Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Transcendence versus immanence

“Insuring God is far removed from the narrative scene during a deception ends up drawing too sharp a dichotomy between the divine and human. God’s transcendence is emphasized at the expense of divine immanence...What ultimately emerges in these characterizations of God in the Jacob cycle are portraits tending toward deism. Distancing God from instances of deception in the interest—implicit or explicit—of addressing one theological problem (divine deception) lays the groundwork for another, equally troubling theological problem: a transcendent God that ultimately does not square with the role and activity of God depicted in the ancestral narratives.”—Jacob and the Divine Trickster, page 7

<idle musing>
New book starting today. No easy answers, are there? God is a messy God in that he gets involved with us on a daily basis. I personally wouldn't trade the immanence of God for a nice, sterile, easily digested theologically pretty god. I need him to much!
</idle musing>

5 comments:

John Anderson said...

Wow sounds like a brilliant book. Wish i knew the author!

jps said...

Jokester! :)

James

John Anderson said...

Don't you mean "trickster"? (wink)

jps said...

Intentionally said jokester versus trickster—you aren't divine :)

James

John Anderson said...

Nor was Jacob. Or Abraham. Or Rebekah. or Laban. Or Solomon. Or . . .