Restoring God to Reality

God has been defined in dozens of ways, whether as one of many similar personalities in the thinking of early, polytheistic humanity or as the detached, all-powerful creation of monotheistic thinking. In the age of modernism he is, to many, not a personality even to the degree which the monotheist considered him, but a science born of so-called autonomous reason. The one clear and distinct defining attribute of God is this, that throughout human history there has always been some great object of following and belief.

I have begun generally, and I may expand on the statements in the introduction to this post at a later time, but for now I wish to examine the nature of God in traditional, religious thinking in Monotheism.

There are many features attributed to God, he is called omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, immutable and omnipresent. It is this set of features, and others like them, that I wish to draw into question. I am not, with any certainty, making belief statements, merely theorising about the possibilities that can be opened up, particularly in Christianity, with a rethinking of what God fundamentally is.

Most of the strict features attributed to God are Hellenic (Graeco-Roman) in origin, particularly stemming from the Platonic theory of Forms. If we remove the obstacle of the fusion of Hellenic thought from Christianity we are presented with a far more personal God, with a greater relationship to creation and a more active role in human relationships. The detatched puppet-master becomes a force for good in co-operation with his creation.

Take the idea of God as eternal, as a first example. It is my proposition that time and space are not creatures, but essential features of reality. To describe this in more approachable terms, time and space are not a house, built by God to house the rest of his creations but the very wind and earth of his world as well as our own. Reality, in my proposed model, is one and the same as existence; thus, God is not limited by being constrained to the same reality as his creation, it is merely the case that he is part of it.

The problems within Christianity that this solvers are many, but the greatest of these that I have discussed is participation. I have previously explained my thoughts on the importance of the material participation of Jesus to the Resurrection, how much deeper a relationship would creature maintain with Creator if the Godhead shared this common ground with humanity.

If God is a participant in time and space, as we are, then prayer becomes a truly independent and effective act of worship and change. If God has not already written the future, as a Hellenistic reading would demand, but merely dictates what he is yet to do through future eschatology, then prayer is a true discussion with the divine. Just as Moses convinced God to stay his wrath, so may the current generation make real requests of the divine, be it for change, for mercy or for aid.

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~ by Benjamin O'Brien de Clare on October 25, 2008.