One of the things that has gone is the search for God. We are not sure what we believe about him any more. Albert Nolan, in his book, Jesus before Christianity*, says that asking whether Jesus was God is to ask the wrong question. It imposes our preconceived ideas about God on Jesus. What must be asked is – what can we learn about God by looking at the Gospels, at what Jesus said and did? The God he reveals, if we disregard the various theologies that have appeared since his time, including Paul’s, is an indwelling God, a God of love who wants to serve rather than be served, a healing God who understands and forgives, a God of life and love; above all, a God who is to be found in people but especially in the poor and the suffering.
The idea of the immanent God is strong in Christianity, always has been, but it is overlaid by the idea of the transcendent God. Once Paul, and I suppose John with his high Christology, began the process of trying to interpret God with the help of the prevailing philosophies, it was inevitable that the transcendent would overshadow the immanent. Why? This is an interesting question and it is tied in with our culture because the opposite obtained in the East. Putting aside the influence of Greek philosophy at the time, which was considerable, I suppose it is easier to believe in a God who is transcendent – by definition he is out of reach, beyond comprehension and therefore we can be excused for not being able to understand, for not having any clear ideas or concepts of him. It also transfers the focus of our worship to out there rather than to within – much easier to do. I can see why beliefs in an immanent God and ahimsa have to go together, and why the emphasis on transcendence has been a factor in Christianity being so involved in violence. But if God is within, not only within me but also, shockingly, within the poor, the wretched, the dregs of society – then that is a major hurdle. That runs counter to our natural (or cultural?) instinct to equate God with the good, the beautiful, the nice, the comfortable, the correct (politically and otherwise), the reassuring. The God of Jesus is an uncomfortable God who challenges us to search within ourselves and within others for a reality we cannot begin to imagine.
*Albert Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, Darton, Longman and Todd, London 1992