Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Deus Absconditus
Deus Absconditus latin term means:
"hidden God : God unknowable by the human mind"
Luther came upon the notion of deus absconditus - God hidden - straight from the Bible.
In Job, the Psalms and especially Isaiah God regularly "hides his face [or] hides himself."
And it is not good news.
It is God's "strange deed," his "alien work." (Is. 28:21) Isaiah says it pointblank: "Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself." (45:15) Luther speaks of God's hiddenness with several different nuances.
In all of them, however, God's hiddenness does not mean that there is no evidence of God at all. Deus absconditus IS a revealer. God's strange deeds and alien works are everywhere at hand. Theistic evidence abounds. But in that abundant evidence a fundamental aspect of God remains un-revealed -- specifically the God-data needed "for us and for our salvation." Until Jesus the (only) Christ.
And I contend, that this Hidden God who:
"...at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;" (Hebrews 1:1,2)
So can we still say God is hidden?
When Jesus Mission Statement if you will,
--To Destroy the works of the Devil --
--To make God known:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)
"hidden God : God unknowable by the human mind"
Luther came upon the notion of deus absconditus - God hidden - straight from the Bible.
In Job, the Psalms and especially Isaiah God regularly "hides his face [or] hides himself."
And it is not good news.
It is God's "strange deed," his "alien work." (Is. 28:21) Isaiah says it pointblank: "Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself." (45:15) Luther speaks of God's hiddenness with several different nuances.
In all of them, however, God's hiddenness does not mean that there is no evidence of God at all. Deus absconditus IS a revealer. God's strange deeds and alien works are everywhere at hand. Theistic evidence abounds. But in that abundant evidence a fundamental aspect of God remains un-revealed -- specifically the God-data needed "for us and for our salvation." Until Jesus the (only) Christ.
And I contend, that this Hidden God who:
"...at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;" (Hebrews 1:1,2)
So can we still say God is hidden?
When Jesus Mission Statement if you will,
--To Destroy the works of the Devil --
--To make God known:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)
