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Lauren F. Winner--a leading writer at the crossroads of culture and spirituality and author of Still and Girl Meets God--joins the ranks of luminaries such as Anne Lamott and Barbara Brown Taylor with this exploration of little known--and, so, little used--biblical metaphors for God, metaphors which can open new doorways for our lives and spiritualities. There are hundreds of metaphors for God, but the church only uses a few familiar images: creator, judge, savior, father. In Wearing God, Lauren Winner gathers a number of lesser-known tropes, reflecting on how they work biblically and culturally, and reveals how they can deepen our spiritual lives. Exploring the notion of God as clothing, Winner reflects on how we are "clothed with Christ" or how "God fits us like a garment." She then analyzes how clothing functions culturally to shape our ideals and identify our community, and ruminates on how this new metaphor can function to create new possibilities for our lives. For each biblical metaphor--God as the vine/vintner who animates life; the lactation consultant; and the comedian, showing us our follies, for example--Winner surveys the historical, literary, and cultural landscapes in order to revive and heal our souls.… (more)
User reviews
When we call God our “friend,” it invites a new perspective. Or take a cue from several Biblical passages and try thinking of God in female terms. Calling God “She” can feel uncomfortable, especially if we have old-fashioned ideas about God, but breaking old
Winner’s book is not post-modern. It’s respectful, creative, a bit fanciful (though I’m not sure it means to be). The title, Wearing God, stems from thinking about God as clothing. Huh? Yes, it’s Biblical–this image comes from Galatians 3: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.” With further chapters about God as smell, as bread and vine, as a laboring woman, laughter, and as flame, Winner opens our mind to an all-pervading God, one who is in and around us in all things.
Wait, did I say “smell?” Yes … God smells, in both senses of the word. God smells our offerings, and He is himself a fragrance. He gave himself on the cross as a “sweet-smelling savour” (KJV).
I think this is a comforting and appropriate book for Christians of all persuasions.
HarperCollins, © 2015, 286 pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-176812-5
Lauren Winner is an Episcopal priest and part-time Divinity Professor at Duke University. My parish abuts the campus. The subtitle gives a good hint of what this volume is about. But it is useful to give a full list of her chapter her chapter headings.
.The God Who Runs after Your Friendship.
.A Short Note on Gender and Language for God.
.Clothing.
.Bread and Vine.
.Laboring Woman.
.Laughter.
.Flame.
.In This Poverty of Expression, Thou Findest That He Is All.
There is also "A Short Note from the Women's Prison" (an additional ministry of hers), a short bibliography, copious notes (which are not easy to look uo), and Acknowledgments; but no index.
Within the chapters there is a nice feature where Winner presents a welcome quote from somebody else that illustrates her theme (even 20 lines of text in a few cases).