Is the fact that God reveals Himself in human language a “paradox”?
It might seem so. God is incomprehensible, and always exceeds our conceptualizations and verbalizations of Him. To attempt to render this incomprehensible God into human language, with its limits and ambiguities, seems impossible. Yet God does it. Hence, revelation is a paradox.
Sed contra: If God shows Himself at all, He must show Himself in a form accessible to humans. If He is going to speak to humans, He is going to have to speak in human language. That He exceeds what can be said humanly doesn’t make revelation a paradox.
The claim that revelation is paradoxical assumes that human language is poorly designed as a vehicle of God’s communication. But God designed human language, and even though human language is as broken as humans are, it’s not outside God’s control. If God can reveal Himself in the dilapidated humanity of the Son of God, He can reveal Himself in human language.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Moral Certitude and the Iran War
The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…
The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books
The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
