The Nature of God
Author of a number of books and numerous articles, Carter Heyward's most distinctive theological idea is that it is open to each of us to incarnate God (that is, to embody God's power), and that we do so most fully when we seek to relate genuinely to others in what she calls relationality. When we do this, we are said to be 'godding', a verb Heyward herself coined. God is defined in her work as 'our power in mutual relation'. Alluding to mainstream Christian views of God, Heyward has stated 'I am not much of a theist'. For her, 'the shape of God is justice', so human activity can, as theologian Lucy Tatman has observed, be divine activity whenever it is just and loving. In her book Saving Jesus From Those Who Are Right, Heyward asserts that 'the love we make... is God's own love'. In Heyward’s work, God is therefore not a personal figure, but instead the ground of being, seen for example in compassionate action, which is 'the movement of God in and through the heights and depths of all that is'.
Read more about this topic: Carter Heyward, Theology
Famous quotes containing the words nature and/or god:
“I will frankly declare, that after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas, I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever before entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew of a man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men has nearly overturned all my previous theories.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.” And God granted it.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)