The English language is full of literary devices. We get used to such things as hyperbole, simile, metaphor, and personification, anthropomorphisms, and a whole list of things that I can’t remember. I would assume that other languages have the same devices. I think ancient Hebrew is more full of these literary devices that we are aware of.
For instance, I’ve written about God being a chicken because of the reference to hiding under his wings. That one is obviously exaggeration. What about such terms as God is holy? Do we even have the beginnings of understanding of what it means to be holy? I’m not sure we do.
My suggestion here is that any attribute that we apply to God is really a figure of speech for us, because we cannot even begin to comprehend the magnitude of God. We have thoughts about what holy is, and we apply that word to him. At best it is a vague reference to something much more vital.
I guess where I’m going with this is that our theology needs to be tight enough to stick to what the Bible has to say but loose enough to make allowance for the fact that God is beyond all that we could ask or think.
homo unius libri
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Opus 2024-350: Holy Chicken Wings
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.