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THE DEATH OF GOD:
A Post-Mortem Examination

Though talk of God's death is at least as old as Nietzsche,

Dostoevsky, and Bonhoeffer, only very recently has the public be-

come aware of the debate, This awareness has cut across various I

groups in society to concern not only theologians and intellectua s,

but also laymen, clergymen, and atheists as well. From some qua rters
,1
it has elicited a very "religious", self-righ'teous condemnation,

while from other areas the comment is heard: "So what else is new?

Whether or not the death of God (or radical) theology will become a

bona fide theological position remains to be seen; however, as a 'g

symptom of the revolution that our contemporary culture is underg01n ,
radical theology demands a serious hearing.

The New Non-Theology

It is virtually impossible to deal systematically with the
death of God debate. The major reason for this fact is simply that
the four major death of God theologians-_Thomas Altizer, William
Hamilton, Paul Van Buren, and Gabriel Vahanian--are not speaking
from the same point of view. However, they have each expressed
several different meanings and implications of the death of God, in
the light of their major field or interest.

First of all, radical theology is unquestionably affirming
God's death. It is saying a resounding "No!" to the classical
deistic, other-worldly, and non-historical view of God which was
prevalent in nineteenth century Western culture. Much of twentieth
century theology is a reflection of this same type of re-thinking
of God; this "moderate" position is probably best represented by the
popular theologian, Bishop John A. T. Robinson who draws heavily on
Paul Tillich's concept of "God of the Depths"-_that is we experience
the meaning of God in the depths of Our existence. Ho~ever, the ~ard-
core radical theologians are not Simply re-defining the term God 1n 1
light of contemporary culture; instead, they are saying quite literal Y
that God is not a reality for twentieth century man at all. As ThomaS
Altizer has said, "We must realize that the death of God is an histor-
Eixciaslteenvze.nttl,l that God had died in OUr cosmos " in our history in our

log1'ans A (moarjomrorepoianctcuroaftecloyn,fUSnioonn-thaeroilsoegs'', how)evder,' w hen these thtehme-o-
11

selves Christian atheists. For the va t1an~ ,eclde to ~at' ns thiS

1"5 a con trad'1Ct"10n 1,n terms. However s hma]Orlty 'of Ch rIsdeavaelo,pe d
a rather complex Christolo who , Tomas Altlzer has .

centrality, and historicit;YOf lch at O?ce ~ffirms the rea11tY~f_

firming the death of God H Jesus Whlle 1n the next breath to its

fulfillment· God has • I e has extended Kenotic Christology .

Christ; that• is in a comp etel"y and f'1nally "emptl'ehd"" 1ms elf 1n she

. 'very rad1cal sense, the Word has become fIe