Mistaken atheism, mistaken theism

For example, Moses is told by God from the burning bush that his name is "I am who I am" that is not a name but a statement of self-determination. In the books of Job and Jonah God takes the role of the tease and the tormentor, plainly playing a role in an invented drama. Jesus speaks to us, in parables. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. (Matt13:31) Or he tells a story: "Listen! A man went out to sow.. (Matt. 13:3) "A man was going down to Jerico.. (Luke 10:29)

God is also described in simple metaphors as a rock or a shepherd or a father rather than complex philosophical representations. There are no straight descriptions of God as one would expect of say, the planet Mercury. The first letter of John pushes language further by simply saying that "God is love" (1John 4) This is not a metaphor but an identification, as if we said that x is y. While this is logical nonsense it is an unforgettable and provocative saying. Part of what biblical language does is to shock us out of our settled view of the world and that includes our settled view of God.

The use of paradox again pushes further. For example, in the context of the death of Lazarus we find: "Jesus said to her (Martha), "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,…" (John 11:25). The juxtaposition of life and death produces a tension in which life and death are not mutually exclusive. Such rational absurdity provokes us in a similar way that the words to the criminal who is crucified beside Jesus do;

"Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:42-43)

The tension that these verses creates cannot be released by referring to life after death, an idea alien to the Bible. Rather, it refers to a seemingly absurd proposition: that the recognition of Jesus by the criminal, changes his state of being from being damned to a deserved death to being included in the Edenic paradise that represents the healing of all things. We might think that Jesus would say: "Sorry, too late!"

I am reminded of the film Dead Man Walking when sister Helen asked the condemned man to pray for her as he walks to his execution. Surely, we would expect her to pray for him, but as it is it produces an anomaly that stays with us. Even the title is provocative because it points to an impossibility. These are all examples of the world made strange by a text and it is that very strangeness that opens us to unforeseen possibilities. Any kind of faith that relies on certainties will be spiritually crippling and will make a mockery of faith.

This is all the stuff of drama at which the gospel writers are expert. The irony of Peter's betrayal after Jesus says that he will be the rock upon which the Church will be built. Judas' betrayal comes with a kiss. And then we have the cry of dereliction from the cross that seems to empty the drama of all meaning with nothing more to say. The gospel does not come to us as a logical argument that we can claim as our own, but it comes with disturbing sayings and provocative actions and events that continue to slip through our logical nets and unsettle our view of truth.

The problem with the literalist reading of Biblical texts is that it assumes that if we could travel back in time to witness the events recorded by the gospel writers, perhaps even having a video camera with us, we could confirm that these events actually happened. Certainly, we could have a shot of Christ on the cross, but this could stand only as an uninterpreted fact that has nothing of the drama of the Paschal narrative. Our eye witness may be able to see many things but he or she would have no idea of what is actually going on. That is the subject of the gospels.

Simone Weil famously said that she was "absolutely certain that there is a God, in the sense that I am absolutely certain that my love is not illusory" and equally "absolutely certain there is not a God in the sense that there is nothing real which bears resemblance to what I am able to conceive when I pronounce that name."