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

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of problems with the hierarchical language of worship, too. I believe God is transcendant as well as immanent, but I think there must be other, better ways to express that transcendance than in monarchical metaphors. Certainly the doctrines of the Incarnation and of the equality of Persons within the Holy Trinity should make us think twice about it, but they don't. And I don't think it can be blamed on clinging to older translations of the Scriptures. When the early Christians proclaimed, "Jesus is Lord!" they were making a direct challenge to the lordship of the Emperor. Nowadays when we say the same thing, we seem to be supporting the lordship of George W. Bush and his cronies. No answers here, only glum agreement.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Church sold out to the political establishment very early on. There have always been rebels- like Dietrich Bonheffer, the theologian implicated in the plot to kill Hitler- but by and large the churches have found it impossible to resist the seductions (and threats) of Caesar.