I. Images of "God"
American Favorites
Class Favorites
II. Idols: False Images of God
Popular arguments against "God":
1. Belief in "God" destroys human freedom
2. Belief in "God" sanctions exploitation of the weak (marginal, poor, female, etc.)
3. Belief in "God" constructs an impersonal abstraction
III. First Things First: The Doctrine of Hiddenness
Luther: God is revealed in hiddenness and hidden in revelation
Ex. 20:4-6: "You shall make no image."
Job 38:4: "Where were you?"
John 1:18: "No one has ever seen God."
IV. Icons: Lessons from Yahweh
Moses meets his maker (Ex. 3:13-15, Ex. 19:16-20:8, 20:18-26)
1. Holiness: God is other (Barth: "wholly other")
2. Mystery: God is not innately accessible to us
3. Revelation: Knowledge of God is a gift of God
4. Activity: God is known through what God does
5. The Name (YHWH): God is personal
6. Life: God is the living life-giver
7. Unity: God is one
These lessons are not "faith" versus "reason," but inferences through disciplined trust
V. Is Christianity Monotheistic?
Other "Monotheisms": Judaism, Islam, Deism, philosophical theism
Henotheism: Worship of only one god
Are there other gods? (1 Cor. 8:4-6, Isa. 45:18-23)
VI. The Story of El: god meets God
Testing the gods (Gen. 14:17-24)
"Bad atheism" v. "good atheism"