The thing is, we are only able to discern that a portrait of God is an accommodation if we know what God is like apart from any accommodation, and it is at this point that I part company with the dominant (or “classical”) theological tradition. Theologians within the classical tradition assume that God is “above” time, “above” experiencing any kind of change, “above” being affected by anything outside himself, and “above” experiencing strong emotions or any kind of pain.[22] They thus interpret all biblical portraits of God moving with humans in time, changing his mind, being affected by what
...more
