I picked up Jurgen Moltmann's The Crucified God this morning, and read this in the introduction: "Jesus died crying out to God, 'My God, why hast thou forsaken me?' All Christian theology and all Christian life is basically an answer to the question which Jesus asked as he died. The atheism of protests and of metaphysical rebellions against God are also answers to this question. Either Jesus who was abandoned by God is the end of all theology or he is the beginning of a specifically Christian, and therefore critical and liberating, theology and life. The more the 'cross of reality' is taken seriously, the more the crucified Christ becomes the general criterion of theology." In the context my existential attempts at some sort of personally satisfying theodicy, this concept of a God who suffers with us is a fascinating and potentially helpful one. While I am not so pretentious as to think it likely I will end up wading through Moltmann's entire book, and am fully aware that in the odd chance that I do find the fortitude to do so I am far from equipped to understand the wider theological context that Moltmann wrote from, I hope that even a cursory reading of and meditation on this subject will be helpful in my struggling attempts to understand and reconcile God with the reality of life on earth.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Crucified God
I picked up Jurgen Moltmann's The Crucified God this morning, and read this in the introduction: "Jesus died crying out to God, 'My God, why hast thou forsaken me?' All Christian theology and all Christian life is basically an answer to the question which Jesus asked as he died. The atheism of protests and of metaphysical rebellions against God are also answers to this question. Either Jesus who was abandoned by God is the end of all theology or he is the beginning of a specifically Christian, and therefore critical and liberating, theology and life. The more the 'cross of reality' is taken seriously, the more the crucified Christ becomes the general criterion of theology." In the context my existential attempts at some sort of personally satisfying theodicy, this concept of a God who suffers with us is a fascinating and potentially helpful one. While I am not so pretentious as to think it likely I will end up wading through Moltmann's entire book, and am fully aware that in the odd chance that I do find the fortitude to do so I am far from equipped to understand the wider theological context that Moltmann wrote from, I hope that even a cursory reading of and meditation on this subject will be helpful in my struggling attempts to understand and reconcile God with the reality of life on earth.
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That's a great quote. So many theological writers seem to dance around the questions of human suffering or gloss over it ('don't question God'). Yet it's the question that's most central in most people's minds about God or Christianity specifically.
Was at John Fox's blog and saw your name in the comment list. I wouldn't snoop on your blog except that I was part of your Mongolia squad, several years back, and wanted to say hi to you and Jess. Congrats on the kid! Sorry you're having to endure a spell in the Midwest. :-) Are you still in the medical field?
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