THE DIVINITY IN MAN Is Monotheism Compromised? Transcendence and Immanence (original) (raw)
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Almost everyone who has been brought up in Western civilization, with its two millennial tradition of Biblical monotheism, 1 is familiar with a mode of religious talk that centers itself around the concept of a personal God who created the world, watches over the deeds of mankind, rewards and punishes in accordance with our deserts, and so on. Therefore, being a believer or a non-believer in such a tradition consists for the ordinary person (or so, at any rate, he may be tempted to suppose) of giving a "Yes" or "No" answer to the question "Do you believe in the existence of God?" Such people are, therefore, apt to be puzzled and even disconcerted by the talk they sometimes hear from philosophers, theologians, or scholars of comparative religion regarding "concepts of God." For the simple man, there is only one concept of God, and either you believe in God or you don't.
A Divine Voice, or the Psychology of Faith
The European Legacy, 2020
In this engaging and highly readable book, Jungian analyst Michael Gellert takes the reader on a guided tour of God's "inner journey," as manifest in the principal texts of the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This story of the evolution of God's consciousness begins with the Hebrew Bible, continues through the Talmud, New Testament, Qur'an and Gnostic texts, and concludes with the writings of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic mystics of the Middle Ages and beyond. Starting with the often cruel, arbitrary, impulsive, amoral, and tribal Yahweh, Gellert documents how God subsequently transforms, in our understanding and in his own self-understanding, into a loving, compassionate being and, ultimately, into the absolute nothingness (and fullness) at the heart of the mystical experience. The pattern of God's evolution is that of the mythological hero's journey, insofar as it involves transformation through trials, ordeals, suffering, death, rebirth, and revelation. It is not, however, a "typical" hero's journey according to Gellert because "the Abrahamic God is not human, even though he exhibited human characteristics" (12). Nonetheless, God, like a developing human being, needed to awaken to a greater self-awareness and self-responsibility; in particular, He had to let go of the heroic ideal of the tribal war god to become more compassionate, relatable and intimate with the human experience. God's inner journey as revealed through the Abrahamic traditions is, moreover, a highly distinctive one. Unlike other traditions where gods are little more than personifications of powers of nature, the Abrahamic God is animated by conflicting impulses toward both material nature and higher morality, which He ultimately holds together and transcends. Herein, we commend Gellert's work: it avoids naïve reductions insofar as he does not treat God as merely a projection of human psychology. The scope of Gellert's inquiry is impressive, encompassing the full range of sacred tests of the Abrahamic religions and their various mystical offshoots. Gellert writes with deep insight and understanding of different religious traditions and of the religious experience, with a subtle but unmistakable slant toward his own Jewish heritage. His interpretations and amplifications of the texts he examines are richly textured and compelling, and show a depth psychologist's sensitivity to the lived experience of the sacred. Gellert's writing, in both style and substance, is very much in the tradition of Jung, although it does not CONTACT James Cresswell
The Attenuation of God in Modern Jewish Thought
Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies (1759-1953)
Critical Bible scholarship reveals much diversity in ancient Israelite notions of God, but whatever the theology, the Bible rarely leaves room for doubt that God is alive, alert, vigorous and righteous; even Job, despite his sense of injustice, does not doubt that ultimately God is just, and is in control of events. Modern times have seen a change of attitude, not simply on account of the apparent injustice in the world, but more fundamentally because the successes of science have made God redundant as an explanation for natural phenomena. Twentieth-century Jewish thinkers such as Mordecai M. Kaplan have sought to replace God by social constructs, while those who retain traditional God-talk range from Heschel, whose "anthropopathic God" shares human emotion, to Eliezer Berkovits ("the hidden God"), and from J. D. Soloveitchik (the God of halakha) to Richard Rubenstein (the non-interventionist God) and David Blumenthal (God as abusing parent). In this paper I shall review some of the main theories, while enquiring whether their proponents have anything in common with ancient and mediaeval believers, or whether they have subverted the older God-language, in some cases attenuating the concept of God to the point of atheism. The Bible and its Aftermath Broadly speaking-the dividing lines are not sharp-talk about God has moved ("shifted") through three phases, or models ("paradigms"):
To Believe or Not to Believe, That is Not the Question: The Complexity of Jewish Beliefs About God
Belief in a personal God has been central in research and theory in the psychology of religion and spirituality. Beliefs may seem to be less important to Jews. Indeed, recent national surveys suggest that even some observant Jews report disbelief in God. Yet there are historical, philosophical, theological, and cultural reasons to suggest that Jewish beliefs about God are complex and may not be adequately measured as a yes/no survey response. Using both qualitative (in-depth interviews) and quantitative data (2 new measures of God representations), we show that Jews are quite likely to believe that God exists and that they hold diverse representations of God as a benevolent personal being, as a mystical cosmic force, and as ineffable— unknowable and incomprehensible. Jewish God representations appear to be relatively unstable and indefinite compared with the God representations of certain other religious groups. Our findings suggest that more nuanced research methods are needed in assessing religiosity, generally, and beliefs about God among Jews, specifically. Implications for the study of relational spirituality are discussed.
A Cross-Cultural Perspective on God's Personhood
Religious Studies
Debates about God's personhood, or lack thereof, are central to philosophy of religion. This paper aims to advance these debates by presenting the "greatness of personhood argument" for God's personhood and a dilemma for those who deny God's personhood. I also consider various objections to this argument and this dilemma and argue that they fail. Notably, my reasoning in defence of personal theism is cross-cultural insofar as personal theists across various religious traditions can use it. Thus, this paper defends personal theism in a manner that can bring Western and non-Western theists into closer dialogue regarding the topic of God's personhood.
Examining theological approaches to the personhood of God
In this paper I examine aspects of the personhood of God that emerge in contemporary trinitarian theology. The characteristics of God’s personhood that I assess include the weaving of immanence and economy, freedom and nature, and distinctiveness and community in God’s relational life. The purpose of the discussion is to survey, and critically assess, a broad sweep of approaches to the personhood of God with respect to these woven threads. The breadth of input results both in new insights on these liminal paradoxes and in overarching observations about the wider factors that influence theological discourse. I take note of the importance of postmodernity in undercutting claims to objectivity in theological talk about God and in raising awareness and acceptance of the impact of personal, philosophical and socio-cultural context on our theological stories and claims. This context also encourages a welcoming of the liminal and ambiguous as at the heart of theological experience and discourse.