Chapter 6: Who, what, and where in the world is God

I was the one who helped the students dream up the title for this little inquisition and – wouldn’t you know? – I got it wrong. That is to say, I placed the interrogative pronouns – who, what, and where – in the wrong order. I’ll correct that right now, and take the questions up in what I consider to be a more appropriate order.

The first question, then, is this: where in the world is God? I consider that to be the primary issue because it occurs to me that where one thinks that one encounters God has the most profoundly shaping influence on one’s resultant impression of God. The cocoons of the monastery and university and suburb yield very different visions than the cacophonies of the marketplace and colonia. My own most recent theological mentors have come from the colonia, not from academia.

Response: Thought experiment

I used to think inside the box. I thought I could use Kim’s scientific method to explain the world. My scientific method relied almost exclusively on my observations, which were limited to say the least. So using Kim’s limited scientific method, I did not observe God, therefore God did not exist. Then I discovered that I had kind of been forced into this box to peacefully co-exist in the modern world, where everything is explained or rationalized away.

When I learned about postmodernism and acknowledged the struggle of dealing with paradox and truth, I discovered that I had been limiting my thoughts and myself. I’m now thinking outside the box and it is a frightening and exhilarating and humbling experience. I don’t have a degree in theology or physics, so I’m going to be treading on thin ice here, but I had a thought.

Chapter 6: Who, what, and where in the world is God (pdf)