Date of Award

Spring 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS)

College

Barnett College of Ministry & Theology

Department

Department of Christian Ministries and Religion

Primary Advisor

Dr. Mike Cuckler

Second Advisor

Dr. Chris E. Green

Third Advisor

Dr. Robby Waddell

Abstract

Pentecostals as ‘paramodernists’, and mystics which have lost their theological bearings, have often imagined God as a being, somewhere in the universe or beyond it, distant from our lives, imploring God to come near and cause change. Through a brief study of Christian metaphysics, this work reveals God not as a divine being but as the very essence of existence itself, the ground of Being. In this paradigm, God's relationship with Creation is neither rivalrous nor causative, but is instead Creative. Freed from the constraints of time, linearity, and causality, God is truly free to make us free. At the heart of this understanding lies Jesus Christ, not solely as a historical figure but as Creation’s origin and telos. The only answer we can give as to ‘how’ this is possible is that He is the crucified and risen One. Because Jesus is not another person in our life, Jesus is our life. And as such, it is not anachronistic to speak of Jesus as present in Israel’s stories anymore than it is problematic for him to break bread and say, “This is my body” and be present for us here and now. The Scriptures then do not so much teach us the nature and order of all things, but instead participate in the Father’s mission to conform us to the Son, to give us His life and freedom, in and by the Spirit.

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