God the Child : Small, Weak and Curious Subversions

We express the mystery of God with diverse metaphors, but mostly in Adult terms. In this experimental theological adventure, Graham Adams imagines what might flow from a more thorough ?be-child-ing? of God. Aware that the Child can be idealized, he selects particular characteristics of childness in order to disrupt God?s omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. The smallness of the Child re-envisages divine location in sites of smallness, like an open palm receiving the experiences of the overlooked. The weakness of the Child reimagines divine agency as chaos-event, subverting prevailing patterns of power and evoking relationships of mutuality. And the curiosity of the Child reconceives divine encounter as horizon-seeker, imaginatively and empathetically pursuing the unknown. These possibilities are brought into dialogue both with other theologies (Black, disabled and queer) and with pastoral loss, economic/ecological injustice, and theological education. Through these conversations, God the Child emerges not only as a new model for God, but intrinsic to God?s new social reality which is close at hand.

Author: Graham Adams

Publisher: SCM Press

Publication Date: Apr 30, 2024

Number of Pages: 140 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 0334065003

ISBN-13: 9780334065005