Evolution and Variants of a Theological Concept
Ancient Egyptian and classical Western mystery religions can be said to rest upon the inscrutability of deity, but a concept of god as partially knowable yet ultimately inaccessible by any sort of mediation is the fruit of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Variously detailed by different theologians as early as Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–215), notions about god as hidden, or Deus Absconditus, generally take their biblical warrant from Isaiah 45:15, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself.” Old Testament injunctions against seeing or looking upon god and New Testament recapitulations (e.g., “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him.” John 1:18) may also have influenced discussions of deity’s purposeful invisibility. But the crafting of theology based on the hiddenness of God would not occur until the Protestant Reformation.
Cited chiefly in context of the...
Bibliography
Augustine (1993). City of God, Book X (trans: Dods, D.D.M.). New York: Modern Library.
Chrysostom, J. (1984). On the incomprehensible nature of God, Homilies I-V. In The fathers of the church (Vol. 72) (trans: Harkins, P.W.). Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.
Clement of Alexandria. (1885). Stromata, Books II & V. In A. Roberts & J. Donaldson (Eds.), The ante-Nicene fathers (Vol. 2). Online edition. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02105.htm. Accessed 6 Oct 2005.
Cusanus, N. (1997). Dialogue on the hidden God. Nicholas of Cusa: Selected spiritual writings (trans: Bond, H.L.). New York: Paulist Press.
Dillenberger, J. (1953). God hidden and revealed. Philadelphia, PA: Muhlenberg Press.
Erikson, E. (1962). Young man Luther. New York: W. W. Norton.
Freud, S. (1957). Totem and taboo. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), SE (Vol. 13). London: Hogarth Press.
Gerrish, B. A. (1973). “To the unknown God”: Luther and Calvin on the hiddenness of God. The Journal of Religion, 53(3), 263–292.
Guntrip, H. (1992). Schizoid phenomena, object-relations and the self. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Jung, C. G. (1953). Psychology and alchemy (trans: Hull, R.F.C.), CW (Vol. 12). London: Routledge.
Jung, C. G. (1989). Psychology and religion: West and east (trans: Hull, R.F.C.), CW (Vol. 11). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Luther, M. (1972). Bondage of the will. In S. Philip (Ed.), LW (Vol. 33). Philadelphia, PA: Watson.
Norris, R. A. (1995, Fall). Lectures. New York: Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.
Origen. (1979). De principiis, Books III & IV (trans: Butterworth, G.W.). Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith.
Origen. (2001). Origen spirit & fire. (H. U. von Balthasar, Ed.). Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.
Otto, R. (1958). The idea of the holy (trans: Harvey, J.W.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Pascal, B. (1995). Pensées (trans: Krailsheimer, J.). London: Yale University Press.
Pinomaa, L. (2001). Faith victorious: An introduction to Luther's theology. Lima, OH: Academic Renewal Press.
Pseudo-Dionysius. (1987). The mystical theology. (trans: Luibheid, C.), Pseudo-Dionysius: The complete works. New York: Paulist Press.
Schore, A. N. (1994). Affect regulation and the origin of the self: Neurobiology of emotional development. Hillsdale, NJ/Hove, England: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Winnicott, D. W. (1994). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lisagor, M. (2014). Deus Absconditus. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_164
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_164
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6085-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6086-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science