Liberating the Holy Name by Spiro Daniel;

Author:Spiro, Daniel; [Spiro, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781630872380
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2014-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

91. Tillich, Systematic Theology, 228.

92. Ibid., 235–36.

93. Ibid., 155.

94. Ibid., 241.

95. Ibid., 156.

96. Spinoza, “Ethics,” Part V, Prop. 19, 372.

97. Spinoza, “Ethics,” Part V, Prop. 42, Scholium, 382.

Part II

God in the Second Person

So, do you view God primarily as something to be studied and conceptualized or someone to be encountered and addressed? The chic answer, in theological circles, is the latter. To say that “God is beyond conceptualization” has become the theological equivalent of “2+2=4.” According to conventional wisdom, those of us who can adroitly discuss the meaning of the word “God” are nothing more than homo intellecticus and are missing the whole point of the Divine. Conceptualizers are said to be brains without souls, pedants with tunnel vision, and novices in the realm of the spirit. By contrast, those who can pray with all their hearts, deeply meditate on the mantra “One,” or approach every earthly meeting as a divine encounter are extolled not only for their spirituality but also for their wisdom.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen that theme in print. And I still don’t fully buy into it. Obviously, we can never completely capture God in conceptual form. But does that mean we need not try? When even many of our brightest theologians and clergy don’t attempt to conceptualize God in a logically coherent way, we as individuals tend to be left to our own devices . . . or to the preaching of charlatans. And if that means that large segments of society become apathetic or dismissive about the whole domain of religion, whereas other segments look to God’s supernatural intervention to solve our greatest problems, we all must live with the consequences.

If we are to communicate with one another about divinity, it is invaluable that you understand who or what I mean by the word “God.” That is why we began this book by considering God in the third person. But it was never my plan to limit ourselves to that third person framework. In fact, we couldn’t pull that off even if we wanted to. In the Spinozistic words of Jay Michaelson, “the heart loves what the mind knows.”98 In other words, the more we learn about the Divine—the more coherent, subtle, and reasonable our conception of God becomes—the more we come to love God. And it is impossible truly to love something, or someone, and not desire a meaningful encounter with this beloved. I feel that way about the birds that nest on my back porch just as I do about The Ultimate Synthesis.

In this part of the book, I will attempt such an encounter with the Divine. Every statement will be made directly to God and God alone.

In connection with these statements, at least three fundamental questions arise. First, by speaking to God, am I expecting to receive a response? Second, if indeed the answer to that first question is yes, from whom do I expect that response? From God? Or only from myself? And third, whenever I use

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