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Books Book about God is for grownups
IS JESUS
GOD: FINDING OUR FAITH By Michael Morwood Crossroads, 141
pages, $14.95 |
REVIEWED By JUDITH
BROMBERG
This is the book I have been waiting for. Unfortunately, Michael
Morwood had to resign from the priesthood in order to write it.
Morwood envisions this book continuing the conversation begun in
his earlier book, Tomorrows Catholic. For that book, which was
eventually banned in his native Australia, Morwood was taken to task by
Australian bishops. Now, however, no longer subject to their authority, he
pursues the questions that many mature, intelligent Catholic Christians have
about the faith that was taught to us as children and is today perpetuated for
us as though we were still children.
I belong to a book group made up of eight reflective women who
seek out the most advanced authors to stimulate our thinking and initiate our
discussion on issues of theology, spirituality and the church in todays
world. Among the writers we have read and enjoyed are Marcus Borg, John Spong,
Elizabeth Johnson and Joan Chittister, all deeply committed Christians and all
prophets in their own right. Michael Morwood joins that list as Is Jesus
God? is our next book-of-the-month.
What we want out of our reading and out of our group is what
educated, discerning, faith-seekers deserve, a way to reconcile basic
Christian theological questions with contemporary knowledge and
information. According to Morwood, Is Jesus God? is an
exercise in adult faith formation and, as such, aims to engage adults in
the process of wrestling with why they believe what they believe.
The faith taught to us as children, Morwood calls
conventional faith, that stage of faith development in which we
learn the basis of a belief. Morwood decries the sad feature of contemporary
institutionalized religion that restrains adults at the conventional state
rather than allowing, much less encouraging, them to seek a more meaningful
faith.
Human knowledge of how the universe developed and how the earth
was formed has influenced us now to the extent that the older stories of
creation, of the fall and need for redemption, no longer suffice as an
explanation of our relationship with God and the role of Jesus in that
relationship. With our understanding of the new cosmology comes the
realization, says Morwood, that Gods creative spirit has always
been present and active at all times and in all places in this vast universe;
present and active during the billions of years of life on this planet before
human life emerged; present and active in all places, in all cultures, in all
people.
Yet, it remains true that a certain people at a certain point in
history experienced in a man named Jesus a perfect expression of a God-presence
so intense that their challenge is still our challenge: how to make the
experience of God revealed in Jesus more relevant to our world
today.
In 10 well-developed chapters, Morwood explores the impact that
our advanced understanding of cosmology has on the traditional tenets of the
Christian faith and how, within that new frame of reference, Jesus becomes not
less but more relevant to our world, our culture and our lives. Some of
Morwoods discussion topics:
- Revelation, he maintains, has unfolded throughout the entirety
of human existence and is not confined to one religious culture or time.
- The teachings of Jesus transcend one religion or cultural
mindset to bring about a heightened awareness of God in our midst.
- Jesus resurrection, rather than a resuscitation event,
might be better understood as an entering into the mystery of life beyond human
existence that belongs to all who die with an orientation to love in their
hearts.
In answer to the question Is Jesus God? Morwood
hearkens back to the question he was asked while his book Tomorrows
Catholic was under interdict. One bishop asked him if he believed that
Jesus was God in a way we are not. This, in fact, brings me to my
only quibble with the book. I would say that Is Jesus God? is an overly
sensational title because, in truth, that is not what this book is really
about. But in one particular chapter, Morwood articulates as clearly as he can
that despite what church authorities would have us believe there is an
intrinsic link between worldview and belief.
The issue is, he asserts, if the Christian
church wants to keep on teaching that Jesus is true God and true man and in
this sense, God in a way we are not, then let the church
demonstrate this without reference to a worldview which relies on dualistic
thinking and a literal understanding of the Genesis story of creation and
Adams fall ... All we are asking is that the church articulate its
beliefs in a contemporary framework and in ways that help adults moving from a
conventional stage of faith to a deeper faith.
Here, and throughout the book, he is begging, challenging, even
daring the teaching authority of the church to correct its narrow vision and
acknowledge the legitimacy of the questions. As for the magisteriums
concern that church teaching should avoid confusing or
disturbing the simple faithful, I can only state that
the simple faithful I meet with once a month are disturbed not by
the likes of Morwoods seminal question or Spongs Why
Christianity Must Change or Die, but by the intransigence of the church,
what Morwood calls a head-in-the-sand insistence that faith be no more than an
intellectual assent to doctrine.
No, the simple faithful I hang out with are all,
all still fully committed, church-going, church-serving Catholics who
love the church but increasingly resist its preachments and heavy-handed
dictatorialism. Everyone I know who has read this book appreciates its premise
and applauds its author.
Judith Bromberg is a regular reviewer for NCR.
National Catholic Reporter, August 10,
2001
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