Who Said That?
Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 10:15PM 
On why the doctrine of God underlying the "Hallelujah Chorus" (in Handel's Messiah) is a such a "dangerous one"
"It creates feelings of awe in the hearts of loyal subjects and thus supports the `godness' of God, but these feelings are balanced by others of abject fear and humiliation: in this picture, God can be God only if we are nothing. The understanding of salvation that accompanies this view is sacrificial substitutionary atonement, and in Anselm's classic rendition of it the sovereign imagery predominates. Since even a wink of the eye by a vassal against the Leige Lord of the universe would be irremediable sin, we as abject subjects must rely totally upon our sovereign God who "became man" in order to undergo a sacrificial death, substituting his great worth for our worthlessness. . . .It inspires strong emotions of awe, gratitude, and trust toward God and, in ourselves, engenders a satisfying swing from abject guilt to joyous relief. Its very power is part of its danger, and any picture which seeks to replace it must reckon with its attraction."
OK . . . Who said that? Please no google searches or cheating. The whole point is to guess!
Kim Riddlebarger
This rant against "Monarchialism" comes from feminist theologian Sallie McFague's book Models of God (Fortress, 1987), 64-65.
It amazes me how far these "cutting edge" theologians will go to escape the clear teaching of Scripture, reflected in Handel's Messiah.
Reader Comments (24)
Have you read Crane Briton's take on Nietzsche? It was originally published in 1941 and, then, reissued in 1965. It's an excellent critique of his putrid philosophy.
Isn't it weird how many of the most hateful philosophers of Christianity were sons of the parsonage or considered entering the ministry? Nietzsche and Carl Jung had fathers who were ministers and Heidegger was enrolled in seminary as a young man.
Jung is often embraced by liberals with a mystical bent. Whether or not they realize how hateful he was of Christianity and Judaism is uncertain. But his out and out love affair with sorcery and demonic possession is evident in his core theories, including alchemy of the soul and the embrace of the shadow side (= embrace of demonic forces).
BTW, we studied the person who wrote the book from which this week's quote is taken. Ah, to have been trained at a liberal seminary. That the author drank deeply from the well of Feminism, Gay Liberation, Marxism, and Sexual Discourse Theory is beyond doubt. In fact, the author helped established these theories within liberal theology. We owe this person much, though I'm not referring to praise.
Thanks for the info- I will have to look into Crane Briton's critique now. I can only handle reading him for a very short period of time and then have to put him down for awhile. He was a very scary man. I am certain it is these types of people the Church is going to have to battle with in the near future. We had better prepare ourselves for it and learn how to counter their arguments and deal with their abusiveness without being intimidated by them.
I am trying to make a new guess on the quote. We now know it is a famous liberal theologian who has won several awards. Many emergents are heading in the same direction but you cannot call any of them famous yet. And if this person imbibed on feminist ideology they have to be somewhat contemporary. How about Guiterez or Lacugna? I am not sure if they are award winning though- beats me!!