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Alister McGrath Theology Basics (2018) Chapter 2: God — Transcript

by Alister McGrath on Exploring Christianity · 2,595 words · 383 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00well hello it's Alister McGrath again
0:02and this is the third presentation in a
0:04short series of videos introducing my
0:06textbook theology the basics and in this
0:10third video presentation we're going to
0:13begin to think about the Christian idea
0:15of God which we explore in the second
0:18chapter of this textbook and the
0:21Christian Creed's open by speaking in
0:23faith of God the Father Almighty
0:26so that little word God you know that
0:29opens up a lot of important questions
0:32and here's the one I think we ought to
0:34start by thinking about which God are we
0:36talking about
0:37because after all the word God isn't
0:39precise enough in itself to identify the
0:42God who stands at the heart of the
0:45Christian faith Israel's own reflections
0:48on the identity of its God which they
0:50designated using phrases like the Lord
0:52God of Israel to place against a
0:55background of polytheism they but there
0:57were lots of God's believed in in the
0:59ancient world
1:00each nation in the ancient Near East had
1:02its own God and some like Egypt
1:05recognized many different gods
1:07so simply talking about God isn't really
1:10very helpful or informative it begs the
1:13obvious question which of these gods do
1:17you mean and of course the same issue
1:20would have arisen in the strongly
1:21polytheistic culture of the eastern
1:24Mediterranean in the first century and
1:26as Christianity expanded in this world
1:29it encountered the gods and goddesses of
1:32Greek culture such as the goddess
1:34Artemis whose temple in Ephesus is
1:37referenced in the Acts of the Apostles
1:38and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
1:41seen here in the reconstructed form was
1:44one of the seven wonders of the ancient
1:46world
1:47so you see using the word God doesn't
1:50really help us figure out which God
1:53we're talking about we need to be able
1:56to name to identify the God in question
2:00so part of the task of Christian
2:02theology is to identify the God in which
2:05Christians believe and then to move on
2:08and figure out what this God is like yes
2:11also about distinguishing
2:13this specific gods that God and father
2:16of our Lord Jesus Christ if you like
2:18from other gods or other notions of God
2:21for example from the rather
2:23impersonalist idea of God that we find
2:26in the writings of the rationalist
2:28philosopher Spinoza seen here on an old
2:31Dutch thousand gilded note as you can
2:34see Spinoza for some reason even seems
2:37to have inspired a type of bagel yet he
2:39also inspired a cold distant and very
2:43impersonal notion of God so this process
2:47of identifying the God in which
2:50Christians believe that can be seen in
2:53both the Old and New Testaments for the
2:56Old Testament writers Israel knew and
2:59witnessed the God who had delivered them
3:01from exile in Egypt and led them into
3:05the promised land of Canaan and in a New
3:08Testament we find this idea picked up
3:10and developed further Christians believe
3:13in the same God as the great old tests
3:16and figures of faith like Abraham Isaac
3:19Jacob and Moses but this God is finally
3:23and fully disclosed in Jesus Christ so
3:27when Paul speaks about the God and
3:29father of our Lord Jesus Christ he's
3:32making it clear which God he's talking
3:35about
3:36so while Christians know and worship the
3:39same God as Abraham Isaac and Jacob they
3:41know that the scholars revealed
3:43supremely and finally and fully in and
3:47through Jesus Christ who is the image of
3:50the invisible God the Salette owes to
3:53the Hebrews opens by declaring that the
3:56same God who spoke to Israel in many
3:59times and various ways and prophets has
4:02now spoken to us through a son who is to
4:05be realized as the exact representation
4:07of God or as an early second century
4:11Christian writer put it we must learn to
4:14think of Jesus as of God now this issue
4:18of clarifying what was distinct about
4:22the Christian God remained important
4:24during the period of the early church
4:26particularly within the Greek speaking
4:28culture of the eastern Mediterranean
4:30area for example the great Egyptian city
4:33of Alexandria was home to a wide variety
4:37of religions with a diverse range of
4:40understandings of what the word God
4:43meant and you know some kind of
4:45clarification was needed if the God
4:47worshiped by Christians was not to be
4:51confused with pagan alternatives like
4:53for example the goddess Artemis of
4:56Ephesus who II noted earlier or indeed
4:59with the various ideas of God held by
5:02different schools of Greek philosophy so
5:06the key point to appreciate is a
5:07Christian theology does not deal with a
5:10generic God like the gayest idea of God
5:13that became so popular in Western Europe
5:15and North America in the 18th century
5:18Christians believe and trust in the
5:21specific God who was known and trusted
5:24by Abraham and Moses and who the New
5:27Testament declares is fully and finally
5:29disclosed in the person of Jesus Christ
5:32and you might think here of Pascal's
5:35famous phrase the God of Abraham god of
5:39Isaac God of Jacob not the God of the
5:43philosophers so let's explore how
5:46Christians think about God and how they
5:48express this in their theology and a
5:51good starting point is found in the
5:53Creed statement I believe in God the
5:58Father Almighty so what does it mean to
6:01think and speak of God as father most
6:04though not all of the analogies used for
6:07God throughout scripture like father
6:09King and Shepherd are also males so does
6:12this mean that God is male let's go back
6:16to the great medieval theologian Thomas
6:18Aquinas who I mentioned earlier Aquinas
6:21developed some really helpful ideas in
6:24the 13th century about how we use
6:26analogies to help us think about and
6:29speak about God for Aquinas we can use
6:33the creation to help us think about
6:36their creator and the Christian idea of
6:39create
6:40helps us to see it the being of God is
6:43reflected in the beings of the world and
6:46for this reason Aquinas says it's okay
6:48to use things within the created order
6:51as analogies for God now we need to be
6:55clear about this in using analogies of
6:58God that are drawn from the created
7:00water theology is not reducing God to
7:05the level of a created object or being
7:07it's simply saying that there's a
7:09likeness or a correspondence between God
7:12and that being which allows the latter
7:16to act as a signpost to God so this
7:19means that aspects of the created order
7:22got rocks Shepherds fathers can help us
7:26think about God so hope you can see that
7:29point the issue here really is what
7:32theologians call the analogical nature
7:35of theological language these analogies
7:38are used widely in the Christian Bible
7:40and individual people's or specific
7:44social roles largely drawn from the
7:46rural world of the ancient Near East are
7:48regularly used as models for God's
7:52activity or personality and one analogy
7:55like that is a shepherd and another as
7:58that of the father but that does not
8:00mean that the fact that Shepherds and
8:03fathers are both male means that God is
8:06also male let's remember that the Old
8:09Testament also uses female imagery to
8:13refer to the love of God for Humanity
8:16it's important here to note that God's
8:19compassion for Israel is often compared
8:23to that of a mother towards her child
8:26for example in the prophet Isaiah
8:29thinking of God as father means that the
8:32role of father and ancient Israel helps
8:36us to think about God but it doesn't
8:38mean that God is a male human being what
8:43you need to understand is that God is
8:45the creator of both males and females
8:48but that does not mean that God is
8:51either male or female
8:54the important point is that neither male
8:57nor female sexuality is attributed to
9:00God God is not part of the created order
9:04but males and females are and both males
9:09and females can model God so let's move
9:13on look at what I think is a really
9:15interesting question the idea of God as
9:19a person and on the ages theologians and
9:23ordinary Christian believers alike have
9:25had no hesitation in speaking about God
9:27in personal terms and Christianity has
9:31always ascribed to a God a whole range
9:34of attributes like love trustworthiness
9:37purpose which have very strongly
9:41personal associations now many writers
9:46have pointed out that the Christian
9:47practice of Prayer really expresses a
9:50gracious relationship of personal trust
9:53in God and similarly Paul uses the term
9:57reconciliation to help us grasp what
10:00salvation is all about and this idea of
10:03reconciliation is clearly modeled on
10:06human personal relationships it implies
10:09that a transformation through faith of
10:13the relationship between God and sinful
10:15human beings is like the reconciliation
10:19of two persons like an alien at has
10:22burned and wife and for Christian
10:25theology the basic idea expressed by the
10:27idea of a personal God is a God with
10:31whom we can exist in a relationship a
10:34relationship that is analogous to that
10:36we could have with another human
10:39personal and personal relationships
10:43established a framework within which key
10:45biblical themes like love trust and
10:49faithfulness
10:51have their meaning but the Old and New
10:53Testaments are full of statements
10:55concerning for example the love of God
10:58the trustworthiness of God or the
11:00faithfulness of God and all of these are
11:04located within personal relationship
11:07oops
11:10now many theologians have found the
11:12Jewish philosopher Martin Buber to be
11:14helpful in thinking about personal
11:16relationships and booba uses a
11:18distinction between two categories of
11:21relationships and I you relationship
11:25which is personal and an I it
11:29relationship which is very impersonal
11:31and it sets out all of this in this 1923
11:35book with the German title you can do
11:37often translate into English as I and
11:40that but I'm just going to use the
11:41phrase I and you I and you so let's look
11:46at this little book by Martin Buber and
11:48see how it might help us to think about
11:50what it means to think of God as a
11:52person
11:54Britta uses this category of i-it
11:57relations to refer to the relations
12:00between active subjects and passive
12:03objects now a good example of that of
12:06the relationship of a Potter and a piece
12:09of clay the Potter is active the clay is
12:14passive and as you can see a Potter
12:17actively molds and shapes the claim but
12:21the clay is passive it's not an active
12:24participant in the process of shaping
12:26the Potter is active and shapes the clay
12:30to produce something useful something
12:33with a specific purpose or function in
12:36mind but I relations are very different
12:40and I you relation exists between two
12:45active subjects in two persons it's
12:48something which is mutual and reciprocal
12:51and at the heart of bubas idea of an IU
12:54relation is the in tangible and visible
12:57bond which links two persons so think of
13:02two people enjoying a conversation
13:05that's about a relationship in which two
13:09people interact with each other and
13:11strengthen the bond that exists between
13:14them so how does Boo Boo's approach help
13:17us to think about God as a person what
13:20are the theological implication
13:22of this approach to personhood well
13:26actually there are quite a lot but let
13:28me just look at two points very briefly
13:31first boobers approach means that God
13:35cannot be reduced to an abstract idea or
13:39to some neat conceptual formulation
13:42according to Boober only and it can be
13:46treated in this way for Boober
13:50God is a you who by its very nature can
13:54never become an it that is God is a
13:58being who escapes all attempts at
14:02objectification and transcends all
14:05description but another way you can
14:08never pin God dam and theology has to
14:13learn to come to terms with this fact
14:17secondly rubriz approach allows us
14:20valuable insights into the idea of
14:23revelation now for Christian theology
14:26God's revelation is not simply a
14:29disclosure of facts about God it's also
14:32a self revelation of God yes you know we
14:37do come to know certain things about God
14:39but we also come to know God but we need
14:43to make a distinction between knowing
14:44about God and knowing God knowing God is
14:49not simply a collection of information
14:51about God it's about a personal
14:54relationship with God and we grow in
14:57knowledge of God by becoming closer to
15:00God and that's not just about expanding
15:03what we know about God it's about
15:06deepening the quality of a personal
15:08relationship with God which deepens as
15:11this relationship matures let's move on
15:15look at another question what does it
15:17mean to refer to God as Almighty now as
15:22you might expect there's a translation
15:24issue here early Christians are fair to
15:27God using the Greek word pantocrator' in
15:30fact they often use this term to refer
15:33to the risen Christ and produced icons
15:36of
15:36christos pantocrator' christ the
15:39almighty like this one in Istanbul but
15:42this word pantocrator' is often
15:45translated as if it were an adjective
15:47almighty but the Greek word is really
15:51unknown and best translated as a ruler
15:55of all perhaps even as sovereign the
15:59point being made here is there there's
16:00no source of true authority outside or
16:04beyond God to be a Christian is to
16:07recognize his supreme lordship or
16:09sovereignty of God who stands over and
16:11sometimes against Civic authority and
16:14you know that's what early Christian is
16:17found to be the case when they refused
16:19to worship the Roman Emperor in the
16:22second century the Creed's are really
16:25affirming the idea that God alone is
16:29Lord of our world rather than a rather
16:32more abstract idea that God is
16:33omnipotent but it's still important to
16:36think about what it means to think of
16:38God's omnipotent or all-powerful
16:42so I hope these introductory comments
16:44will be helpful as you begin to engage
16:46chapter 2 of theology the basics which
16:49deals with God let's look at the main
16:53topics we begin by looking at this whole
16:56question of the role of analogies in
16:59theology in thinking about God is a
17:02father or a shepherd what are we
17:04actually doing what's the status of that
17:06statement and then we focus on one of
17:09these analogies in particular what does
17:12it mean to talk about God as father then
17:16we come and look at this more general
17:18but really interesting question what
17:20does it mean talk about God as a person
17:22what's there between a personal and an
17:25impersonal notion of God let me ask the
17:29question what does it mean to say God is
17:32Almighty begin to tease at some of the
17:35themes we touched on a moment ago then
17:38we look at a question which is really
17:40interesting can God suffer or does God
17:45just know about suffering it's a really
17:48interesting question
17:49and it became really important in
17:51theology in the last century now every
17:55chapter ends with a text and in this
17:57case the text is a really helpful
17:59discussion of the Fatherhood of God
18:02taken from the 1992 catechism of the
18:05Catholic Church
18:07hope you found that helpful and in a
18:11moment we're going to move on and look
18:13at the fourth presentation which deals
18:15with the topic of the third chapter of
18:18theology the basics looking at the
18:21doctrine of creation but thank you very
18:24much for listening to me and I look
18:25forward to being with you again very
18:27soon indeed

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