Metaphorical Theology

One of my courses this semester is called "Contemporary Neo-Liberal Theologians," and we're reading books by numerous writers who could loosely be termed neo-liberal because of a certain set of characteristics their approaches have in common. For class, we are to write a synopsis and assessment of each book to help guide our classroom discussion. Here's mine, for our first book, entitled Metaphorical Theology, by Sallie McFague. If it looks a little dense or brief, it's because we're not allowed to spill onto a second page! Our professor wants clear, concise writing that substantially engages with the main argument of the text. Thus, I had to cram everything I needed to say into one single-spaced page! Anyway, here it is. The book was a mixed bag- some very valuable contributions to cutting through the idolatry and irrelevance of certain theological models we employ in "God-talk," but some utterly needless culture-driven rather than Scripturally-driven critiques of incarnational orthodoxy as well.

I'd love to hear some comments from anyone who's read McFague, or who knows her work well enough to judge whether my description and assessment of her project is fair.
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Rob Arner 9-10-07

Sally McFague’s groundbreaking Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language (Fortress Press, 1982) advances a new paradigm for theological reflection that attempts to take seriously the challenges of contemporary culture while maintaining fidelity to what McFague sees as the “root metaphor” of the Christian faith: the relationship between God and human beings. Her primary concerns, informed by contemporary experience, are the temptations that exist in theological discourse to turn certain models and descriptive language into idols to be ontologically absolutized, and the sense of alienation and irrelevance experienced by certain groups (e.g. women, minorities, etc.) as a result of certain overused theological models. The thoughts in this book are thus focused on describing an alternative approach to theology that avoids the idolatry of employing one theological model to the exclusion of all others (since no single model is adequate to encompass the totality of the human experience of the divine), while at the same time reaching out to those whose experiences the dominant Christian tradition has ignored or suppressed. McFague wants her readers to understand that our religious language and models have concrete consequences, and should be chosen and appropriated with the utmost of care. In a “thought experiment” in metaphorical theology, she explores the implications of the model of “God as Friend” as a gender-neutral and nonhierarchical complement to traditional language of “God as Father.”

The solution she proposes is an approach she dubs “metaphorical theology,” which takes the imagery of models and metaphors as its guiding structure. McFague stresses that metaphors always have an “is and is not” quality to them. They are forms of language that help illuminate particular facets of the object or concept under scrutiny by comparing it to another better-known object or concept, but at the same time they are not to be identified in totality with the known comparative model. In line with this, McFague rejects the traditional incarnational understanding of Jesus in favor of a parabolic view; “Jesus as a parable of God” is the way she states it, instead of the Johanine description of Jesus as the God become flesh. Likewise the sacramental, symbolic perspective smacks of too much literalism for her tastes.

This approach to theology certainly has much to commend it to the postmodern context in which McFague self-identifies (2nd Preface, page xi). One of its major strengths is its ability to look behind the religious language we use in order to examine the consequences of the models we appropriate. Christian worship is enriched exponentially by employing a diversity of models for the divine-human relationship and the Church’s liturgical language ought to express the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8) by seeking out new and expressive models to complement the existing tradition. Additionally, it exposes and deconstructs idolatry that can result when we forget that our models are only models, and not ontological realities in and of themselves.

However McFague’s metaphorical theology endeavor is too beholden to modern sensibilities. Throughout her book, McFague reveals in various ways that the starting point of her endeavor to reform historical Christian orthodoxy is “the modern mentality,” and she decries incarnational Trinitarian worship of Jesus as “Jesusolatry” (18). The underlying assumption is that “the modern mentality” cannot abide Jesus-centered worship (regardless of its truth!), so it must be scrapped in favor of a model which caters to what is deemed culturally acceptable. In my judgment, these priorities are backwards.