 |
|
     |
|
|
|
There's a slight false step, in the midst of a very helpful point, in Bruce Ellis Benson's superb Graven Ideologies: He has been explaining the "double transcendence" of Platonism - metaphysical (Truth's being is beyong the sensible world) and epistemological (human beings can get beyond the sensible world to have contact with truth and the world of ideas). He argues, rightly, that the epistemological transcendence cancels the metaphysical: "If I am able to transcend the boundaries of my world and my time, then that which I seek to understand is itself no longer transcendent. . . . If I can transcend my finitude to understand God in his fullness, then God is - at least to me - no longer transcendent. . . . Either God is transcendent and so my knowledge of him never fully transcends the limits of my time and place, or I become transcendent and God thereby becomes fully immanent to me." As David Hart has put it, Platonism does not arrive at any true transcendence.
But Benson goes on to suggest that Christianity offers a "middle ground" in that it affirms that God is both immanent and transcendent. And he adds, "to whatever extend God becomes immanent, to that extent he loses transcendence." This is the false step, and suggests that Benson is still to some degree working in a Platonic setting. God's immanence is in no way at the cost of His transcendence; on the contrary, God is immanent only and precisely because He is transcendent of all created limitations. Besides, how is this picture of transcendence and immanence - that they trade off - consistent with the incarnation?
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 05:43 PM
Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
