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God Reflected: Metaphors for Life Flora A. Keshgegian, Fortress Press, 2008

          As a parish pastor and chaplain, I have listened with interest to people’sconceptions of God.  From these images of God, they have drawn conclusions about the nature and will of God and assumed that that is the way God is. What we failed to acknowledge is that these images of God are just that—images used to describe a Holy mystery.  Often these images are drawn from human experience. It is a way of saying that God is similar to something in human experience.  We compare God to aspects of human behavior and assume that those human qualities truly reflect God’s nature.

            Inher book, God Reflected: Metaphors for Life, Flora A. Keshgegian uses the word “metaphor” to describe the images people use when talking about God.  Her book is “an exploration not only of metaphors for the person of God but also God’s will.”(pp. 22-23).  The author explores “the nature and meaning of different metaphors for God,”and examines “the ways they describe God’s will.”(p.23).  The book begins with “views of God’s will that emphasize God’s power as commanding and determinative, through views that soften God’s use of power and seek to imagine it more in harmony with human power, to views of God that are less anthropomorphic and less directing.”(p.9).  Among the metaphors discussed are: God as monarch or king, God as acommanding and ruler father, a patriarchal God as powerful yet merciful, God as nurturing parent, God who suffers with us, God in relationship with humans, and God as energy.

            As with other people, I have used a number of these metaphors.  What I appreciated is that the author explained the assumptions underlying these metaphors.  Our images or metaphors for God really influence how we perceive the world and God’s activity in it.  This is particularly true in pastoral conversation and in Bible study groups.  Depending on the individual, their perception of God and God’s intention for humans and the world can be quite different.  Keshgegian’s book helped me to be more alert and sensitive to how people describe God and the assumptions behind these metaphors.  Our metaphors for God can open up a rich discussion of how we experience God and what we expect in our life in and with God.

             The author’s interest in this topic began during her seminary career when she had a mystical vision, ironically when she was part of a women’s discussion group on the image of God.  “In my mind’s eye I saw energy, manifest as flashes of light, in constant motion. Nothing was static in the universe.  The flashes of light, like stars in motion against a night sky, were going in many directions at once. They were connecting and creating connections across space and time. What seemed most real in this universe was energy, ever in motion.  God, the divine, was the energy itself, dynamic and connecting.”(p. 12).  This mystical experience helped Keshgegian to broaden her understanding of the nature of God and to question the traditional images used to describe God.  In chapter 8 of her book, the author reflects on what it means to perceive God as energy.

            I admire and respect the author for sharing her extraordinary mystical experience.  We need to make a distinction here.  A metaphor for God  often uses human experience to approximate the nature and being of God.  A mystical vision is a direct, unmediated experience of the Holy.  In a sense, a mystical vision is a truer expression of the nature of God.  This leads me to ask the question, “How then do we pray?” Metaphors are simply images of God and God is greater than any human metaphor.  What language do we use to address the Holy?

            I am glad that Flora Keshgegian wrote this book.  I wish that this book was available when I was in seminary.  This will be a helpful resource for professionals in ministry, seminarians, as well as lay people who seek to understand more fully their relationship with God.

Pastor Jim Brandis

Corporate Chaplain

Shepherd of the Valley

Lutheran Retirement Services Inc. 

1500 McKinley Ave.

Niles, Oh 44446

(330) 544-0771 Ext. 2825

The Winds Of Hope For A World Out Of Breath: A Study of the 23rd Psalm Robert G. Tuttle, CSS. Publishing Company

The book is devotional in style and is a verse by verse exposition of Psalm
23. The author was educated at Duke University and has served pastorates in
the United Methodist Church in North Carolina.

Tuttle draws on a rich knowledge and imagery of shepherding in Galilee. He
brings together a wide variety of commentators and authors that have given
their wisdom on this beloved psalm of comfort. The author really brings the
psalm to life, lifting it from the page to the deep struggles of life.

The book is aimed at people who are tired and exhausted and can only sigh.
The burden is too heavy for them to bear. The title of the book is very
fitting for the audience of "...A World Out of Breath". That expression is
the very essence how people express their tiredness to Rev. Tuttle in his
pastoral care.

The goal of the book is to give his readers a calmer and more creative
acceptance of life. The book meets and exceeds that goal. Here are just a
few of the strengths of this book: Christ-centeredness, resurrection focused
and grace filled.

I recommend this book to anyone preaching or teaching on Psalm 23. Self led
study groups could read it together and discuss the text. I recommend this
book for anyone who is weary of carrying as heavy load and needs to find our
burden bearing God as our good shepherd.

Chaplain Lee Genter

Lutheran Home at Napoleon

            George L. Murphy, a Lutheran pastor, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio University, Johns Hopkins University (where he earned a Ph.D. in physics), and Wartburg Theological Seminary. He has taught at the University of Western Australia, Westminster College, Luther College, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary.  Widely published in both scientific and religious periodicals, Murphy has received two awards from the Templeton Foundation for his papers on science and religion.   His previous publication was Cosmic Witness, published by CSS Publishing Company.

                This volume sets forth the basic issues related to the science and religion interface.  It is directed specifically to members of the Christian faith.  The chapters are arranged in an alternating format, one chapter focusing on the religious aspect of a topic and then the scientific point of view.  Murphy’s goal is to help the  reader “see how scientific discoveries can be understood within the Christian view of the world, and how they may require us to rethink some traditional ways of expressing Christian teachings”(p. 142).  The author affirms the position that one can be a Christian and still appreciate the world from a scientific perspective.

                Murphy begins in the first chapters by setting forth the scientific and theological views of the world.  He explains the Christian understanding of God’s activity in the world and how Christians read the Bible.  A book of this nature wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of the origins of the universe, and creation and evolution.  He discusses the “big bang” theory and its influence on dating the age of the universe as ten to fifteen billion years old.  In his chapter on “Old Medicine and New”, Murphy touches on recent medical advances in genetic technology, cloning, fertility technologies, organ and tissue donation, and the use and withdrawal of life support.  He doesn’t provide “answers” to these difficult medical ethical issues. His goal is simply to show how these issues are involved in the interrelationship between science and religion.  The author also recognized the influence of pop culture when included chapters on “Angels, Aliens, and AI” and “Religious Themes in Scientific Fiction”.

                This book would be a good resource for a Sunday morning adult Sunday School class or a high school discussion  group.  Murphy included a brief bibliography for those who would like to learn more about this growing field of interest. 

For a more in-depth discussion of these issues, see George Murphy’s  The Cosmos In the Light of the Cross, Trinity Press International, 2003.  This book covers many of the same issues as in Toward a Christian View of a Scientific World but it is written for seminary students and clergy.     

Pastor Jim Brandis

Corporate Chaplain

Shepherd of the Valley

Lutheran Retirement Services Inc. 

1500 McKinley Ave.

Niles, Oh 44446

(330) 544-0771 Ext. 2825

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