Sep 06 2009
The Next Great Awakening part 9: God, music, and the limits to analogy
The previous post in this series is here.
As I’ve written elsewhere, God is the Being who exists alone in His category… whatever that might be. We know a little. We are tempted to say that God is infinitely present, powerful, intelligent, and good. These ideas are more Greek than anything, because they were in love with philosophical absolutes. But using those categories can deceive us if we are incautious, because it allows us to pretend that we know more than we do. In His initial communication with humans, God seems not to have tried to “name” Himself, or describe Himself, or apply adjectives to Himself in an attempt to make Himself known to His people. He said, “I am who I am,” or, “I will be who I will be,” or, “I am that I am,” depending on whose translation you believe. He made Himself known by His deeds more than by His self-description, though there isn’t necessarily a rigid line between the two. Start reading from Genesis 1, and notice how long it is before God applies adjectives to Himself.
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