by the Rev. Tony Seel
Roughly 90% of Americans believe in God and about 85% of Americans believe that God is loving. However, after that the homogeneity of belief vanishes. Baylor University professors Paul Froese and Christopher Bader looked at the wide range of beliefs about God in America and determined that this hodgepodge of ideas could fit under four headings.
In America's Four Gods, Froese and Bader offer two questions that they believe lead to the four most prevalent conceptions of God in the United States. Question #1: "To what extent does God interact with the world?" Question #2: "To what extent does God judge the world? [Note: quotes and information on America's Four Gods is from the Christianity Today book review by Matthew Lee Anderson, "The Divine Divide" which can be accessed at http://www.christianitytoday.
God #1 is "the authoritative God, who both judges and is closely engaged in the world." This God is like the stereotypes God the Cop and God the Judge. God #2 is "the benevolent God who is engaged but nonjudgmental." This is the Santa Claus God or God the Loving Grandfather. God #3 is "the critical God, who happens to be judgmental but disengaged." I call this the bad mother in law God (not that I know any bad mother in laws). God #4 is "the distant God, who is neither engaged nor judgmental and could care less about how humans muck about." I call this the Slumlord God.
The typology of Froese and Bader is helpful for getting us beyond the usual liberal-conservative over-simplification, yet it clearly lacks the subtleties and distinctions that we find in Scripture. The God who is revealed in the Bible is both loving and just. The God who is disclosed in Scripture is both transcendent, that is, way beyond us, and immanent, that is, near to us.
So, who is God for you?
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