The purpose of this study is to determine whether Sallie McFague's body of God model is an appropriate resource for a Christian ecological theology. After considering the three key areas of McFague's thought, the researcher concluded that the Body of God model is an adequate resource for a Christian ecological theology.
Theoretical framework
A central feature of contextual theologies is that they consider practical, real-world issues and their implications for Christian theology. Another characteristic of a contextual theology is that it tries to recover elements from Christian thought that help the theologian respond to a life issue.
Method
The approach here is therefore at the abstract and hypothetical level and will therefore not be a qualitative or quantitative study of the body of God metaphor. The study will therefore try to determine whether the body of God metaphor can be used as a resource for an ecological theology.
Limitations
In order to test McFague's theory, the study will attempt to develop criteria for a sound ecological theology. It is for this reason that the study will focus on three areas of McFague's thought: theology, anthropology and cosmology.
Outline of chapters
The chapter concludes with reflections on the applicability of the anthropology of God's body to ecological theology. The sixth chapter concludes with a reflection on the suitability of the theology of God's body for ecological theology.
The issue of religious and theological language
- The relationship between theological and religious language
- Aquinas' doctrine of analogy
- Religious language as symbolic
- Metaphor in religious language
- Realism and McFague's metaphorical theology
Analogical language is therefore built on a edifice of the agreement of God and creation. This mode of discourse appears to be appropriate, as it meets the requirements of the two criteria.
An adequate Christian ecological theology
Ecological cosmology
- Scientific cosmology
- A theocentric cosmology
It comes from culture and is concerned with the nature of the world, or rather how the universe/cosmos is structured. It thus specifies how the universe came into existence and where or to what it is destined.
Anthropology
- Humankind as part of the cosmic community
- A holistic anthropology
- In the image of God
- Ecojustice
- The divorce of history and nature
One of the main interpretations of this phrase is that humans have the ability to reason (Migliore 1998: 121). Anthropocentrism is the idea that humans are the center of the cosmos and are thus superior to the rest of creation (Gnanakan 1999:122).
Theology
- The God-world relationship
- The Spirit's role in the cosmos
- The cosmic scope of Christ
- The Trinity
God is not identified with the cosmic process.., but God is identified in the cosmic process.., the universe is not identified with God.., but is identified in the Boff s of God Italic. This implies that the Spirit is involved in sanctifying the universe and not just human beings.
An evaluation of Sallie McFague's body of God cosmology
The term postmodern science
The postmodernist is therefore concerned with articulating how languages differ and why there are such diverse claims to truth. Postmodernism is therefore focused on perception and what makes people interpret the world in the way they do (: 227). Using the term postmodern science thus appears to be ambiguous, given the tension between scientific and postmodern approaches to understanding reality.
The first is cultural and relies on clearing the mind when explaining reality.
The role of science in the body of God model
This means that there is a movement between the two poles of reason-science and faith-revelation. A theology of nature, on the other hand, is not grounded in science and begins its reflection from revelation and experience. An excessive revision of these doctrines may result in the theologian standing outside the theological circle.
The environmental crisis acts as a global antenna to suggest that the strict demarcation between science and religion is flawed (: 220).
McFague's counter to a mechanistic understanding of the universe
Therefore, the machine model cannot be used as a root metaphor for an ecological cosmology, as it does not take downward causation seriously enough. And, the machine model considers only external relationships, ignoring the idea that entities in the universe are internally connected. The machine model views the universe in a static way and does not emphasize the notion of a cosmic community.
Another problem with the machine model is that it views nature as entirely self-sufficient and governed and regulated by natural laws.
The relational cosmology of the body of God model: the universe as organism
- The Organic Model qualified by the Common Creation Story
- The body of God model's embodiment metaphysic
- A modification of McFague's cosmology and metaphysic
- K. Wilber's notion of holoarchy
- The panpsychism of process philosophy
A third feature of the common creation story is the idea that things in the universe are interconnected and interdependent (1992a: 51). The common creation story thus emphasizes increasing complexity in relation to the entities and things of the universe. A fourth feature of the common creation story is the idea that there are multiple levels of complexity in the universe (1993a: 106).
McFague attempts to overcome this problem with the fourth feature of the common creation story.
Is McFague's cosmology theocentric?
These two findings make the God-body model incompatible with one point of the study's ecological cosmology, whatever it may have been. In his interpretation of the shared story of creation, McFague calls for “the decentering and re-centering of human beings. Gebara believes that it is crucial that people understand themselves as citizens of the earth and as beings connected to its earth (: 90) .
The body of God anthropology is therefore compatible with point one of the study's ecological anthropology, as it emphasizes a relational view of personhood.
The particularity of the human being
- The soul-mind-body interaction
- A modification of the body of God anthropology's approach to the soul-mind-body issue
- Supervenience
- Transpersonal psychology
- In the image of God
God's body anthropology does not begin its reflection on what it means for people in the light of the imago Dei. However, the body of God anthropology understands humanity from the perspective of the shared history of creation and not the imago Dei. Although God's body anthropology emphasizes human responsibility, this is not understood from a theocentric perspective.
It is not within the scope of the study to do so, as it may require significant theological revision of the body of God anthropology.
McFague's views on sin and responsibility
- The Pelagian influence on McFague's anthropology
- The scope of McFague's definition of sin
Regarding the human-human relationship, McFague emphasizes that injustices among people must be addressed before addressing humanity's relationship to the natural order. Conradie correctly notes that the sciences show that humans are separate from the earth. A central concern of the researcher is her presumption that people are not sinners if they rebel against God.
A danger of this approach, however, is that it does not require humans to acknowledge the cruelty of nature.
The body of God model and ecojustice
In this way, salvation is primarily concerned with the well-being of the world's body and the many bodies located within it (1993a: 23). The fact that the body of God anthropology takes poverty seriously means it is concerned with the economic reasons for the destruction of the natural environment. These rules must be obeyed so that all members of the earth household have access to its resources.
It is emphasized that the members of the whole only benefit if the whole is healthy (: 105).
Eschatology
The strength of God's body model is that it may be able to affect human beings on a cognitive level. This implies that God's grace may be able to change human beings psychologically and spiritually. It also allows human beings to feel connected to God, each other, and the natural order (: 170).
The anthropology of the body of God therefore needs more emphasis on the internal workings of God's grace in man.
The body of God anthropology and its understanding of the relationship between nature and history
A necessity for the anthropology of the body of God is to create a balance between internal and external notions of grace. In light of what has been discussed, the anthropology of the body of God confirms point five of the anthropological reflection of the study. The anthropology of the body of God is thus in accordance with point six of the anthropological reflection of the study.
It was pointed out that an internalized understanding of grace needed to be introduced into the body of God's anthropology.
An evaluation of Sallie McFague's body of God theology
McFague's critique of various models for the God-world relationship
First, the monarchical model emphasizes the otherness of God and does not consider His being as part of creation. Macquarrie also opposes the monarchical model, arguing that Christian theology should focus attention on the organic model. Macquarrie asserts that the monarchical model needs qualification from the organic model and this, in turn, "will promote better attitudes towards them.
Macquarrie, like McFague, is critical of the monarchical model, yet he does not abandon it, choosing instead to synthesize it with the organic model.
The world as God's body
- Internal relations
- McFague's claim that the body of God model is a form of panentheism
- Divine agency: God as mother, lover and friend
- Divine agency: God as the embodied spirit of the universe
- Divine agency: creation
- Suffering
The body of God model thus synthesizes the doctrines of creation and incarnation so that God is viewed as the source of all that exists. McFague maintains that the body of God model changes the way divine transcendence and immanence are understood. This caring attitude emphasizes the idea of a God who acts in the natural processes of the world (: 73).
Therefore, the stress of God's body pattern is on God's continuous creative activity.
Is the body of God model panentheistic?
- Mother, lover and friend
- God: the embodied spirit of the world
- Divine agency
- Transcendence
- Creation
Kaufman notes that the world as the body of God implies that God appears to be mother of His or Her own body. The body of God model rejects the mind-body analogy as an argument for panentheism. In the case of the body of God model, little consideration is given to the mind-body interaction.
If this is not done, the body of God model may lean toward pantheism.
The body of God pneumatology
This confirms Ruether's view that an ecological theology can be of the sacramental or covenantal variety. Moltmann argues that humanity's experience with the Holy Spirit reveals the creative spirit in nature. In other words, what believers experience as the Holy Spirit is also an experience of the Spirit in creation.
The researcher is therefore uncertain about the compatibility of McFague's pneumatology with point two of the requirements for an ecological theology.
Body of God Christology
McFague therefore seems to suggest that the resurrection is a sign of God's continued presence in the world. McFague argues that the scope of the body requires that the Christie paradigm be extended to the natural order. The presence of God understood as the cosmic Christ emphasizes that God is with humanity in this respect.
Unfortunately, the Christology of the Body of God does not use the Christology of the Logos and thus does not provide a more complete description of the role of the cosmic Christ in the universe.
The degree of Trinitarian reflection in the body of God model
After considering these insights, the researcher believes that the model of God's body provides an inadequate Trinitarian reflection. Thus, the model of God's body is inconsistent with point four of the study requirements for an ecological theology. Thus, the model of God's body is contrary to the point of one of the theological criteria of the study.
The researcher is uncertain about the applicability of the pneumatology of the body of God model in light of point two of the theological criteria.
Conclusion and Contextualisation
The researcher is uncertain about the applicability of the Body of God model's pneumatology to pom. The researcher believes that the body of God model is relevant to the South African context. The body of God model is relevant to the South African context in terms of the land question.
The Body of God model would support such programs, due to its focus on space.
Bibliography
Sallie McFague
34; The Loving Eye vs. The Arrogant Eye: The Christian Critique of the Western View of Nature and the Third World" in Ecumenical Review vol 49 pp 185-193.
Journals
1998 "Let the Fall Down: The Environmental Implications of the Doctrine of the Fall" in Ecotheology: The Journal of Religion, Nature and the Environment vol 4 pp 27-34. 34; Towards an agenda for ecological theology: an intercontinental dialogue" in Ecotheology: The Journal of Religion, Nature and the Environment vol 10.3 pp b. 34; Ecojustice Principles: Challenges for the Evangelical Perspective" in Ecotheology: The Journal of Religion, Nature and the environment vol 5 and 6 pp 162-172.
34;Ufinished Creation: The Moral and Theological Significance of the Fall" i Ecotheology: The Journal of Religion, Nature and the Environment vol 4 pp 20-6.
Internet
Books and Theses
34; Response to Rosemary Radford Ruether: Ecofeminism and Theology - Challenges, Confrontations and Reconstructions" in Hessel, DT and Ruether, RR (Eds). P and Peacocke, A (Eds). 34; The Loss and Finding of Creation in the Christian Tradition" in Hessel, DT and Ruether, RR (Eds).
34; Articulating the presence of God in and to the world revealed by the sciences' in Clayton, P and Peacocke, A (Eds).
