DEFINITIONS OF GOD/ULTIMATE REALITY

Question 1

In Christian tradition, theologians have described God in many ways:

Answer 1

• The Creed: God as one, almighty, creator, ever-living.
• The Bible: God is all-knowing (omniscient), righteous, loving, judge, forgiving.
• First Vatican Council (1870) of the RC declared 15 ‘internal attributes of God, such as being: One, True, Living, Eternal, Omnipotent, Measureless, Incomprehensible, Infinite, Unchangeable, Transcendent

Question 2

Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite:
His writings on mystical experiences and the soul’s attempt to get closer to God were influential in the Early Church. He said that all engagement with God has a three-fold character:

Answer 2

1) Purification of all that hinders our approach to God.
2) Illumunation coming from God.
3) Union with God.

Question 3

From Dionysius, we come to know God through communication (i.e. experience) with him:

Answer 3

• In his Divine Names, he explains that our descriptions of God fall short of God, none of our concepts can reach Him who is essentially unknowable. He said that ‘the most divine knowledge of God is that he is known through unknowing… in a manner than transcends understanding.’ ‘Rising above us all.’
• In darkness of unknowing, the soul submits to God. Utter passivity is spoken of as ‘pure and absolute ecstasy’, an ecstasy of love – ‘a power that unites and binds together and effects an indissoluble fusion in the beautiful and the good’. In its ecstasy the soul meets God in his own ecstatic love for his creation: God is love.

Question 4

Soren Kierkegaard, 19th century:

Answer 4

Believe that describing God in various terms and trying to prove his existence through complex arguments was a misrepresentation of God. True faith, true realization of God involves a new insight into oneself, a deeper awareness of one’s own nature and an intense personal change, such as a conversion experience.

Question 5

Christian tradition:

Answer 5

In Christian tradition, God transcends human comprehension, so can anything accurate be spoken of about God? Hence the ‘via negativa’ e.g. speaking of what God is not, i.e. bound by space and time etc. And the ‘via positiva’ where certain attributes are given to good, such as goodness, love etc.

Question 6

‘A history of God’ (1993) Karen Armstrong

Answer 6

• Middle Eastern Origins reflected in the Zoroastrian dualist concept of a benevolent creative power in constant struggle with an evil being.
• Later the writers of Genesis account of creation identify a supreme powerful and benevolent being who creates light and order out of chaos.
People learn about god through different experiences in the Bible. E.g. God creates, love, gives second chances (Adam & Eve). God is concerned with peoples welfare but also is ready to judge and destroy life (Noah.)
Goodness + righteousness are key qualities that God looks for in his people. God protects his people e.g. Exodus.
NT = shows a personal, compassionate God, who wishes us to lead upright moral lives, trusting in divine providence. We are invited to embark on a personal, loving relationship with God.

Question 7

Richard Swinburne:

Answer 7

God is a personal being – i.e. with whom we interact. A person has powers, so God is
• Omnipotent (all powerful)
• Omniscient (knows everything)
• Perfect freedom
• Infinite/everlasting (timeless)
• Omnipresent (aware of everything everywhere + can act directly)

Question 8

John Hick – What is ultimate reality?

Answer 8

• Why do rel exps + expressions of religion vary so widely across human culture?
• Experiences are of a personal God, or a universal truth – ‘all are joint creations of the impact of us of the transcendent real’.
• Worshippers in different traditions can be very powerful experiences of the transcendent.