Studies on Sallie McFague’s Organic Model: The World as the Body of God

 

Author:HE Guijuan, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Religious Studies, Sichuan University; Associate professor, School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xihua University

Abstract:


The American feminist theologian Sallie McFague is known for breaking new ground in how we think about God through metaphor. She wrote extensively on care for the earth as if it were God’s “body.” This article gives a systematic summary of the historical background, theoretical basis and contents of Sallie McFague’s organic model, with an evaluation of its advantages and limitations. In spite of the positive effects of McFague’s theological construction in elevating the status of the material world and awakening people’s ecological consciousness, the article holds that its validity is questionable because of its degree of departure from the purport of the Bible. The article examines the Bible’s views on God, the world, and the body with the aim of demonstrating that the Bible is not an anti-ecological religious text, and shows the abundance of evidence in it affirming the value of nature and emphasizing the material world, or the body.



Keywords:

Sallie McFague, World, God, Body, Christ


Full Text (International Version):

HE GuijuanSCN JSCC.pdf

Full Text (Simplified Chinese Version):

HE GuijuanSCN JSCC.pdf