A Christian Theology without "God"?

What Would that Look Like?

Aug 04, 2023

Back in college, I self-identified as a non-churched Christian with a Taoist bent.

Even though I didn't grow up in a church, I did grow up in a Christian culture, so the (conservative) Christian narrative was the primary framework for understanding my spiritual experience.

But something bothered me about it. And, my encounter with Taoism helped me identify what that was.

I didn't like the way Christianity portrayed God.

According to Taoism, if you can understand and articulate the Tao, then you're not actually talking about the Tao. The Tao cannot be comprehended by the human mind. That means you cannot articulate the Tao. You can only experience it.

The Tao is a Mystery.

God's baggage

Of course, those who come from a more progressive—or even traditional—understanding of Christianity would probably agree that their God is a Mystery.

But when I listen to the dominant Evangelical Christian voice in America, what I hear them speak of is quite clearly a God who dwells in a solid theological box.

Since the Evangelical voice is the dominant one in America right now, that means the word "God" unfortunately carries with it a ton of baggage.

Generally speaking, when someone utters the word, it's likely that the first thing that comes into mind is an image akin to an old man sitting on a cloud handing out blessings for good behavior and curses for bad.

And, in some Christian circles, thinking about God in other ways will get you sent straight to hell.

I believe this description of God is part of the reason many people are leaving the church in order to become "spiritual but not religious", or part of the "nones".

SBNR…in the church?

However, there are those within the church who actually agree with the spiritual but not religious crowd. They realize that Christianity has become sick, and it requires radical treatment to help it become healthy once more.

One of those is theologian Diarmuid O'Murchu, who argues for a spiritualization of theology, and it is his work I'm going to focus on today.

For O'Murchu, the purpose of religion needs to be about liberating people spiritually. Church cultures that embrace command and control theologies and policies have simply entered into the realm of idolatry.

Spiritual theology

Theology is basically the way we think about God. When we think about theology, we typically think about the way a religious tradition talks about God and its own mission in the world.

There is a difference between religion and spirituality. O'Murchu sees religion as constructed by human beings and contextual. And, too often it is used to control God. Humans naturally crave power, and if you can control the God whom people worship, you can control those people.

Spirituality, on the other hand, is about the quest for meaning. It's about how we live, and move, and have our being in this world. Spirituality is a universal part of the human experience.

Spirituality and quantum physics

What does it all mean? What is my purpose in life?

Those are the questions that lead us on a spiritual quest. And since spirituality is a natural part of the human condition—and humans are an expression of the universe—then it would make sense to try to know as much as we can about the universe in order to understand our connection to it.

Enter quantum physics.

The best tool we have to explore our universe is science, and the best sub-tool we have to drill down into its deepest level so we can understand it is quantum physics.

What we have discovered about the universe at the quantum level is mind-boggling.

Honestly, I don't get it. I'm not a physicist. I struggle to keep up like you wouldn't believe when I read about it. And even then, I know I'm barely grasping it, as if I'm hanging on to a ledge by my fingertips.

Diarmuid O'Murchu does get it, however, and his book (Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics) will blow your mind.

In Quantum Theology, O'Murchu moves beyond religious theology. In its stead, he applies theology to the spiritual quest for meaning and interprets that quest through a predominantly Christian framework.

Today, I want to hit some highlights to showcase how he develops a Christian spiritual theology for the world that is emerging. Indeed, a theology without "God".

Let's look at some traditional Christian concepts and see what he does with them.

God?

Okay, let's get the big one out of the way first.

O'Murchu rarely refers to "God".

The word God is filled with so much cultural baggage that when we hear it we almost cannot help but to think about some sort of Big Daddy in the sky who hands out little bitty blessings for doing things right and nasty old curses for doing things wrong.

This Big Daddy God is a far cry from the way O'Murchu views God. O’Murchu’s understanding is informed heavily by quantum physics. At the quantum level, everything is all about vibration. And for him, God is the Creative Vibration from which all things emerge.

This is obviously radically different than Big Daddy in the sky. So, labeling Creative Vibration as "God" would be like calling a two-wheeled wagon pulled by a horse a "car". While that was what that word meant in the late 1800s (I saw the definition in an old dictionary from the 1890s), in our culture today the word "car" means something very, very different. So, to call the wagon a car today would be to misname and misrepresent it.

Hence, O'Murchu simply avoids using the term when possible.

Revelation

Traditionally in Christianity, the primary source of revelation is found through scripture. In academic circles (including mainline seminaries), the books of the Bible are known to be historical documents created by historical people who lived in historical contexts. That means the authors were working with what are now outdated tools for understanding how our world actually works.

Does it make sense to rely on ancient texts to tell us how the world works in our day and age? Of course not.

So, O'Murchu shifts the focus of revelation to the universe itself. The Creative Source, the Ground of Being, that which we call "God" finds expression through the reality in which we are immersed. If we want to know more about the nature of the Source of creation, the best way to do that is by exploring creation itself.

Science, then, rather than scripture, becomes the primary tool for inquiry. Hence, his emphasis on quantum physics.

Spirituality for O'Murchu is about the quest for meaning. When it comes to understanding creation as divine revelation, we want to get as close to the Source as possible.

Scripture

If we don't understand scripture as the primary source of revelation in Christianity, what use is it?

The Bible remains a very powerful tool for spiritual development. The Bible is a grand story that liberates our minds and unleashes our imagination. The biblical story draws us into a new vision of possibility for the world, which is called the "Kingdom of God".

This vision of the Kingdom is what makes Christianity unique.

When O'Murchu talks about Christianity's uniqueness, he's not saying, "This is what makes it better than other religions." Rather, he's saying "This is the unique perspective that Christianity as a religion brings to the table alongside what the other religions bring in their uniqueness."

The Kingdom of God, or the New Reign of God

The "New Reign of God" (as O'Murchu prefers to call it) is the central myth of the Bible that Christians are called to proclaim, enact, and uphold.

This New Reign of God is not something that has a definitive appearance that we can achieve. The way it manifests is completely dependent upon its context.

The New Reign of God is a way of being in the world that is marked by higher values such as…

Compassion
Justice
Liberation
Love

It is not something that takes place in an otherworldly setting (like heaven), but rather something that happens in this world. And it is not something that is exclusive to Christians, but a possibility for all people in all places no matter their religion.

At its core, this New Reign of God is a co-creative, life-giving process of becoming that encompasses individuals, communities, and even the world itself.

Original sin

For the most part, Christianity has a very negative view of the human condition. Thanks to what is known theologically as "The Fall", all of humanity is basically understood as being motivated by evil at its core. This evil we call "sin".

With all of humanity claimed by evil and powerless to do anything about its situation—according to the story—God steps in by sending us Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled to God.

This story of sin, redemption, and salvation is generally considered to be "good news" among Christians.

However, we often overlook something…

The overall narrative of sin and redemption actually empowers evil in our world by justifying its existence as part of God's overarching plan.

For O'Murchu this is a serious problem.

So, rather than advocating for a theological narrative of Original Sin that inherently justifies evil, he prefers to focus on Original Blessing, which emphasizes the goodness in all things.

He doesn't deny all the bad stuff in the world. But rather than looking at it in terms of a good versus evil dualism, he looks at creation as filled with light and shadow.

When confronting shadow, our task is not to eradicate it, but to learn how to integrate it in a way that makes us more whole and more vital.

The most powerful force we have to integrate shadows (especially at the social level) is the power of forgiveness. The power of forgiveness allows us to move beyond our pain and embrace reconciliation.

Resurrection

Human beings need a sense of purpose in their lives. And they need to have a sense that the universe is going somewhere. The myths of resurrection (as well as myths of reincarnation) are designed to meet those needs.

Science also has a myth that meets the need: autopoiesis.

Autopoiesis is the way living structures renew themselves. Driven by a will-to-life, living systems empowered by autopoiesis integrate novelty in a way that opens the door for a new, more creative way of being.

Within the context of autopoiesis, death isn't the end. In fact, when looking at particle physics we see that annihilation is less about destruction and more about integration into a new sense of wholeness, which was not possible before.

But when it comes to personal death, what most people are really concerned about is whether their consciousness survives.

Much like we saw with Donald Hoffman, O'Murchu believes that consciousness is a fundamental structure of the universe, and space-time is not. So the consciousness we give expression to does not disappear at death.

So, when we die, we don't disappear from the universe. Rather, we continue to participate in the creative, life-giving process, while at the same time are freed to enter into the wholeness of the cosmos in a much more powerful way.

Science is revealing to us the extent to which the reality of resurrection is an integral part of the dynamic of the universe in which we participate.

Mystical non-duality

What I find most fascinating about O'Murchu's approach is the extent to which it mirrors the non-dual perspective of the mystics.

There is…

neither secular nor sacred
neither worldly nor heavenly
neither me nor God

At the quantum level, it is all the energy of vibration.

When we think of the Divine as the Creative Vibration driven by a will-to-life from which all things emerge, this sounds a lot like the Godhead of Meister Eckhart.

Can you imagine how radical Meister Eckhart must have sounded in his day? There's a reason he was being charged with heresy at the time of his death by those in power who couldn't see how his mystical theology fit with the established, authoritative tradition.

I imagine that many Christians—and I'm not just talking about Evangelicals here—would read O'Murchu's work and ask, "How is this even Christian?"

Who knows, maybe you are even one of them.

If so, I think that's a good experience to have. It can certainly help you appreciate the perspective of those who decried Meister Eckhart in his day as a heretic.

If you are one of those, I encourage you to go a step further. Don't just embrace the mystical experience. Think deeply about it as well. Consider the implications of what it says about God and the world in which we live.

Let the mystical, contemplative experience unravel your narratives about God and your religion, and work with the experience to co-create new narratives, new understandings of God and the world.

Religion is a tool meant to liberate, empower, and unleash your spirituality, it is not meant to box your spirit in.

When it is at its best, it helps us to fall in love with the Mystery

Where do I fit in?

Lately, I have been talking about how different theologians understand God. I find those different perspectives enriching in my own spiritual life. New ways of thinking about God open me up to new ways of experiencing God.

So, after I've processed all of this information that comes from all of these different theologians, where does it take me? How do I like to talk about God?

I'm going to tackle this next time as I start to make our journey more personal for me.

Peace, Bo
www.evolvingchristianfaith.net

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