The vulnerability of God and Humanity

Journal article

A study published a few years ago supported an oft-made claim: that people create God in their own image. The study suggested that people’s views on what God was like and what God wanted matched their own views of how they wanted to be and what they believed. There is, of course an irony because in the book of Genesis we are told that God created humans in God’s own image. These two views: God made humans in God’s image and humans made God in human’s image are not, of course, inconsistent. If both are true we might conclude if you want to learn what people think about themselves (or at least what people with power and influence think about themselves) look at the typical image of God. But if you want to learn about God is really like, look at the reality of humankind.

This article suggests some ideas on what thinking along these lines might suggest. I will focus on Christian understandings of God. I argue that a popular concept of God is that he is like superman, just bigger, better, stronger. That he is all strong; all knowing and all mighty: exhibiting the characteristics of autonomy; self-sufficiency and strength that (generally speaking) people admire in themselves. These are reflected in the law’s assumptions about the self too. The law is largely based around an assumption of the independent individualised man. The law is a revealing way of showing us what we think about ourselves. That is because in law we seek to identify and protect the values that are most important to us.

A more honest look at ourselves would indicate that in reality we are profoundly interdependent and vulnerable. These open up a more appealing image of God as different from the common assumption. A God who is vulnerable; a suffering God, a disabled God, a weak God. Centering the vulnerability of both God and humankind opens up new and interesting ways of thinking about both law and theology. These themes will be explored in this article.

Authors: Herring, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Edmund Plowden Trust
• Journal: Law and Justice
• Volume: 180
• Pages: 5-20
• Acceptance date: 2018-05-01