Cruel God, Kind God: How Images of God Shape Belief, Attitude, and Outlook: How Images of God Shape Belief, Attitude, and Outlook

by Zenon Lotufo Jr.

Overview

This book is born, in large measure, as a result of a writing by contemporary theologian J. Harold Ellens. In his essay "Religious Metaphors Can Kill" from Praeger's The Destructive Power of Religion, Ellens espouses that theological doctrines are rooted in a model of God that determines all the aspects of those doctrines, and strongly influences the cultures into which it is inserted. Conservative Christianity in the Western world, says Ellens, has at its center the image of a cruel and wrathful God. The juridical atonement theory of Anselm is a result of such an image of God, and has an important role in justifying the resort to violence in human interaction.

Starting from these considerations, Cruel God, Kind God: How Images of God Shape Belief, Attitude, and Outlook analyzes three general topics: how two very different kinds of Christianities have emerged from these disparate images of God; how the doctrines of "original sin," "the plan of salvation," and "penal substitution" can be explained by psychological factors, as can the wide dissemination and acceptance of these doctrines; and how the image of a cruel God affects mental health, atrophies personality, and produces guilt and shame.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313396120
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/13/2012
Series:	Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	185
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Zenon Lotufo Jr., PhD, is a retired Presbyterian minister, a philosopher, and a psychotherapist specializing in Transactional analysis.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword vii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 The Many Faces of God 7

Chapter 3 What Characterizes a Conservative Christian? 15

Chapter 4 Doctrines about God and Their Psychological Repercussions 19

Chapter 5 Doctrines of Atonement 37

Chapter 6 Psychological Analysis of the Image of God Implied in the Doctrines of Conservative Christians 69

Chapter 7 Creating a Vengeful God 107

Chapter 8 Consequences 133

Chapter 9 Conclusion 163

Bibliography 165

Index 177

Editorial Reviews

"All readers will benefit from the clarity gained by the radicality of its standpoint. Lotufo is pointing to the serious and legitimate problem of parents and other authority figures using conservative theology to justify abusive practices of domination, even if it is less characteristic than is alleged. Moreover, all of us have something to learn about how to view those with whom we disagree." - PsycCRITIQUES

From the Publisher