“…that means the death of the metaphysical God [read doctrine]. In fact, the God we think exists, the God of metaphysical construction, is actually an idol. We do not find God in omnipotence, we do not find God in omniscience, we do not find God in those qualities (Greek in origin) that we project onto the reality of God. What Bonhoeffer writes is that the only God that matters is the suffering God, which takes us back to the incarnation of God in Jesus….unless we see God in the disenfranchised, in the suffering, in the despairing, in the downtrodden in the world, we miss God. When religion or faith wants to look anywhere other than there, its going to miss it…”
Pretty strong words from a podcast interview on Homebrewed Christianity. Some other ideas:
Bonhoeffer wrote on this when he was in prison, with the context being that 300 years of doctrine was of no help to the church. The church was completely unable to stand in the face of Hitler's Germany. It was worse than impotent, it was actually complicit. Man's metaphysical constructions of God were used as a means of justifying human constructions and maintaining power over others. He was searching for a stripped down, religionless Christianity.
Let's go on another field trip.
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