God beyond God, or the God above God, as relevant for psychology emerged in the writings of Paul Tillich (1952), although similar conceptions can also be seen in the writings of Meister Eckhart (1981) and other religious writers that predated Tillich. While Eckhart was more influential in Christian theology and mysticism, Tillich’s influence crossed over to psychology, including his idea of the God beyond God. In particular, Tillich (1952) is referring to “The God above the God of theism” (p. 187). The God beyond God cannot be contained in religion, theism, language, or human conception. It refers to a recognition that all conceptions of God, whether they be personal, cultural, theological, or psychological, are attempts to put what is beyond language into a human construction. This endeavor is always limited, thereby necessitating some distortion. Tillich (1951) states, “A consequence of the method used in apologetic theology is that the concept of revelation is approached from...
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Hoffman, L., Ratner, J. (2020). God Beyond God. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_200201
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