Death as a Model of God

Feminist theologian Sallie McFague’s book Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age highlights the need for a variety of imagery to represent the divine. In light of her work, this thesis proposes death as an abstract, communal, and genderless model of God to supplement the feminine metaphors McFague proposes. The first chapter examines McFague’s work and lays the theological framework necessary to present death as an influential model of God. Chapter Two utilizes three questions from McFague to examine the death model’s legitimacy in Christian theology and ethics. Chapter Three then discusses how the western Protestant approach to God informs Protestant perspectives on death. The fourth chapter concludes this thesis by outlining the characteristics of the divine that the death model highlights as well as the death model’s place within Protestant theologies. Drawing on a variety of theological books and journal articles, with special attention given to McFague’s work, this thesis presents death as a powerful supplementary model of God in an ecological, nuclear age.