In his second edition of Small-Faith—Great God, N.T. Wright writes on “a recipe for idolatry”:
“There was a book written some years ago with the title The God I Want. If ever there were a recipe for idolatry, that is it. The God of the Bible is not necessarily the God I want: my confused desires almost certainly don’t fit in with who he actually is, and just as well. What matters much more is the God who actually made me, the God with whom (whether I want to or not) I have to do business. And he is so much bigger and greater than anyting that I could imagine that I must never imagine I have got him tied down and pigeonholed. We need to be constantly looking harder at the God of the Bible. Otherwise we shall discover that gradually the picture we have of him gets domesticated, whittled down to something we can live with. And gods that we live with comfortable are idols.” (Small Faith, Great God, p. 28, bold added)
“We need to be constantly looking harder at the God of the Bible. Otherwise we shall discover that gradually the picture we have of him gets domesticated…”
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Great!
How devastatingly true Wright’s comments are here but how universally unheeded–often especially by those who trumpet their devotion to the Bible as their sole authority. St. Paul’s understanding of the Cross as the definitive revelation of YHWH in the person Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, is absolutely astounding and turns even most Christian theological construals of God upside down, notwithstanding the ramifications of this for Christian discipleship, Christian political theology, theodicy, etc.
This is inconceivable to a secularist or atheist who has a general theistic notion of who the Christian god is; and, in reality, most Christian theologies are a just a hair’s breath removed from this type of understanding. The true Christian god is more complex, rich, dynamic and than “trickier” than what we let on. We tend to latch on to aspects of YHWH that either appeal to us or serve some purpose for us psychologically, socially, politically, spiritually or emotionally.
Yes mankind is very sinful…’total depravity’! All of our mere humanistic visions of God fall short, (Rom. 3:23).
The “domestication” of God!
Ah, “We need to be constantly looking harder at the God of the Bible.”
TC,
Yes, amen! Even our pet “theolog’s” also! As I age, and stand back from “Anglicanism” somewhat, and just all of Church theology, I cannot but see the grave idolatry within it all! It is here that I am once again drawn to both Luther and Calvin. And note not really “Lutheranism” or Federal “Calvinism”. But, yes, some aspects to the Federal Vision!