Thomas J.J. Altizer
Emory University
Do those names ring a bell?
This website, GOD IS DEAD CONTROVERSY, mentions several sources, so it will probably help you remember what happened if you have forgotten, or never knew. You may be able to find the Time Magazine or other publications during the time Altizer proposed his idea.
The media at the time wrongly identified James D Bales as a member of the Church of God, who challenged Altizer to debate and later wrote a book about it. Actually J.D. Bales was a professor at Harding for years and became the object of great opposition in the church for what was known as the Bales doctrine on marriage! Originally, there was a rather disparaging article linked to The Georgia Encyclopedia about J. D. Bales’ “paperback denouncement” of Altizer. A friend shared a link to Bales’ book still in print but only selling for $0.01 a copy: The God Killer? Altizer and His “Christian Atheism”
It was unfortunate that most Christians at the time were ill equipped to deal with such an onslaught. Would we or they be in any better position to argue today? Public school teachers and counselors, as well as professors in colleges and universities everywhere (even Christian schools) were teaching that man was the measure by which everything should be judged. It was the era of I’m OK; You’re OK. They said, “Man is God and God is dead.”
Why did Altizer declare that God is dead? Altizer taught that God came to earth in the form of the man Jesus, and was subsequently killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_God_theology
Altizer concluded that God had incarnated in Christ and imparted his immanent spirit, which remained in the world even though Jesus was dead. Unlike Nietzsche, Altizer believed that God truly died. He is considered to be the leading exponent of the Death of God movement.
Altizer did not believe Jesus was raised from the dead, and so, to him, God is dead. Simply stated, Altizer’s ‘God is dead’ statement is a rejection of the witnesses who testify God raised Jesus from the dead. The solution? We must present the testimony of the witnesses who saw him after he was raised from the dead. Those who are honest will listen to the facts. All others will, with Altizer, willingly reject eyewitness testimony.
Even though some claimed Altizer’s was a “pre-mature” philosophy, people were ripe for such teaching–perhaps vulnerable would be a better word. Judging from today’s profligate society, I would say the idea has flourished and borne fruit.
Humanism has persuaded unsuspecting children in the public schools that there is no such thing as a miracle. What tools did they use? They simply invented an imaginary evolution that takes more faith than believing in Santa Claus. Mankind itself is living testimony of the miraculous creation, not only of their bodies, but also their minds! Where did mind come from? Evolution’s mouth is shut. It can’t even imagine where it came from. Such living testimony in the marvelous bodies each of us is indisputable testimony of God’s work from the beginning of the world. If we can’t explain where mind came from, all our imagination about how our bodies evolved is meaningless. Only a living and loving God could create, not one, but innumerable minds, each on in his image. And he hasn’t stopped. Each one who reads these words is another witness to the God who can create minds and bodies. Only a dishonest judge would reject such obvious evidence.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”
(Hosea 4:6).
One well-known hymn, OUR GOD, HE IS ALIVE, was written around this time period and served as a reminder of our faith that God is still alive and working today.
–Beth Johnson