The Naked God
Wrestling for a Grace-ful Humanity
- Theology
- Publisher: Augsburg Books (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
"Every generation puts 'clothes' onto God to help their understanding, but the underlying reality of God still lies beneath those garments. If we go on clothing God only with garments that are suitable for medieval Christendom, or any other age, then we can hardly expect that God will be understood in the twenty-first century." We live in an age in which many people are interested in spirituality but have been disillusioned by the Church and are unaware of what lies behind institutional religion. There is little knowledge of historical attempts to understand and to "clothe" God, and it is more difficult for twenty-first-century generations to find the tools with which to wrestle with the big questions about who we are and how we relate both to God and to each other. Vincent Strudwick--in collaboration with theologian, historian, and priest Jane Shaw--invites all readers to become wrestlers: to explore difficult questions about God, the Bible, spirituality, and the Church.
Endorsements (5)
“The Naked God is a tremendously engaging and positive book, as timely a reflection as any I’ve read on the uncertain but hopeful future of the community of God’s Kingdom. I hope it will find its proper readership.”
“The Naked God is a refreshing, insightful and compelling book. Vincent Strudwick draws upon his wide experience as a priest, a pastor and a teacher as he reflects upon his own faith journey, and invites us to look again at the large questions concerning God, faith, the world in which we live – and our response.”
“All of us who wrestle with the histories and complexities of our religious faith, its challenges and possibilities, know that how we speak of God, is how we think of the world. This book is an absorbing personal and literary journey into the questions we must ask of ourselves and our societies, for the sake of a more hopeful future.”
“If the mystery we call “God” is real, then it will be beyond our sight except in fugitive glimpses through thick clouds. Its greatest enemy will not be the one who says it isn’t there, but the one who claims to have mapped and measured every inch of it: not atheism; religion. This was the single great insight of Herbert Kelly, the founder of the Society of the Sacred Mission. It is an insight that went deep into the soul of Vincent Strudwick, and in this brave and illuminating book he applies it rigorously to the religious situation of our time.”
“In an intriguing blend of history, autobiography and theology, Vincent Strudwick invites us to wrestle with whatever images of God we have inherited. His cultural curiosity, driven by a conviction that the institutional church is in constant danger of becoming irrelevant, invites us to peer into the corners of both Church and society where creativity is to be found. His tone is irreverent in the best possible way, and his compassion and humanity shine through the stories he tells of life in the parish and academy, always looking for places to build, as he says, bridges of hope.”
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