We need to resume our look at LeRon Shults, Reforming the Doctrine of God<\/em>. He speaks of God\u2019s infinity and Trinity and futurity, and I have called this the \u201cin-God and un-God\u201d because his study deals with terms like in<\/em>finity and un<\/em>fathomable. In our post today we look at chp 5 on infinity. We need to resume our look at LeRon Shults, Reforming the Doctrine of God. He speaks of God\u2019s infinity and Trinity and futurity, and I have called this the \u201cin-God and un-God\u201d because his study deals with terms like infinity and unfathomable. In our post today we look at chp 5 on infinity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476,425,337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-missional","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhat do we mean when we say God is Infinite? Do we mean God is miles and miles more of what we are? A kind of mathematical infinity? Or, do we mean that our language, our mind, and our heart can\u2019t come to term with God \u2014 that God is absolutey different in a different way? That God is so unlike us and at the same time so like us? What do we mean by infinity?
\nHere\u2019s my thesis: a genuine sense of infinity makes the chest swell with presence; a mathematical sense of infinity makes mind the crack.
\nI believe the emerging movement is more willing than most to ponder an emerging understanding of God \u2014 and is willing to tap into the resources of the whole Church, including the great intuitions of the Eastern fathers \u2014 and along with this exploration and rediscovery is the opportunity to come to terms with the in-term-unable: God\u2019s infinity as a tapping into the mystery of God\u2019s utter holiness.
\nLeRon Shults finds plenty of resources for retrieving a true infinity, a concept of infinity that is both biblical and which avoids the \u201cextensive\u201d infinity of modernity. The latter focuses on infinity as being mathematical, and he wants to retrieve a theory of infinity that is both metaphysical and intensive. None of this, of course, is easy to define, but at times we glimpse the grandeur of God\u2019s infinity and it strikes home with us.
\nHere are some observations:
\nGod is not just sui generis<\/em> but beyond \u2018generic\u2019 definition altogether.
\nGod is not merely one reality in relation to another (creation) but an absolute fullness that \u2018contains\u2019 all things.
\nGod\u2019s immensity embraces all things.
\nWe cannot know God the way we know finite things \u2014 true knowledge of God involves being known by God in the intensity of mystical and contemplative experience.
\nHe examines early theology, then dips into medieval theology, and then he studies Barth, Gunton, Moltmann, and then on to Jenson, Jungel, Pannenberg, and then on to Rahner and Zizioulias.
\nHe finds danger in overemphasizing transcendence and falling into pantheism \u2014 and he speaks of the dangers of the way many have moved into panentheism. The best approach to God\u2019s infinity will articulate in intrinsically relational terms and will do so under the category of Trinity. Here\u2019s a final flourish from LeRon:
\n\u201cWe need a concept of the Absolute that is essentially relational, an eternal being-in-relation that constitutes the finite by distinguishing it from the infinite, incursively upholding the structures of the finite and evocatively opening up the finite to an intensification of its differentiated union with the infinite\u201d (132).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"