 God's wrath in postmodernity By David Whitford © 2001 United Press International Wednesday, March 21, 2001 This is the 12th installment of the UPI series, "Christ and postmodernity."
I used to think statements like that were the creations of over-the-top columnists or academics with an agenda. No longer. I've taught two years of introduction to ethics since then. College students really do have a hard time condemning the Nazis. It's not even their fault, sadly. They've been taught and fed a steady diet of postmodernism's only absolute: Truth is situational and relative. My students, and those like them around the country, simply are demonstrating that they really did learn something in high school. Does the Church – does Christ – have anything to say to a college student who can't condemn the Nazis? Wrath: God's forgotten attribute I think it does, but to do so will require recapturing a long forgotten attribute of God: wrath. Just the word strangely sounds incongruent when thinking about God. We've been taught and told that God is love. While this undoubtedly is true, there is much to be learned from a reinvigorated understanding of God's anger. Simply put, without wrath, there is no judgment. Without judgment, there is no hope. Wrath became a very unpopular attribute of God somewhere in the19th century when both Hegel and Friedrich Schleiermacher, in very different ways, both attempted to keep Christianity relevant to the emerging "scientific/modern" mindset. For the sake of relevance, however, they sacrificed integrity. It was argued that God could not be both loving and wrathful at the same time. Today, we continue to operate largely under the same presupposition. Theologically polite As a second-year seminarian serving a large suburban Philadelphia congregation as an intern, I was asked to preach at one of the noontime Holy Week services. The Scripture lesson for the day was Jesus' cleansing of the temple. I had given the lesson to the church secretary, and had prepared to preach on that lesson. When I arrived, however, a new lesson was in its place. My sermon title was gone, and I politely was asked to choose something else. The pastor read an innocuous lesson. Brashness being a gift of the young, I stood up and preached my original sermon anyway. It was on wrath and anger. I preached that sermon because I believed then, and believe still, that we have much to learn from God's anger. Contrary to popular opinion, wrath and judgment are integral to any profound love. The cliché that the antithesis of love is not anger but indifference is correct in this regard. God is not indifferent. God is loving, and that love sometimes demands righteous anger. Righteous anger indeed is a very necessary attribute of God and an attribute worth emulating. The story of Jesus in the temple is important. In fact, it is so important that all four evangelists record the event. It is important because it runs so contrary to the meek and mild image of Jesus we are usually fed. It is important because it reminds us that God does get angry. Reasons for God's anger Jesus got angry when he saw the temple being turned into a flea market. God always gets angry when we turn gifts into perversion. When human beings turn love into lust, when we turn a living into an obsession, when we turn churches into country clubs, God gets angry. God's righteous anger judges the powerful when they abuse the weak. When those with money hoard and turn a gift into greed, God is not indifferent. What does Jesus have to say to postmodernity's fascination with relativity? Simply that there are limits and there are things worth being angry about. God want us to use and appreciate (even be thankful for) his gifts. He wants us to enjoy each other in fellowship. But when these gifts are turned on their heads and perverted into ways to take advantage of others, God does get angry – and we should as well. Jesus came to us to show us what being in relationship with God is all about. Righteous anger at injustice is a part of that relationship. As human beings, we ought to emulate that aspect of God's relationship to us among ourselves. Righteous, purposeful anger God's anger is not rage and it is not rash. It is righteous and it is purposeful. It is not abusive, but it does set limits. Righteous anger is something my college students still need a dose of. If you are a parent and your child is doing drugs, that is a time to be angry. Not the type of anger that screams and hits, but the type of burning anger that will make sure that rules are set and obeyed, that help is sought and drug abuse is overcome. Righteous anger can teach us much today. It can remind us that, as God has created all people, they are worthy of just and humane treatment. It can remind us that some things, no matter when and no matter where, are wrong and must be resisted. What the Nazis did to the Jews would be wrong here, but it also would be wrong anywhere. Postmodernity still needs to learn that lesson. The Rev. David Whitford teaches Religion and Philosophy at Claflin University in Orangeburg. |
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