Introduction: Divine Attributes

Abstract

An earthworm feels the pleasant warmth of the African sun when a herd of elephants passes by. All of a sudden, it feels vibrations in the ground, a shadow falls upon it, and the temperature decreases notably. One of the elephants stopped close to the earthworm. Does the worm have any clear conception of what is going on? Can it perceive the elephant and create a mental representation of it, given its sensory apparatus and brain performance? Most probably not. As far as we know, the earthworm’s sensory apparatus is not capable of perceiving an elephant, and its brain is unable to produce a mental image of it. There are a fair number of theologians and philosophers who claim that our situation is analogous to the one described above when it comes to acquiring reliable knowledge about God. We are like earthworms—incapable of producing any adequate sensory perception or mental representation of God. All that we can do is cautiously approach the mystery of God by being aware that all our images, reflections, and teachings about it are ultimately inadequate attempts to grasp a reality far beyond our cognitive grasp. According to such a view, any philosophical and theological reflection about the divine nature and the divine attributes amounts to mere academic quibble or, even worse, pseudo-discussions. There is no doubt that the motivation for holding such a view is noble and also points to something religiously important. ‘‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image of God,’’ says the first of the Ten Commandments. This commandment reminds us that any attempt to grasp God in a determinate and precise way is hubris that will inevitably end in idolatry. This reminder, however, does not mean that any attempt to systematically reflect on the nature of God is religiously misleading. On the contrary, a closer look shows that, among the different roads leading to a reflection about the nature of God, there are at least two that are intrinsically motivated by religious life itself. The first road is scriptural evidence. Various passages in the Bible ascribe properties to God that are taken to be part of the divine nature. Gen. 17:1 and Ps. 91:1, for instance, describe God as almighty; Ps. 139 says that God has unlimited knowledge; and Ps. 51:1 declares that God’s love and faithfulness will never cease. If these passages are not taken as purely metaphorical expressions but are read with a literal kernel, then one natural question to ask is in what sense we shall attribute these properties to God. The second road is the religious praxis of worship. Reflection upon what kind of being is worthy of worship This special issue is in part the product of the project ‘‘Analytic Theology and the Nature of God’’ generously sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation (Project ID #57397).