God

THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

for the history of dogma lies in the fact that he be- longed to the Augustinian reaction at the end of the Middle Ages which, by a revival of the Augustinian monism of grace, tried to combat the Semi-Pela- gianism and Pelagianism of the time and justifica- tion by works. His literary works remained long unknown. His chief work, De lihertate Christiana, which was written in 1473, appeared in print only

in 1521. The work which gives his most mature thought is Dialogus de quatixwr error ibus circa legem evangdicam exortis, which was printed probably in 1523. (Otto Clemen.)

Bibliography: O. Clemen. Johann Pupper von Goch. I^ip- sic, 1S96; a very complete treatment will be found in C. UUmann, Reformern before the Reformation, i. 17-157, where the earlier literature is fully given.

I. Name and General Conception. II. The God of Scripture.

Old Testament: Ethical Conception

(5 1). New Testament: Fatherhood of God

(§2). Attributes of God ($3). III. The Doctrine of God in Christian Theology. Dependence upon Pre-Christian

Thought (J 1). Platonism (( 2).

GOD.

Alexandrian Judaism ($ 3).

Gnosticism ($ 4).

Post-Apostolic Theologians (5 5).

Augustine ($ 6).

Scotus Erigena (f 7).

The Scholastic Philosophers ($8).

The Mystics (f 9).

The Reformers (5 10).

Leibnitx and Wolff ($11).

Kant andFicht«(S12).

Hegel (S 13).

Post-Hegelian Philosophers ($ 14).

Schleiermacher ($ 15). Modern Tendencies (§16). IV. In Engli.sh and American Theology. The Deistic Period in England

(5 1). Tlie Same Period in America ($ 2). Nineteenth-Century Developments

(§3). Theiatic Arguments 4;. Immanence (§5). Fatherhood of God (f 6).

L Name and General Conception: Though the reality of God's existence is the most certain of all truths to the Christian, it follows from the nature of the case that a thoroughly satisfactory defini- tion of the idea of God can never be reached. A logical definition requires the use of genus and differentia, which are, of course, absent in the case of God; nor can he be subsumed in the same genus with other things. Nevertheless, the religions of the world have succeeded in reaching quite dis- tinct conceptions of one or more gods without strict definitions. All of them, even the lowest, include in their idea of God that he is a being endowed with power over men and nature. A certain spiritual character is attributed to him by the fact of his invisibility; but the religious conception of God includes especially the idea of a will by which he acts on men. The more developed reUgions con- ceive this will as almighty, and refer the original being of all things to its operation. The most important element, however, according to Chris- tian revelation, is the ethical nature of that will as the absolute good, determining the development of the world toward good ends.

11. The God of Scripture: The Old Testament

revelation is peculiar for its conception of God as

wholly and from the beginning standing in an

ethical relation to humanity, and espe-

I. Old Tes- cially to his people Israel. It does

tament: not begin with theoretical specula- Ethical tions as to his existence and nature. Conception, but with his moral claims, his promises, and the proclamation to his people of his acts. The fear of him is based upon his abso- lute ethical exaltation, which repels and condemns all that is morally unclean. The proper name of the covenant God is Yahweh (q.v.). The exposition of the name in Ex. iii. 14 expresses not merely the general anrf abstract being of God, but the immu- tability of that being, and in its independence of anything beyond itself God's character as a spirit comes out clearly a personal spirit, as distin- guished from a force of nature. This spirit appears as the creative and motive principle of all life in the world, figured as a breath or wind (Ps. civ. 29,

30), especially of human life, originally breathed into man by God (Gen. ii. 7; Job xxxiii. 4; Eccl. xii. 7). The infinite fulness of power and majesty comprised in God and displayed in the revelation of his will and power is expressed by the plural form Elohim, used as it is in connection ^ith the strictest monotheistic views. With the belief in the divine holiness is associated from the beginning the thought of a revelation of divine grace and love. God chooses Israel to be his people, redeems them from bondage, and on this ground requires from them obedience to his law. In virtue of the rela- tion in which he thus stands to the people, and espe- cially to the theocratically chosen king (II Sam. vii.; Ps. ii.), to which a filial obedience and confidence are supposed to correspond on their side, he deigns to be called their Father (Ex. iv. 22; Deut. xxxii. 6; Hos. xi. 1; Isa. Ixiii. 16). The idea of the unity of God receives a practical application from the first; Yahweh alone is to be recognized and wor- shiped as God, and loved with the whole heart (Ex. XX. 2 sqq.; Deut. vi. 4, 5); and the universal dominion of the One God is everywhere proclaimed as a fimdamental truth. It is, then, this ethical- religious view of God and his relation to Israel and to humanity in general, together with the doctrine of the kingdom which he foimds, and not any ab- stract conception of the unity of God, that forms the essential characteristic of the Old Testament revelation.

The New Testament revelation is characterized by the fact that God now reveals himself in the highest and fullest sense as a father to all those who share in his salvation or are members of his king- dom, and in the most absolute and perfect way as the father of Jesus Christ. On this 2. New Tes- relation of sonsliip is based the free,

tament: confident access to God and enjoyment Fatherhood of his love and all tlie blessings con-

of God. nectcd with it; and the children are required to resemble their father in character (Matt. v. 9, 16, 44). While in the Old Testament Israel taken as a whole sometimes appears as a son, here God's relation is to the indi- vidual; although this fact does not interfere with