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<\/a><\/p>\nBEN: In reading your second chapter in this book I was reminded of Luther\u2019s language about \u2018Deus Absconditus\u2019 the God who sometimes hides himself or protects his identity from being fully known by humans. And I take your point about not giving Moses some kind of name that he or others might think they could use to control God or get what they want from God. Telling people \u2018I will be what I will be\u2019 is an avoidance of such a thing, and here\u2019s where you bring in the concept of God\u2019s freedom, protecting himself from becoming in the control of humans in any way. Is the basic reason why this is important is so God\u2019s people will not relate to God in magical ways, for example by using the practice of magically reciting correct names of divine beings in hopes of a power encounter or a healing, or even a cursing of someone else?<\/p>\n
RICHARD: Well, magic was a pervasive practice in the ancient world and there wasn\u2019t always a clear line between religion and magic. I agree with what you say. The point, of course, is that God\u2019s identity cannot be fully known by humans, and it\u2019s when we think we can sum up God \u2013 in a magical formula or in a concept \u2013 that we go wrong.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEN: In reading your second chapter in this book I was reminded of Luther\u2019s language about \u2018Deus Absconditus\u2019 the God who sometimes hides himself or protects his identity from being fully known by humans. And I take your point about not giving Moses some kind of name that he or others might think they could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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