The Reality of God: Thoughts on the "Death of God" Controversy

by Alexander C. Purdy

Overview

One is reminded of the small girl drawing something on her paper. When asked what she was drawing, she answered, �A picture of God.� �But nobody knows what God looks like,� said the teacher. �They will when I have finished,� was the reply. Is this not true of many overconfident definitions of God? The historic creeds record men�s thinking at the time when they were formulated or at least a certain consensus of thinking perhaps involving concessions and compromises. They are historically valuable. To borrow a military figure, creeds may be likened to trenches dug in to secure ground gained. They help hold the line, but it is hard to move out of these trenches when new ground needs to be gained.

The startling phrase, �the death of God,� so characteristic of our sensation-loving era, covers a wide range of meaning. Much of the discussion is neither new nor actually sensational. To take the phrase in its more obvious meaning, i.e., that there is no God, is by no means new. There have been atheists from the beginning of systematic thought. There will continue to be atheists. So vast and complex a universe will continue to baffle any attempt to arrive at final meanings. The temptation to deny all meaning is inevitable and not to be surprised at.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940149399611
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	04/04/2014
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #154
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	30
File size:	105 KB

About the Author

Alexander C. Purdy was born in New York State but has spent most of his life as Hosmer Professor of New Testament and later Dean at Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Connecticut. He began his teaching at Earlham College, and after almost forty years at Hartford has recently returned to his original starting point as Visiting Professor at the Earlham School of Religion. A student both in this country and abroad, with the usual academic degrees and several honorary doctorates, he is the author of a number of books and a contributor to The Interpreter�s Bible and The Interpreter�s Dictionary Of The Bible. He has been associated with Pendle Hill since its inception.
This pamphlet is written neither from a theological nor a philosophical approach, but from the viewpoint of a student of the New Testament. Parts of the material were given as a Sunday evening address at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, under the auspices of the Foxhowe Association, an organization formed to promote religious and educational concerns, of which the author has been Director for many years.