Tewkesbury Abbey Theology Forum

This talk will explore what we mean by 'God' in traditional Christian faith. We are accustomed to addressing God as a personal reality, and as a personal agent who acts in our world. But how credible is this, on reflection? How is it possible to think of God in personal terms at all without anthropomorphising God, thereby reducing 'God' to something or someone like us - which only makes the very idea of God improbable. In the face of this conundrum we need to take more seriously the notion of God's radical transcendence - a notion rooted firmly in Judaeo-Christian scriptures, as well as in classical doctrine and mystical theology. The talk suggests that this transcendent frame of reference is core to faith. It enables us to affirm our instincts about God as personal agent without losing all credibility.