A Review of The Changing Face of God

This little book reproduces a lecture series at the National Cathedral in Washington. The premise of two of the most famous of the lecturers, Karen Armstrong and Jesus Seminar member Marcus Borg, is that traditional credal Christianity is implausible and unbelievable, and so they are leading the way in envisioning "the changing face of God." I found their essays in particular a depressing combination of neo-Kantian reductionism and effusive enthusiasm for a kinder, gentler, vaguer religion. These two essays could be used as Exhibit A in describing those, as my old systematics professor used to say, who believe in God the good and kind gas.

Both Armstrong and Borg recount oppressive formative experiences in a rigid and doctrinaire form of Christianity, Roman Catholicism for Armstrong, Lutheranism for Borg, that were so traumatic they felt compelled to completely "reimage" the faith. Armstrong's story is a poignant one. It is the story of a scrupulous, perfectionistic young nun who falls into despair because she is not able to achieve spiritual experiences that are sufficiently spectacular. She deals with her revulsion by throwing the baby out with the bath water and attempts to achieve a spirituality without specific theistic commitments. It is tough enough to struggle with scrupulosity, perfectionism and the need to have God's consolation arrive on a preconceived schedule, according to a preconceived form, without your religious order encouraging you in rushing down this dead end, which is apparently just what Dr. Armstrong's order did. The program that she outlines as a replacement for traditional Christian faith appears to me to be a kind of New Age version of scrupulosity and perfectionism, and I cannot imagine that it could lead anyplace but to a similar despair.

Borg strikes a similar pose. He warns us against dogmatic, finger-wagging religion in a dogmatic, finger-wagging way. We are especially warned off the retrograde and unworthy vice of having any interest in life beyond the grave. The mood of both of these writers is summed up in the phrase of another one of the lecturers, Jack Miles, who recommends a "religious agnosticism."

The essay by James Cone gives a quick overview of the sources of black liberation theology and in passing labels all "white" theology as heretical. It is an angry piece which offers no constructive proposals, but it is a sobering witness to the disillusionment of some black church thinkers. The essay by Andrew Sung Park which recommends Patripassianism on the basis of the Asian concept of han is the most irenic of the essays in the collection.

The book could be used as a discussion starter in a Christian Education program, though I don't recommend it. It comes complete with discussion questions, some of which are quite good and some of which less skillfully direct the student to the "correct" conclusions.

Originally published in Anglican Theological Review Summer 2001, Vol. 83 Issue 3.

The Rev. Dr. Leander Harding is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Head of Chapel at Trinity.