R.E. Slater - Some Important Theological Terms Then and Now under Process Theology, Part 1

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Wikipedia - biblical critique

Amazon Link - Whitehead & Cobb's Process Thought Reference Titles

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Some Important Theological Terms

Then and Now under Process Theology,

Part One

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by Curt Daniel, Faith Bible Church, Springfield, Illinois

abridged by R.E. Slater - my words in red

Here, I will endeavor to speak briefly to each term by applying process philosophy and/or process theology to each description. This will necessarily be a lengthy, but important read. I'll next create a follow-up post-or-two on (1) biblical criticism and (2) critiquing God's people in the prophetic tradition of the bible re contemporary forthtelling (as versus the more popular, but famously unbiblical idea of prophecy as a future telling of things to be). - re slater

 

Biblia: Bible. Book. Biblia Sacra: Holy Bible. Vulgata: Vulgate (official Latin Bible). Vetus Testamentum: Old Testament. Novum Testamentum: New Testament.

Process Response: The bible is a collection of ancient neolithic+ thoughts on God, religion, purpose, destiny, death, life and salvation. As God communicates at all times past, present, or future... and in all manners, forms, and expressions... a contemporary process theology of God and the church must entertain an expansion of Holy Spirit communiques at the hands and deeds of God's people both then, now, and always. After two centuries of Christian thinking one must assume the words and deeds of God have not closed the bible as a one-time revelatory dispensation but as an ongoing and contemporaneous dispensation of divine will and way. Which is a proper definition of prophecy, not as future-telling, but forthtelling... sic, as disseminating the divine Word breathed upon us via his emissaries. - res

Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone. This was the fundamental point in dispute in the Protestant Reformation. It is taught in 2 Tim. 3:16-17; I Cor.4:6; Acts 17:11; Isa.8:20, etc.

Process Response: Yes and No. In contemporary biblical criticism we wish to enhance God's words without minimizing those same words. As example, in Calvinism, God is presented as a wrathful, judging kind of force which comes-and-goes at will. Whereas in Panentheistic (NOT pan-theistic) process theology, God never leaves; always stays; upholds and sustains all creation in every way imaginable; and, at all times, speaks to us and creation in loving terms of endearment, help, aids, healing, and etc. Further this manner of "divine speech and/or activity" comes via atoning, redemptive, and salvific forms of divine intersection with the world. Hence, sola scriptura per Jesus Christ, but also via every age's leading prophetic lights at odds with the church or in helps and aids to the living church of God. Which makes it highly important we speak the best kind of theology, faith, and religion as possible. - re slater

Analogia Scripturae: The Analogy of Scripture. This is explained in the formula: “Scripturam ex Scriptura explicandam esse“, or “Scripture is to be explained by Scripture.” Related to this principle is the principle of Analogia Fide, or “Analogy of Faith.” That is, Biblical doctrines are to be interpreted in relation to the basic message of the Bible, the Gospel, the content of faith, often called The Faith. Cf.1 Cor.2:13, 15:1-4.

Process Response: All well and good. Process theologians will re-apply to the church's Westernized/Greek and Hellenic interpretations of theology with processual forms, methods, logic, and biblical exposition, interpretation, extrapolation, etc. - re slater

Testimonium Internum Spiritu Sanctu: The Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who inspired Scripture also authenticates and proves its divine origin through the Scripture itself. This is especially emphasized by Calvinists. Cf.Heb.10:15; I John 5:7-8

Process Response: This was previously discussed in a limited expression under the section "Biblia" above. - re slater

Textus Receptus: Received Text. The Greek text first published by Erasmus, then with slight modifications by Stephanus, Beza and Elzivir, upon which the King James Version is based. It follows the vast majority of the Greek manuscripts, is much the same as the more recent Majority Text, as opposed to the editions based on a minority of manuscripts.

Process Response: The history of the bible's translation, transcription, and travel has been answer in textual criticism, redactive criticism, and historical/literary genre criticism. Other resources include evolutionary paleontology, psychological/societal analysis, and so forth. But has was initially stated, process theology also regards the history of the church's words and deeds in reflection to its own process-based philosophic-theology which chooses not to limit God to previous eras two to four thousand years ago. It is an important function of the Holy Spirit that God's Word stays relevant, meaningful, and corrective via its many forms of prophetic speech, thought, and activities. As illustration, I am taking my own Baptist heritage and have updated it from Christian fundamentalism to conservative evangelicalism to Christian forms of social justice (Christian humanism) via evangelical emergentism (see recent post) to currently a post-modified evangelical-Reformed-Baptistic expression utilizing my own background with Whiteheadian (and John Cobb) forms of process expression. - re slater

Deus: God. Corresponds to the Greek word THEOS. Deus est: God is. Deus Absconditus: The Hidden God. Deus Revelatus: The Revealed God.Verbum Dei: Word of God. Lux Dei: Light of God. Vox Dei: Voice of God. Imago Dei: Image of God. The word “deity” comes from Deus.

Process Response: All well-and-good. The Hidden v Revealed God was written of in the immediately preceding post from a process perspective. - re slater

Trinitas: Trinity. Probably coined by Tertullian by combining the Latin words for three and one. The word is not found in Scripture, but the doctrine is (Matt. 28:19).

Process Response: Trinity is find. Triunity is better when referring to (1) the ontological arrangement of God's Self with God's several covenantal modes of operative revelation; or to the (2) economic = functional aspects of Father, Son, and Spirit within God's triunie relationship to God's Self and to creation. A big part of process theology states that the  concept of relationality is a fundamental and organic structure inherent within God's Self and God's creational Imago Dei when birthing material forces and substances. Process theology speaks to an elemental and essential forms of organic panrelationalism, panexperientialism, and panpsychism... meaning, all things relate to all things in all manners of ways; that all things experience (and react) to one another including the concrescent event which nominally and procedurally must occur upon meeting one another; and third, as God is everywhere and inherent in creation as it's majeure force vitae (that which is the greater force of life) then a universal and creational panpsychic presence of a dynamically living God testifies to this aspect of God's Imago Dei creation.

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~ UNDER CONSTRUCTION ~

Process Response: T - I will stop here and continue growing these paragraphs out over the day's to come... res/1.14.2024

Actus Purus: Pure Actuality. Refers to God as to His perfect self-existence. Creation is potential or derivative in being, or growing in being once created. God is perfect being.

Process Response: T

Sensus Divinitas: The sense of divinity. All men know that God exists (Rom. 1:18-21). Thus, there are no real atheists. Especially emphasized by Calvinists, particularly those of the Presuppositionalist school of apologetics, such as Cornelius Van Til.

Process Response: T

Theologica: Theology. Based on the Greek words for God and science. Summa Theologica: Sum of Theology. This was the title of the famous systematic theology by Thomas Aquinas.

Process Response: T

Loci Communes: Common Places. This was the usual term for systematic theology by the Lutherans, such as the important one by Philip Melanchthon. It refers to the collection of Scripture texts according to subject. Locus Classicus: Classic Place. The major Bible text on a subject.

Process Response: T

Institutio Christianae Religionis: Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin’s main work.

Process Response: T

Summum Bonum: Chief Good. God is the first cause of all, and the final goal. And so, the chief end for which all things were created is the glory of God.

Process Response: T

Analogia Entis: Analogy of Being. The error that says that God and Man both share the same kind of being, differing in quantity but not in quality. Basically pantheistic.

Process Response: T

Protoevangelium: The First Gospel. The first revelation of the Gospel was Gen. 3:15.

Process Response: T

Foedus: Covenant. Federal Theology (or Federalism) is Covenant Theology.

Process Response: T

Lex: Law. Lex Dei: Law of God. Lex Naturalis: Natural Law, revealed in Creation (Rom.1:18-23, 2:14-15). Lex Mosaica: Law of Moses. Lex Ceremonialis: Ceremonial Law. The temporary and symbolic laws of Moses, replaced by baptism and communion (Col. 2:16-17). Lex Moralis: Moral Law, God’s fundamental, unchangeable Law, in force in both testaments. Lex Talionis: Law of Retribution (or retaliation). An eye for an eye, the punishment fits the crime, you reap what you sow. Lex Rex: Law and the King, or Law of the King. Title of important book by Samuel Rutherford on the use of Biblical civil law today.

Process Response: T

Creatio ex Nihilo: Creation out of nothing. God created merely by speaking it into existence.

Process Response: T

Infralapsus: Infralapsarian. God first ordained the Fall and then elected men in the logical order of the eternal decrees. Supralapsus: Supralapsarian. God first elected some and rejected others before He ordained the Fall. Lapsus: Fall.

Process Response: T

Ordo Salutis: Order of Salvation. Reformed theologians coined the term. Armilla Aurea, or Golden Chain, to relate the elements and stages of salvation according to Rom.8:29-30, etc.

Process Response: T

Sola Gratia: Grace alone. Grace-faith-justification-works, not grace-faith-works-justification.

Process Response: T

Sola Fide: Faith alone. Bona fide: Good faith. Credo: I believe. Notitia: Knowledge, the first element of saving faith. Assensus: Assent, the second element of faith. Fiducia: Trust, the third element of faith.

Process Response: T

Simul lustus et Peccator: Simultaneously just and sinful. When we are justified, we are still sinful of ourselves. Even though our natures are changed in regeneration, there is still indwelling sin within us. The basis of our acceptance with God is not our changed nature, but rather the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is thus Iustia Alienum, an alien righteousness – it is inherent in Christ, but not in us. In justification, God imputes or accounts this to us. It is then Iustia Imputata, imputed righteousness.

Process Response: T

Articulus Stantis et Cadentis Ecclesiae: The article by which the Church stands and falls. Luther’s statement concerning justification of the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, rejected by Roman Catholicism.

Process Response: T

Solo Christo: Christ alone. Not Christ and priests, pastors, parents, or anyone else.

Process Response: T

Extra Calvinisticum: The Calvinistic Extra. The Lutherans believed in the ubiquity (omnipresence) of Christ’s human body and nature, whereas the Calvinists have believed the historic view that Christ’s human body-and-soul is not infinite or omnipresent, but is only now at the right hand of the Father. Calvinists hold to the principle Finitum non Capax Infiniti, or the finite is not capable of the infinite (the finite human nature of Christ is not capable of containing His infinite divine nature in its entirety).Thus, ever since the Incarnation, there is still infinite deity beyond Christ’s human nature. The beyond is “extra” or outside, infinite.

Process Response: T

Corpus Christi: The Body of Christ. Hoc est Corpus Meum: This is My Body.

Process Response: T

Sacramentum: Sacrament. Catholicism believes the sacraments are magical instruments which actually and physically confer grace. Their principle is Ex Opere Operato, or out of the work worked. Do something or receive a physical sacrament, and grace is automatically given. True Protestants, however, rightly reject this and take the word sacramentum to mean mystery, a symbolic ordinance in which grace is given through the Word of God.

Process Response: T

Papa: Pope, father. Catholicism says he is infallible when he pronounces a truth as dogma when he speaks Ex Cathedra, from the chair (of Peter). This contradicts Sola Scriptura.

Process Response: T

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus: Outside the Church there is no salvation. The Catholic heresy that there is no salvation outside Catholicism. Protestants believe rather that salvation is not given through a Church but through Christ. There are true believers in many churches, but not outside Biblical Christianity or out of the Body of Christ.

Process Response: T

Reformata sed Semper Reformanda: Reformed and always reforming. The Protestant principle that the Church should always be striving to conform to Scripture. So should Christians.

Process Response: T

Posse non Peccare: Able not to sin. Adam’s state before the Fall, and in another way also ours after we are saved. Non Posse non Peccare: Not able not to sin. Total inability to obey God or resist sinning. Unregenerate Man. Non Posse Peccare: Not able to sin. In one sense, God alone is unable to sin, being intrinsically holy. In another sense, the elect will be unable to sin when they are perfected in Heaven (Heb. 12:23; Eph. 1:4).

*For full definitions of these and many more, see Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985):

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(2017 Publish date) This indispensable companion to key post-Reformation theological texts provides clear and concise definitions of Latin and Greek terms for students at a variety of levels. Written by a leading scholar of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras, this volume offers definitions that bear the mark of expert judgment and precision. The second edition includes new material and has been updated and revised throughout.

Process Theology and the "Hiddenness & Revelation of God"

Process Theology and the

"Hiddenness & Revelation of God"

by R.E. Slater

Deus absconditus (Latin: "hidden God") refers to the Christian theological concept of the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. However, Martin Luther, laid out the accompanying position of Deus revelatus, (Latin: "God revealed") which affirms that the ultimate self-revelation of God lies in Jesus Christ as the image and very essence of the fullness of God as the second divine Person of the Trinity. That is, in the New Testament Jesus is revealed to be God come in the flesh. This Christian doctrine is known as the "Incarnation" of God in human form.

Though a lot of words have been written on this subject it is best to think of this event as God who is 100% present as Jesus; and Jesus, as 100% man. That is, Jesus was fully God and fully man. There was no dilution of God in human form nor was there any dilution of humanity as represented in Jesus as the "Second Adam" of creation per Paul (1 Corinthians 15.45-58, NASB'95).

That said, the question arises, "How can the hidden God of creation also be revealed in Christ." These counter-intuitive statements of divine hiddenness and divine revelation seem to be at odds with one another.

Historically, it was the particular focus of Luther’s work in the Heidelberg Theses of 1518, presented during the Heidelberg disputation of 1518. In the Christian tradition, the hidden God (Deus absconditus) is presented as revealed (Deus revelatus) through:

• Jesus' life (referring to his incarnation),

• Jesus' Ministry (referring to Jesus' baptism and his new Rabbinic teaching on God's love, mercy, compassion, and salvation),

• Jesus' Passion (referring to Jesus' crucifixion), and

• Jesus' Resurrection from the grave (also known as Jesus' Transfiguration and Ascension in a new body as the first fruits of God from the grave, 1 Corinthians 15).

While also stating, without conflict, albeit paradoxically, that God, in God's essence, will always be fundamentally a mystery to God's creation.

In what way is God incomprehensible or unknowable to God's finite creation? 

As a matter of expression we are simply stating the obvious: "God is an ancient God. An immortal God. In these mystical referents alone a finite creation such as man cannot comprehend God." And when coupled with metaphysics, God's very Self - whether in essence or in attribute - is fully, inexpressive, impenetrable, inexplicable, incomprehensible, inscrutable, and so forth. God cannot be known unless God reveals God's Self.

Thus and thus, the finite cannot not, nor ever will be able, to grasp the infinite as a mortal, bounded and finite being. And yet, in Jesus Christ, God has revealed to us a mystery. That mystery is that God has revealed himself to us through Jesus Christ.

And what was this revelation? That God is a God of love who has a complete hatred for pretentious religious forms, laws, and dictates which bind us from fully knowing God - as was the case with traditional Old Testament Judaism  of Jesus' day which emphasized the works of the law over the spirit of the law. Jesus said, "By faith you come to God, and by works of love we show our faith" (Ephesians 2.8-10; James 2.18).

Now let's review the several items we have covered before imputing (to credit or ascribe) Whiteheadian process theology into the traditionalized statements of the Jesus church. For when we do, I think you'll be surprised by how dynamically relevant process theology can make traditionally apprised church positions about the personage of God as revealed to us through Scripture, Christ, his church past and present, and the testimony of believers.

Of Councils and Doctrines

• The Heidelberg Disputation was held at the lecture hall of the Augustinian order on April 26, 1518.[1] It was here that Martin Luther, as a delegate for his order, began to have occasion to articulate his views. In the defense of his theses, which culminated in a contrast between divine love and human love,[2] Luther defended the doctrine of human depravity and the bondage of the will. Martin Bucer, the reformer of Strasbourg, heard Luther here and became an avid follower.[3] This disputation also led to Johann Eck's challenging Martin Luther to the Leipzig Debate.[4] - Wikipedia see here and here.

• Deus absconditus (Latin: "hidden God") refers to the Christian theological concept of the fundamental unknowability of God's nature. The term originates from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, specifically the Book of Isaiah. “Truly you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, a Savior” (Isaiah 45:15). This concept was particularly important to the theological thought of medieval Christian theologians Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and Martin Luther. Today, deus abconditus in Christian theology is primarily associated with the theology of Martin Luther and later Protestant theologians. Luther revealed his views on deus abconditus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio in 1525. But he had already hinted at this idea ten years earlier in his lectures on the Psalms and on Romans. The opposite of his Deus absconditus in Lutheran theology is the concept of Deus revelatus ("revealed God"). In the Kingdom of France, this concept was important to the Jansenist movement, which included Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. French philosopher Lucien Goldman titled his 1964 book on Pascal and Racine ``The Hidden God: A Study of Tragic Vision in Pascal's Pensées and Racine's Tragedy.''

• “Revelation” (lat. revelatio) is a translation of the Greek word apokalypsis, which means the removal of a veil so that something can be seen. Many religions appeal to purported divine revelations in order to explain and justify their characteristic beliefs about God, and revelation has usually been understood as an epistemic notion. Paradigmatically, it refers to alleged instances of divine speaking or special divine acts in history, although in a more general sense “revelation” can denote any means of divine self-disclosure, for example through nature. The topic of divine revelation has been a long-standing and central focus in theology, and philosophical discussions have often taken their cues from Christian theological debates. This entry will treat theological perspectives only in so far as they are relevant for philosophical questions about the purported nature and means of divine revelation and the justification of revelatory claims.

God's Divinity in Processual Terms

How then, might we approach God's divinity in processual terms, that is, when applying process theology to a formulaic, bifurcated, Westernized, neo-Platonic, cum Scholastic, cum Modernal indoctrination form of study? Especially since we now live in a meta-postmodern world society?

As we have stated, there is a religious philosophical question which may seem paradoxical at first but is essentially necessary when placed together with it's ancillary twin half:

When approaching "Deus absconditus" (the hiddenness of God) + "Deus revelatus" (the self-revelation of God) as separate, isolated divinity statements they will seem to each uniquely cancel out the other. And yet, each are necessarily essential descriptors to God's essence of being."

How can this be? Let me now apply process thinking into the mix...

First, think about each term separately and then place them together... why might this be an intriguing way to approach the religious philosophical concept of God's God-ness?

Think about this a second...

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.

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The idea of a hidden and a revealed aspect of God, deus absconditus and deus revelatus respectively, has historical roots in various religious traditions. It's often tied to the mystery and transcendence (that which is beyond us) associated with the divine. The interplay between the hidden and revealed aspects can be seen as essential for a deeper understanding of God's nature. Different philosophical and theological perspectives may offer diverse interpretations of this concept.

However let us not be content to stop here in the church's systematical restatements of God's nature or constitutive being.... What more might we say to the organic relational wholeness of God's hidden but revealed Self when using a newer philophical process theology than Christianity's typical Western Platonic/Hellenised formulations typically emphasizing transcendance over immance of the Divine?

By referring to Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and John Cobb's accompanying process theology as derivative, how might deus revelatus and deus absconditus be reinterpreted in a processual sense?

In Whitehead's Process Theology, the concepts of deus absconditus and deus revelatus could be reinterpreted as an "ongoing process of becoming".

Deus absconditus (Divine hiddenness) might be seen as the primordial nature of God that is not fully revealed in the present moment, and therefore existing beyond our immediate temporal experience of the Divine.

However, Deus revelatus could be understood as God's self-disclosure in the unfolding process of time and event, gradually revealing aspects of divine creativity and experience as creational and social events progress conscrencently (together +1 novel response).

This aligns with the idea of God dynamically participating in a continually evolving and adapting world. Moreover, when referring to John Cobb's Process Theology, influenced as a derivitive outcome to Whitehead's process philosophy, Cobb goes on to further explore the idea of God's constant relational involvement in the becoming of the universe as well as God's Self when interlinked together with God's creation (thus and thus speaking to God's dynamic and eternal immanency with creation).

In the context of Process Theology then, the relationship between deus absconditus and deus revelatus is always eternally dynamic and evolving.

Deus absconditus represents the hidden, transcendent potentialities of God that are not fully expressed in any single moment. Thus, the primordial nature of God contributes to the ongoing creativity of the universe (in technical terms, event +1 one additional concrecent moment which creates many multiple possible futures which collapse to one resulting processual event actuality).

Whereas Deus revelatus reflects on the continuous self-disclosure of God within the process of becoming. Thus, God's Self-revelation is not a static event but an unfolding, participatory engagement with the world and all that is in it, including all of the cosmos. As events unfold and entities interact, new aspects of God's nature are revealed, contributing to the ongoing narrative of the cosmos.

The process perspective thereby emphasizes that God is intimately involved in the world, influencing and being influenced by creation's evolving events. It invites us to perceive divinity not as a distant, unchanging entity, but as an active and relationally immanent, albeit compassionate, Divine force which is continually (re)shaping the ongoing processes of reality in an agency-based relationship btw God and creation.

As an aside, without Divine partnership, or a Divine cooperative with creation, resulting/evolving consequences would be wholly dependent on Divine rule = micromanagement rather than as it currently is as a Divine cooperative between all creational actors.

This interpretation aligns with the further idea that God's immanent presence is dynamically woven into the fabric of the universe, continuously revealing more of the divine nature through the unfolding of time as creation itself evolves.

This is quaintly summarized in the book in Exodus when Moses asks YHWH who God is, and YHWH ("the name which cannot be expressed") answers, "IAM who I AM." Translated into processual terms God is referring to God's Self as the "One who is, and is becoming"....

[As an anticlimax, process thought can also be seen as a similar, but quite dissimilar, oblique reference to Alaine Badiou's life long work of "Being and Event," but when tweeked processually under Whitehead, can be restated in terms of any relational (ontologic) event in the interplay between "Being and Becoming." Or more simply, "the metaphysical, ontological, and ethical states, of Being-ness which is always in the processually eternal state of Becoming-ness."]

Application

Now these processual truths should place our souls in eternal repose, peace, and comfort of mind, body, heart and soul, when confronting all disquiet, anxiety or stressor, when prayerfully leaving these disruptors in our lives behind us in God's hands who will eternally, and lovingly, be a faithful and compassionate God to us.

As Paul well said,

Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Go in peace brethren and rest in the Lord,

R.E. Slater

January 13, 2024

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Deus absconditus (Christian theology)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Protestant reformer Martin Luther unfolded his views on the concepts of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio (1525)

Deus absconditus (Latin: "hidden God") refers to the Christian theological concept of the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. The term is derived from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, specifically from the Book of Isaiah: "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, Oh God of Israel, the Savior" (Isaiah 45:15). This concept was particularly important for the theological thought of the medieval Christian theologians Thomas Aquinas,^[1] Nicholas of Cusa,^[2] and Martin Luther.^[3]

Today, the Christian theological concept of Deus absconditus is primarily associated with the theology of Martin Luther and later Protestant theologians.^[3] Luther unfolded his views on Deus absconditus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio in 1525. But he had already hinted at this idea in his lectures on the Book of Psalms and in his lecture on the Epistle to the Romans ten years earlier. The opposite of Deus absconditus in Lutheran theology is the concept of Deus revelatus ("revealed God").^[4]

In the Kingdom of France, the concept was important to the Jansenist movement, which included Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. The French philosopher Lucien Goldmann would title a 1964 book on Pascal and Racine, The Hidden God: A Study of Tragic Vision in the Pensées of Pascal and the Tragedies of Racine.

See also

• Deus deceptor
• Deus otiosus
• Ethical monotheism
• History of Christian theology
• Outline of theology
• Philosophical theology
• Theodicy
• Theology of the Cross

References

1. ^ Weber, Max (1978). Runciman, Walter Garrison (ed.). Max Weber: Selections in Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 0-521-29268-9.
2. ^ Cusanus, Nicolaus (1959). Wilpert, Paul (ed.). Opuscula I: De Deo abscondito, De quaerendo Deum, De filiatione Dei, De dato Patris luminum, Coniectura de ultimis diebus, De genesi. Nicolai de Cusa: Opera Omnia. Vol. IV. Hamburg, West Germany: Meiner.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Macquarrie, John (1983). "Deus absconditus". In Richardson, Alan; Bowden, John (eds.). The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780664227487.
4. ^ E. Jüngel, The Doctrine of the Trinity: God’s Being is in Becoming. 19

Bibliography

• Volker Leppin: Deus absconditus und Deus revelatus. Transformationen mittelalterlicher Theologie in der Gotteslehre von "De servo arbitrio"; in: Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift 22 (2005), S. 55–69; ISSN 0724-6137
• Martin Luther: Vom unfreien Willen: dass der freie Wille nichts sei. Antwort D. Martin Luthers an Erasmus von Rotterdam; deutsche Übersetzung von De servo arbitrio, übersetzt von Bruno Jordahn, hrsg. v. Georg Merz; München 1983
• Horst Beintker: Luthers Gotteserfahrung und Gottesanschauung; in: Leben und Werk Martin Luthers von 1526 bis 1546 – Festgabe zu seinem 500. Geburtstag, Band 1; Berlin 1985²; S. 39–62

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Deus revelatus (Christian theology)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Protestant reformer Martin Luther unfolded his views on the concepts of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio (1525)

Deus revelatus (Latin: "revealed God") refers to the Christian theological concept coined by Martin Luther which affirms that the ultimate self-revelation of God relies on his hiddenness. It is the particular focus of Luther’s work the Heidelberg Theses of 1518,^[1] presented during the Heidelberg disputation of 1518. In Christian theology, God is presented as revealed or Deus revelatus through the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Debate of the term is found in the field of philosophy of religion, where it is contested among philosophers such as J. L. Schellenberg.^[2] The term is usually distinguished from Luther's concept of Deus absconditus, which affirms the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. However, Luther proposed that God is a revelation who uses the fog to obscure himself.^[3] This distinction which permeates his theology has been the subject of wide interpretation, leading to controversy between theologians who believe the terms to be either antithetical or identical. These two conflicting strands of thought present the main problem when interpreting Luther’s doctrine of the Revealed God.^[4] In recent years the term has been used to inform modern analysis of religious themes such as evolution.

The Revealed God

Christian Theology

The conception of Luther's Revealed God came about through his own personal struggles with grasping assurance of God's grace, which he confirmed by looking to the Cross of Christ. The concept of the incomprehensibility of God was first introduced by Luther in his Lectures on The Psalms.^[4]  The theology of ‘deus revelatus’ originated to address the concern that if a God exists, he has not made his existence sufficiently clear.^[5]  The term ‘Revealed God’ can be found in Luther’s works, Heidelberg Theses (1518) and On the Bondage of the Will (1525).  Luther’s theology was permeated by the theology of the cross, which led to the conception of both the Revealed God (deus revelatus) and the hidden God (deus absconditus).  In the Heidelberg Thesis, Luther asserts the view of ‘deus revelatus', a living God who suffered on a cross, and in On the Bondage of the Will Luther depicts the ‘deus absconditus’, a God of hidden majesty. The Christian concept of God depicts an absolute being who is righteous in himself, thereby becoming a threat to unrighteous humans. Therefore, He must become 'the God who seeks to be justified by the unrighteous in his words, a great vulnerability in which God stoops low in order to give sinners faith'.^[3]

The concept of the Revealed God was later referred to by Paulson as 'The Preached God'.^[3] The Revealed God is one being and three persons who 'actively wants to be found—in Christ, and him crucified—justified in his words'.^[3] Luther thus proposed that God’s ultimate self revelation is in hiddenness, ‘namely, in weakness, in folly, in the incarnation and on the cross’.^[1]  The divine majesty and glory of God is ‘shame and humiliation’ as he ‘brings life by means of death, whose suffering leads to resurrection’, thus there becomes a paradox whereby God is hidden in His self-revelation.^[1]  God is hidden ‘in the suffering, humility and shame of the cross’ and ones suffering on Earth, however through faith sinners can recognise the God of love and mercy revealed in Christ.^[6] Such a revelation which leads to justification nevertheless requires a preacher, thus 'The Holy Spirit sends such preachers so that grace is not so deeply hidden that we never find Christ hidden in the repulsive cross'.^[3] Because of this, Luther’s theology states that any individual outside of a Christian community of faith do not experience his self-revelation and do not know his attitude towards them.^[1]

Luther believed that the visible aspects of God through his hiding were the only sufficient explanation of God.  Therefore, Luther stated it was imperative that theologians focus on the cross to ‘see God as God wants to be seen’.^[1] ‘Those who seek to know the invisible things of God, namely, God's glory, majesty, wisdom, and justice, through the wisdom of natural revelation are chastised as theologians of glory by Luther’.^[1]

The concept connects to free will within Christian theology as it leads to the belief that ‘God must remain hidden […] failing to do so would lead to a loss of morally significant freedom on the part of creatures’.^[5]

In the Bible

Luther’s conception of the Revealed God was derived from specific scripture in the Christian bible which detail how only through Christ does God choose to be revealed.  Passages of significance include John 14:8-9, ‘8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?’. 

Further passages of importance

Source:^[1]

• Exod 33:18-23
• Rom 1:19-25
• 1 Cor 1:17-31
• 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Philosophy of religion

The Revealed God contributes to debate in Philosophy of Religion whereby philosophers such as J. L. Schellenberg have used it to support the view of atheism.^[5]

Schellenberg’s line of argument attempts to disprove the Judeo-Christian God by stating that were there a perfectly loving God, He would adequately reveal Himself to allow every person to attain personal relationship with Him.  However, since ‘there are capable, inculpable non-believers […] there is no perfectly loving God’.^[5]  

Schellenberg’s Argument:

1. If there is a God, he is perfectly loving
2. If a perfectly loving God exists, reasonable nonbelief does not occur
3. Reasonable nonbelief does occur
4. No perfectly loving God exists
5. There is no God

Similar: 'The Hidden God'

A similar Lutheran concept is that of the Hidden God, a deity whose grace is hidden, which is often considered to be interconnected to the Revealed God.  Luther’s depiction of ‘deus absconditus’ can be found in his work Bondage of the Will (De servo arbitrio). Luther’s concept asserts that the first instance of hiding in the Christian Bible occurred in the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve sought to hide from God.^[7] Following this instance, God has remained hidden in the sense that his will and counsels remain unknown to any except him.

There are two contrasting views of the implications of Luther's depiction of a Hidden God:^[3]

1. His hiddenness is the subjective limit of human knowledge.
2. God is in essence mercy, so acts that appear evil can be attributed to the attribute of divine love.

Controversy

A prevalent issue in theological scholarship is the relationship between the Revealed God and the Hidden God.  Controversy has arisen as to whether the ‘deus revelatus’ and ‘deus absconditus’ refer to two distinct strands of theology which only have the concept of hiddenness in common, or are identical in form.  It is claimed that according to his own writings, 'Luther never preached two or three gods or powers; he was not a Manichaean or anti-Trinitarian',^[3] however a seeming paradox is contested. Gerrish forms two differing groups of theologians dependent on whether they believe the terms are antithetical or identical.  

Theologians who believe the terms are antithetical include Hendel, Theodosius Harnack, the two Ritschls, Reinhold Seeberg, Hirsch, Elert, and Holl.  Such theologians argue the dualistic nature of the terms and state that the two differing views of God they produce cannot be reconciled.  Hendel states ‘Luther warns that the theologian and believer must distinguish between the God preached, or revealed, and the God hidden, "that is, between the Word of God and God himself”’.^[1]  Harnack’s work was considered to be a rediscovering of the concept of the Hidden and Revealed God whereby ‘the notion of hiddenness expresses a double relation of God to the world: outside of Christ he is the free, all-working, majestic God of the Law; in Christ he is the gracious Redeemer who has bound himself to his Word and Sacraments’.^[4] This position was also held by Althaus who stated that through his conception of the Revealed and Hidden God, Luther divided God; 'God, according to His secret will, to a great extent disagrees with His Word offering grace to all men'.^[8]

Theologians who believe the terms are identical are Kattenbusch and Erich Seeberg.  The theologians argue that a single event of revelation led people through faith to see the Revealed God, and through simply sense-perception see the Hidden God.  Kattenbusch perpetuated the standpoint of the two terms as identical, asserting that ‘God hides himself in his revelation, so that revelation and hiddenness are not opposed, but coincide’.^[4]

Modern Theological Application

Luther’s theology has remained relevant in a multitude of modern theological debates such as evolutionary debate.  

Evolutionary Debate

Theologian Charlene Burns has examined meaning of violent evolution with regards to Christian theology.  Scientific discoveries continue to uncover violence as a marker of the origin of the world, from the ‘movement of fault lines in the earth to the extinction of species’.^[9] Burns uses a phenomenological approach to discuss the violence which is inherent to evolution.^[9]  Burns states that ‘God is revealed not in the suffering of Christ on the cross, per se, but in what that suffering stimulates’, and states that evolution has led to humanity becoming ‘destroyers’.^[9]  Burns concludes by asserting that the idea of God being revealed through the suffering of Christ exemplifies the altruistic nature of God, which humanity is called to emulate in its current advanced stage of evolution.

See also

• Deus deceptor
• Deus otiosus
• Ethical monotheism
• History of Christian theology
• Outline of theology
• Philosophical theology
• Theodicy
• Theology of the Cross

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h} Hendel, Kurt K. (August 2008). "'No salvation outside the church' in light of Luther's dialectic of the hidden and revealed God". Currents in Theology and Mission. 35 (4): 248–258. Gale A182929962.
2. ^ Schellenberg, J. L. (1993). Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-2792-3.^{[page needed]}
3. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g} Paulson, Steven (2014). "Luther's Doctrine of God". In Kolb, Robert; Dingel, Irene; Batka, L'ubomír (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604708.013.034. ISBN 978-0-19-960470-8.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Gerrish, B. A. (1973). "'To the Unknown God': Luther and Calvin on the Hiddenness of God". The Journal of Religion. 53 (3): 263–292. doi:10.1086/486347. JSTOR 1202133. S2CID 170113518.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Howard-Snyder, Daniel; Moser (2002). Divine Hiddenness: New Essays. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521006101.
6. ^ Stopa, Sasja Emilie Mathiasen (1 November 2018). "'Seeking Refuge in God against God': The Hidden God in Lutheran Theology and the Postmodern Weakening of God". Open Theology. 4 (1): 658–674. doi:10.1515/opth-2018-0049. S2CID 172127916.
7. ^ Paulson, Steven (1 October 1999). "Luther on the Hidden God". Word & World. 19 (4): 363–371.
8. ^ Althaus, Paul (1966). The Theology of Martin Luther. Fortress Press. ISBN 0800618556.^{[page needed]}
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Burns, Charlene P. E. (November 2006). "Honesty about God: Theological reflections on violence in an evolutionary universe". Theology and Science. 4 (3): 279–290. doi:10.1080/14746700600953389. S2CID 144946281.

Bibliography

• Burns, Charlene P. E. (November 2006). "Honesty about God: Theological reflections on violence in an evolutionary universe". Theology and Science. 4 (3): 279–290. doi:10.1080/14746700600953389. S2CID 144946281.
• Claus Schwambach: Rechtfertigungsgeschehen und Befreiungsprozess. Die Eschatologien von Martin Luther und Leonardo Boff im kritischen Gespräch, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-525-56239-X
• Gerrish, B. A. (1973). "'To the Unknown God': Luther and Calvin on the Hiddenness of God". The Journal of Religion. 53 (3): 263–292. doi:10.1086/486347. JSTOR 1202133. S2CID 170113518.
• Hans Hübner: Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments, Band 1: Prolegomena, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990, ISBN 3-525-53586-4
• Hendel, Kurt K. (August 2008). "'No salvation outside the church' in light of Luther's dialectic of the hidden and revealed God". Currents in Theology and Mission. 35 (4): 248–258. Gale A182929962.
• Howard-Snyder, D. & Moser, P. K. (2002) Divine hiddenness new essays. Cambridge, UK ;: Cambridge University Press.
• Kolb, Robert (2009). Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-920894-4.
• Paulson, Steven (2014). "Luther's Doctrine of God". In Kolb, Robert; Dingel, Irene; Batka, L'ubomír (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604708.013.034. ISBN 978-0-19-960470-8.
• Paulson, Steven (1 October 1999). "Luther on the Hidden God". Word & World. 19 (4): 363–371.
• Schellenberg, J. L. (1993). Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-2792-3.
• Stopa, Sasja Emilie Mathiasen (1 November 2018). "'Seeking Refuge in God against God': The Hidden God in Lutheran Theology and the Postmodern Weakening of God". Open Theology. 4 (1): 658–674. doi:10.1515/opth-2018-0049. S2CID 172127916.
• Vestrucci, Andrea (2019). Theology as Freedom: On Martin Luther's "De servo arbitrio". Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-156975-3.
• Leppin, Volker (2005). "Deus absconditus und Deus revelatus. Transformationen mittelalterlicher Theologie in der Gotteslehre von 'De servo arbitrio'". Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift. 22 (1): 55–69. doi:10.15496/publikation-53935. hdl:10900/112559.