slam the book’s theological perspective, I would like to help set the record straight. Below I point you to some scholarly sources that confirm and elaborate on the ideas found in The Shack. I don’t agree with everything I read (though I certainly agree with a whole lot of it), but it’s important for you to know that Young isn’t expounding some “strange wind of doctrine” to whisk the Christian community into deception. He’s actually more theologically up-to-date than most of his detractors.

But how did I know I was really  going to like this book? In his acknowledgements, Young lists Malcolm Smith as an influence in writing the book. Malcolm is one of the most unrecognized yet most influential Bible teachers of the last 50 years. You want depth in your Christianity? Go to his site and buy every book and CD you can purchase.

I don’t have time to provide academic references for everything in The Shack, but a few should help you know that Young isn’t some crazy dude who’s making up stuff.

Concerned about Young’s use of metaphor and gender in describing God (chapter 5)? For metaphor, go read Sallie McFague’s Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language. For gender, see Elizabeth Johnson’s She Who Is, or Paul Smith’s Is It Okay to Call God Mother?: Considering the Feminine Face of God.

Concerned about Young’s equality among the Trinity (chapter 8)? Read Robert Jenson’s The Triune Identity: God According to the Gospel, Karl Rahner’s The Trinity, or Catherine Lacugna’s God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life.

Don’t like the idea of God having the “scars” of Jesus on his hands (chapter 6)? Read Jurgen Moltmann’s The Crucified God or The Creative Suffering of God by Paul Fiddes.

Don’t like the idea that Jesus proved his humanity in healing others (pp. 99-100)? Read about “Spirit Christology” in James Sheldon’s Mighty in Word and Deed or Gerald Hawthorne’s The Presence and the Power.

Confused by Sarayu’s speech on God as a “verb” rather than a “noun”? Read Miroslav Volf’s Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work.

Confused about Jesus’s lecture on submission and equality between men and women (chapter 10)? Go read Paul Jewett’s Man as Male and Female: A Study in Sexual Relationships from a Theological Point of View.

Don’t like Sophia’s view of judgment (chapter 11)? Go read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Creation and Fall/Temptation.

Don’t like the idea of God being limited by his love for us? Read W.H. Vanstone’s The Risk of Love.

So, that should help. Young isn’t saying anything new – just things that have remained within academic circles until recently. Hopefully this encourages you to study out some of the ideas Young put forward in his book…oh, yeah, and go check out Malcolm Smith.

Some Links about “The Shack”

“Uh huh. That Shack book! I knew that guy was a heretic!” Whoa there, Kemosabe. I haven’t even read the book. But one thing I am serious about is making sure that proper information about a subject finds its way to daylight. USA Today did an article on the author Paul Young a few days back. You can read it here. Wayne Jacobsen, an author and minister, published the book (Windblown Media) and has some wonderful books himself. Wayne’s books have personally changed my life. He answers questions about the controversy surrounding the book at his blog here. Have fun!

And please don’t comment about how this book is the last sign of the apostasy. As far as I’m concerned, any book Mark Driscoll hates has got to be good…

Update: I read ”The Shack” a few weeks later and commented on it from a theological perspective here.