{"id":63040,"date":"2018-07-18T00:17:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T06:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=63040"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:53:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:53:00","slug":"signals-of-transcendence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/signals-of-transcendence.html","title":{"rendered":"“Signals of Transcendence”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rennett<\/a>
\u201cThe Beauty of Joshua Trees\u201d
A not clearly relevant but very pretty photo for a blog entry on faith-related matters
(Rennett Stowe, Wikimedia CC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a few notes from, yes, yet another of those incomplete manuscripts:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oxford theologian Alister McGrath:<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the grace of God, the creation points to its Creator.\u00a0 Through the generosity of God, we have been left with a latent memory of him, capable of stirring us toward a fuller recollection of him.\u00a0 Although there is a fracture between the ideal and the empirical, between the realms of fallen and redeemed creation, the memory of that connection lives on, along with the intimation of its restoration through redemption.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What the sociologist Peter Berger calls \u201csignals of transcendence,\u201d[1]<\/a> McGrath, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry in addition to his theological credentials, labels \u201cpoints of contact,\u201d which he believes to be \u201cGod-given footholds for divine self-revelation.\u201d\u00a0 Still, McGrath observes,<\/span><\/p>\n

Points of contact are not in themselves adequate to bring people into the kingdom of God.\u00a0 They are merely starting points<\/em>. \u00a0Nor are they adequate in themselves to bring people to a specifically Christian<\/em> faith.\u00a0 They might well point toward the existence of a creative and benevolent supreme being.\u00a0 The connection with \u201cthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Peter 1:3) remains to be made.\u00a0 The apologist must still show that the Christian gospel is consistent with these points of contact, that it is able to explain them, and more than that it is able to deliver all that they promise, turning hints into reality.<\/strong>[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

McGrath speaks of \u201ca fracture within creation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fallen human nature can only reflect on a fallen creation.\u00a0 The fallenness of both the beholder and that which is beheld thus introduces a twofold distortion.\u00a0 This is most emphatically not to say that no knowledge of God may be had.\u00a0 Rather, we must admit that this knowledge is imperfect, broken, confused, and darkened, like a cracked mirror or a misty window.<\/strong>[3]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Where?<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Alister E. McGrath, Intellectuals Don\u2019t Need God and Other Modern Myths: Building Bridges to Faith through Apologetics<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Alister E. McGrath, Intellectuals Don\u2019t Need God and Other Modern Myths: Building Bridges to Faith through Apologetics<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such musings will drive some of my readers absolutely mad. \u00a0Still \u2014 honestly \u2014 that\u2019s not the only reason that I post them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Someday, when I get the time, I\u2019ll finish some of these unfinished little projects off.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Just a few notes from, yes, yet another of those incomplete manuscripts: \u00a0 Oxford theologian Alister McGrath: Through the grace of God, the creation points to its Creator.\u00a0 Through the generosity of God, we have been left with a latent memory of him, capable of stirring us toward a fuller recollection of him.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Signals of Transcendence"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Just a few notes from, yes, yet another of those incomplete manuscripts:   Oxford theologian Alister McGrath: Through the grace of God,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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