This is an open-comment theology blog where I will post various theological musings, mostly in sermon or essay form, for others to read and comment on. If what I say here interests you, you may want to check out some of my books. Feel free to criticize, to critique, to comment, but keep comments to the point and respectful. Many of these posts have been published elsewhere, but I wanted them collected and made available to a wider audience.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
God As Master
I have no problem with the idea of God as father, mother, sister, brother, friend, as The Ultimate, as the one to which I owe obedience, or any other number of the monikers he's given in the Bible. But I do have a problem with the idea of God as 'Master'. The Master-Slave Dynamic, which Paul so often uses to describe our relationship with God (as does Jesus for that matter), doesn't sit well with me. I guess that largely flows from my vision of God as Jesus The Servant. Our obedience to God is a way to find union with God, not because of some hierarchical demand on God's part. I do think of God as "Lord" but that is probably because in my mind "Lord" and "Yahweh" are interchangeable, and Lord just becomes another name for God, Adonai, in my head. So this is a big problem for me. The Bible speaks of God as Master but I almost never do. One thing that has helped me get my head around this is the eastern concept of "Master" as in Master/Student. I do think of God as kind of an Aikido figure, and so thinking of him as a "Master" in that Eastern sense is also useful. God plays many roles in the Bible: Seer, Healer, Jealous Spouse, Servant, Master, Family Member and more. Finding a way to make sense of those sometimes contradictory role is difficult. But the struggle is a fruitful one, theologically speaking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment