The Lord of the Bible?

[alatar]

With much trepidation I post in this ill-favoured thread of threads, yet not sure where else to post this little giblet.

In William Young's book, The Shack,, the main character, Mack, gets to meet with the triune Christian god in person. He is at first taken aback as God the Father is in the form of an African woman.

He - Mack - notes that he was expecting God to look more like "Gandalf."

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by alatar

With much trepidation I post in this ill-favoured thread of threads, yet not sure where else to post this little giblet.

In William Young's book, The Shack,, the main character, Mack, gets to meet with the triune Christian god in person. He is at first taken aback as God the Father is in the form of an African woman.

He - Mack - notes that he was expecting God to look more like "Gandalf."

It's odd that he should choose a woman to represent God the Father, since God is essentially masculine in relation to His Bride the Church.

Mack had evidently seen all the right Renaissance art. The idea of long gray hair and beard denoting wisdom might come down to us from Greco-Roman images of classical philosophers, which the Renaissance artists used as sources. Of course, there are also plenty of references in the Old Testament to gray hair as a symbol of wisdom. Tolkien may have drawn on either of these traditions as he created Gandalf, the ultimate wizard - literally, the ultimate "wise man." I expect, if it's either, that it's the former.

Or, gray=wise could just be a universal archetype.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by alatar

With much trepidation I post in this ill-favoured thread of threads, yet not sure where else to post this little giblet.

In William Young's book, The Shack,, the main character, Mack, gets to meet with the triune Christian god in person. He is at first taken aback as God the Father is in the form of an African woman.

He - Mack - notes that he was expecting God to look more like "Gandalf."

Actually that's another to add to the growing list of incidences where Tolkien's characters have become almost archetypal. Barely a week goes by these days when I don't hear some journalist refer to a politician as being 'like Gollum' or some old geezer being 'like Gandalf'.

It doesn't surprise me when characters in books (or indeed real people) say their image of God is like Gandalf - he's a kindly, wise old man, which is what people would quite like God to be (even though an African woman is as good as any guess); and the image of Gandalf is pervasive now - indeed I think Tolkien chose a Jungian archetype in the first place because you could make a right long list of 'folk who remind you of Gandalf'.

I wonder if their image was of Ian McKellen as Gandalf though? I always knew Lancastrians were the chosen ones

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

It doesn't surprise me when characters in books (or indeed real people) say their image of God is like Gandalf - he's a kindly, wise old man, which is what people would quite like God to be (even though an African woman is as good as any guess); and the image of Gandalf is pervasive now - indeed I think Tolkien chose a Jungian archetype in the first place because you could make a right long list of 'folk who remind you of Gandalf'.

The reason that the author portrays God the Father as a woman is to intentionally shock the main character out of his preconceived notions regarding the Christian god.

I wonder if their image was of Ian McKellen as Gandalf though? I always knew Lancastrians were the chosen ones

What I am wondering is, is the author a Tolkien fan, or did he see the movies and figure that everyone now would get the reference, or did he, expecting his readers to be mostly Christians (or have familiarity with that religion) to know that Tolkien was somehow related to Christianity?

I'm always hearing that "that Tolkien guy had something to do with that Christian apologist C.S. Lewis."

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by alatar

The reason that the author portrays God the Father as a woman is to intentionally shock the main character out of his preconceived notions regarding the Christian god.


What I am wondering is, is the author a Tolkien fan, or did he see the movies and figure that everyone now would get the reference, or did he, expecting his readers to be mostly Christians (or have familiarity with that religion) to know that Tolkien was somehow related to Christianity?

I'm always hearing that "that Tolkien guy had something to do with that Christian apologist C.S. Lewis."

Perhaps in a diabolical fashion the author was referring to Ian McKellan portraying Gandalf as the Christian God due to Sir Ian's sexual persuasion -- a double entendre if ever there was one.