Citizen God

[poliphilo]

This is prompted by something qos was saying.

Religious language is always conservative. We live in a age of democracies but we're still using monarchist language about God.

Why, when I don't want to be ruled by a King in real life, should I want to acknowledge one in my spiritual life?

I don't like Kings (or Queens or Princes.) If I got an invitation to Buckingham Palace I would (politely) decline. I'm a Republican in the European sense of the word. Ah ca ira, ca ira, ca ira and all that. I think Prince Charles is a national embarrassment.

But if I go to Church (which I don't, but if I did) it's all "crown him with many crowns, the lamb upon the throne."

No thanks.

Where are the rights of Man in all this? Why is Heaven still stuck in the feudal middle Ages?

"He hath put down the mighty from their seat". Does he exclude only himself from the levelling process?

The myth of the incarnation suggests otherwise. God becomes Jesus, becomes an ordinary Joe, becomes a citizen.

Citizen God- why not?

My God is immanent- a sister, a brother, a comrade- or I don't want to know.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

How about Hans Anderson?

You might argue that The Emperor's New Clothes was a republican fairy tale.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

However it was a literary work (besides Anderson was pretty sycophantic), and not a manifestation of popular imagination.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess the fact of the matter is that all the "true" fairy stories were produced in the monarchical societies of medieval or early modern Europe.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

What about Asian and Scandinavia?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Surely they too come out of societies which, if not strictly speaking monarchical, certainly had a similar kind of hierarchical structure?

[ibid.livejournal.com]

Indeed and they fill our imagination and inculcate us with hierarchical values. It is interesting reading myths from other parts of the world where they don't have such values.

However there are still stories of the poor trickster who manages to get the better of the king!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hooray for tricksters.

And for orphaned kids and lucky third sons!

One thing about fairy stories is that they're almost always on the side of the under-dog.