The Naked God

Book excerpt: "Every generation puts 'clothes' onto God to help their understanding, but the underlying reality of God still lies beneath those garments. If we go on clothing God only with garments that are suitable for medieval Christendom, or any other age, then we can hardly expect that God will be understood in the twenty-first century." We live in an age in which many people are interested in spirituality but have been disillusioned by the Church and are unaware of what lies behind institutional religion. There is little knowledge of historical attempts to understand and to "clothe" God, and it is more difficult for twenty-first-century generations to find the tools with which to wrestle with the big questions about who we are and how we relate both to God and to each other. Vincent Strudwick--in collaboration with theologian, historian, and priest Jane Shaw--invites all readers to become wrestlers: to explore difficult questions about God, the Bible, spirituality, and the Church.