Abstract
St Paul’s observation of the Athenian’s ‘Statue to an Unknown God’ in Acts 17, and his subsequent proclamation that the God who made the world and everything in it is knowable, is perhaps the most prominent of the many biblical texts that evidence God’s essential knowability. But can we truly know the God that transcends the Incarnation and the economy? That is, can we know God in se – in his essence and internal works – as well as extra se – that is, in his external works, including the Incarnation? Can we know God in himself, and, if so, how?
These ambitious questions are central to Duby’s book. As his premise, he observes that there are two key positions which, in modern theology, are often set up in opposition to one another: namely, that something of God can be known through natural theology, a school of thought often associated with Thomas Aquinas, and the Barthian theology that God can be known only through the Incarnation. Duby argues for a Christian practice of theology that is confident in drawing from both of these schools, rightly ordered.
This argument feels like a tightrope. There is a sense of the unseen critic, sceptical of metaphysics and nervous about seeking knowledge of God anywhere except in the Gospels. Duby deals gently with this voice, stating that God may be known only by his self-revelation through a devotional posture and the mediator Jesus Christ, but with this in place there is no need to be afraid of the natural ‘metaphysical’ knowledge of God that transcends the economy. In doing so, he brings Aquinas and Barth into conversation with a wide range of historical and modern thinkers in the Evangelical, Catholic and Reformed Orthodox traditions. The author approaches the problem with great care and subtlety, dealing first with the nature and purpose of knowing God according to the biblical narratives, then with the role of natural theology throughout Christian history, including in Scripture. He goes on to consider how God imparts knowledge of himself through the Incarnation, before arguing that supernatural revelation transcends metaphysics, but still utilizes it. In his final chapter, Duby considers the utility and limitations of analogy in speaking of God.
Readers from outside the academy may fear that abstract philosophical ideas have a limited relationship to the ‘real’ stuff of Christian life, mission and ministry. Although Duby acknowledges that this is a ‘tilling the ground’ for more work, he argues persuasively for a regaining of the lost art of contemplating God, without always having an eye on action plans and missional quotas. Although God in Himself is heavy on technical, theological and philosophical terminology, it will enrich both academics and those ministers and laypeople who are prepared to commit.