Anonymous God: an essay on not dreading words
by Gabriel Vahanian
Book Description:
Anonymous God: an essay on not dreading words, is a compelling
interpretation of the biblical tradition that allows it to speak in a radically
new manner to contemporary human beings, in a language that is hopeful without
being idealistic. It has been translated from the French by Noëlle Vahanian,
Ph.D. and recast by the author.
Author Biography:
Gabriel Vahanian has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a professor of
theology in both the United States and France. His major books include The
Death of God (1961), Wait without Idols (1964), No Other God
(1966), and God and Utopia: the Church in a Technological Age (1977).
Editorial Reviews:
 | "In this extraordinary biblical
theology of the word Vahanian has given us an account of God's creative
utterance, one in which the text exemplifies the linguistic acts it
describes. Difficult and demanding, this work expands the powers of language
beyond those envisioned by Barth, Bultmann or, more recently, Marion.
Vahanian's God is first and foremost a God who speaks with us and through
us. Yet we are not God's spokespersons but are spoken for. Far from being a
referring term that names an existing being, for Israelite consciousness God
whose name remains unutterable is heard as event and deed. In the New
Testament, Jesus as word spells out the very condition required for there to
be language, the human condition. How then are world and word related? God
is in the world not as nature, which for Vahanian is the province of
science, but as word. The world is, ‘that space in which the glory of God
comes to pass,’ both filling and fulfilling. This vision, future-oriented,
this-worldly and utopian, leads to a radically innovative and original
ecclesiology. Vahanian declares that the church is not only a distributor of
material and spiritual goods, but also ‘a laboratory for the kingdom of
God.’ Spellbinding and profound, this book can be appropriated both as a
new poetic liturgy and as a complex text that requires the most attentive
reading.” -Edith Wyschogrod, Rice University, author of Saints and Postmodernism. |