The “Death of God, ” American Style

Abstract

It has been argued that a kenotic theology leads and demands a willing of the of Yet the passage in Philippians that serves as the source of this notion says nothing about the of or the total incarnation of in Jesus Christ. Rather it emphasizes the distinction between Christ and by asserting that Christ did not seize equality with and by concluding that at last all men will confess Christ as Lord to the glory of the Father (2:5-11). We are also referred Nietzsche, Blake, and Hegel, whose powerful intimations of the of seem persuasive and supportive of contemporary forms of God's demise. Yet the characteristic American cultural and religious ethos has seldom, if ever, been deeply influenced by these authors. The very complexity and abstract profundity of their speculations are not likely at this late date do more than complement the views of those already convinced on other grounds. These classical figures do not speak the experience of the many who are necessary the development and success of the death of God as a movement. Or again, we find that modern secular man experiences the death of God in the alienation in which his social crises and technological culture have placed him. But we have difficulty, not only in identifying this stock figure of pop theology in living form, but also in assessing why in other periods, when social turmoil was high and in relative terms technological progress seemed prodigiously rapid, men did not succumb a death-of-God outlook but often clung more desperately some form of theistic faith. It must be that cultural ferment is not a sufficient reason for denying God's existence, since it has as often driven men take refuge in as it has driven them deny his existence. Finally, analytical philosophy has been counted as a decisive instrument in expressing another phase of the death of God. This approach, it is claimed, has shut off the possibility of meaningful, linguistic references a transcendent realm. But it is equally clear that philosophical analysis can be a tool in the hands of a believer in deity as well as an unbeliever.