Our most Christian theological statement (and prayer) stands in the ironic tension of addressing the Most Holy One as our (not my) father and at the same time affirming that the Most Holy One’s name (God is not God’s name) is hallowed i.e. always ineffable – never literal.
Here, as Sallie McFague teaches, metaphorical language with its tension between “is” and “is not” is fundamental to God language – or theology if you will. Marjorie Suchocki argues that the notion of God as (not like) a Father dethrones all traditional patriarchal language. I am not sure I buy her case. She would certainly affirm the use of other metaphors, both personal and from nature, feminine and not.
Where we agree is that there is no speaking of the Most Holy One without metaphor. So I am inclined to say that the issue in post-modern society is not blasphemy, i.e. belittling the sacred, but rather idolatry, proclaiming the hegemony of one metaphor over all others.
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