Sunday, December 12, 2010

Edward Schillebeeckx wrote:

"In so called mystical or 'religious' thematization man seeks to express the foundation and source of the human religious response of faith… our own reality is itself different from, and more than, what we believe; this reality itself, and not another higher world, is a surprising revelation of what has never been conceived of by man. For the believer, the very existence of man and the world is a symbol or a manifestation of the divine, but always in such a way that there is a necessary identity between the revelation and the concealment of the divine. For when confronted with any manifestation of the divine, God's essential reserve is always experienced: God can never be reduced to one of the forms in which he is manifested. Reality continues to surprise us."[1]

One cannot cling to misguided 'dogmatism' that identifies reality [God] with what is expressed adequately, nor can we fall into scepticism simply due to the fault of our own ignorance[2];…"For many, the source from which we live has no name at all, but it is the task of believers and theologians constantly to name this ultimate reality and not leave it in anonymity, while at the same time being conscious of their ignorance."[3]


[1] Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ, 55.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Christ, 57.