Abstract
The kingdom of God was a central theme in Jesus’ vision. Was it meant to be understood as utopian as Mary Ann Beavis views it, or existential? In 1st century CE Palestine, kingdom of God was a political term meaning theocracy suggesting God’s patronage. Jesus used the term metaphorically to construct a new symbolic universe to legitimate a radical new way of living with God in opposition to the temple ideology of exclusivist covenantal nomism. The analogies of father and king served as the root metaphors for this symbolic universe. They are existential root metaphors underpinning the contextual symbolic universe of God’s patronage in reaction to the collapse of the patronage system which left peasants destitute. Jesus’ paradoxical use of the metaphor kingdom of God had a therapeutic value and gave the concept new meaning. The initial motivation for proclaiming God’s patronage originated in Jesus’ primary identity formation by Mary as single parent and was reinforced in his secondary identity formation by John the Baptist. From these results can be concluded that kingdom of God was not meant to be understood as utopian, but existential. In order to clarify the meaning of kingdom of God and God’s patronage for the 21st century, emythologisation and deconstruction can be helpful especially by highlighting the existential meaning of the kingdom of God.
Highlights
Note: Dr Gert Malan is a research associate of the Reformed Theological College, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
The kingdom of God was a central theme in Jesus’ vision. Was it meant to be understood as utopian as Mary Ann Beavis views it, or existential? In 1st century CE Palestine, kingdom of God was a political term meaning theocracy suggesting God’s patronage
The analogies of father and king served as the root metaphors for this symbolic universe
Summary
Affiliation: 1Reformed Theological College, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Note: Dr Gert Malan is a research associate of the Reformed Theological College, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. The kingdom of God was a central theme in Jesus’ vision Was it meant to be understood as utopian as Mary Ann Beavis views it, or existential? The initial motivation for proclaiming God’s patronage originated in Jesus’ primary identity formation by Mary as single parent and was reinforced in his secondary identity formation by John the Baptist From these results can be concluded that kingdom of God was not meant to be understood as utopian, but existential. In her book Jesus & utopia, Mary Ann Beavis (2006) brings together Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God and the ancient utopian literature and movements. Life in the kingdom of God would be existence within tension between reality as the not yet attained ideal, and the ideal itself Viewed in this way, realising the utopia in any space and time is problematic. We should look at kingdom of God as metaphor
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