The hidden God (Latin: ''Deus absconditus'') refers to the Christian idea of the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. The name comes from

the Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, specifically from the book of Isaiah: "Indeed, you are a hidden God, you God of Israel, the Savior." (45:15). This concept was particularly important for the thinking of

Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

and

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

. Luther unfolded his views on ''Deus absconditus'' in his Latin work '' De servo arbitrio'' in 1525. But he had already hinted at this idea in his lectures on the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

and in his lecture on

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ten years earlier. The opposite of ''Deus absconditus'' in Lutheran theology is ''Deus revelatus'' ( the revealed God).E. Jüngel, ''The Doctrine of the Trinity: God’s Being is in Becoming''. 19 In France, the concept was important to the Jansenist movement, which included

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...

and

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

. The French philosopher

Lucien Goldmann Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann. Biography Goldmann w ...

would title a 1964 book on Pascal and Racine, ''The Hidden God: A Study of Tragic Vision in the Pensées of Pascal and the Tragedies of Racine''.

References

Bibliography

* Volker Leppin: ''Deus absconditus und Deus revelatus. Transformationen mittelalterlicher Theologie in der Gotteslehre von "De servo arbitrio"''; in: Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift 22 (2005), S. 55–69; * Martin Luther: ''Vom unfreien Willen: dass der freie Wille nichts sei. Antwort D. Martin Luthers an Erasmus von Rotterdam''; deutsche Übersetzung von De servo arbitrio, übersetzt von Bruno Jordahn, hrsg. v. Georg Merz; München 1983 * Horst Beintker: ''Luthers Gotteserfahrung und Gottesanschauung''; in: Leben und Werk Martin Luthers von 1526 bis 1546 – Festgabe zu seinem 500. Geburtstag, Band 1; Berlin 1985²; S. 39–62 {{DEFAULTSORT:hidden God, The God in Christianity

See also

References

Bibliography