God the What?: What Our Metaphors for God Reveal about Our Beliefs in God
Challenge our common images of God by blowing the lid off conventional God-descriptors.
"We do not have to let go of one sense of God to take up another. Neither do we need to go about challenging old metaphors. What is crucial is to find a metaphor—or two, or six—that creatively point toward what we believe."
—from Chapter 1
Let Carolyn Jane Bohler inspire you to consider a wide range of images of God in order to refine how you imagine God to have and use power, and how God wills and makes divine will happen—or not. By tapping into your God-given ability to re-imagine God, you will have a better understanding of your own beliefs and how you, God and the world relate to each other.
Wonderfully fresh and down to earth, Bohler uses playful images, moving stories and solid scholarship to empower you to break free of old habits and assumptions, whatever your faith tradition. She encourages you to explore new names for God that are not only more consistent with what you believe, but will also deepen and expand your experience of God. Think about …
- God the Choreographer of Chaos
- God the Nursing Mother
- God the Jazz Band Leader
- God the Divine Blacksmith
- God the Divine Physical Therapist
- God the Team Transformer
- … and more
We earn a commission for purchases made through the following links.
Book details
- Author
- Carolyn Jane Bohler
- Imprint
- SkyLight Paths, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Religion › Spirituality
Religion › Christian Living › Inspirational - Topics
- images of God · theology · spirituality · Christian living · personal beliefs · spiritual growth · faith
- ISBN-13
- 9781594732515 (Paperback)9781683360896 (Hardcover)
About the author
CAROLYN JANE BOHLER is a theologian, pastor, and author of six books, including God the What?: What Our Metaphors for God Reveal about Our Beliefs in God, God Is Like a Mother Hen and Much, Much More, and Opening to God: Guided Imagery Meditation on Scripture.
Bohler held the Emma Sanborn Toussaint Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling chair at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, for twenty-one years. She holds a bachelor of science in mathematics from UCLA, a doctor of religion degree, and a Ph.D. in religion and personality, both from the Claremont School of Theology.
When she’s not writing, Bohler serves in ministry, having worked as pastor at three United Methodist churches in Southern California, as campus chaplain at Simpson College in Iowa, and as a hospital chaplain intern in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These vocations ground her theological writing directly in pastoral experience.
