Is God’s being in His becoming? We might not want to say that. But we can’t avoid the question, if we want to continue the patristic project of “evangelizing metaphysics.”
For the Greeks, Jenson writes, “Being” is “what satisfies the mind’s longing for absolute assurance, for transcendence over time’s surprises.” Jenson doesn’t think that the biblical God is the kind of God to avoid time’s surprises. But put that aside: Is there any reason why Christian theology should accept a Hellenistic account of “Being” and apply it to God? Isn’t it possible that what Scripture might be called “Being” is or contains something from which Greeks would recoil, something very like what they would call “becoming”?
Yes: That’s Arius’ fear: Deity is by definition un -generated. The orthodox bite the bullet, and say the unsayable: “Begotten God.”
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
