Introduction

Abstract

In the year 63 bc the Romans stormed the temple in Jerusalem.¹ They were astonished to find, on entering the Holy of Holies, that it was empty: there was no great idol or object of worship; at the heart of the faith there was a great absence. Images of God are essentially problematical. According to all the great religions God is transcendent, ‘Other than’ the things he has created, unlike anything we can think or know. The position is stated unequivocally by Nicholas of Cusa:²

How can the intellect grasp thee, who art infinity? The intellect knoweth that it is ignorant of Thee, because it knoweth Thou canst not be known, unless the unknowable could be known, and the invisible beheld, and the inaccessible attained …