Wolfhart Pannenberg

The Christian Faith, Sections 32-61             In these sections, Schleiermacher explores the feeling of our absolute dependence further. The religious self-consciousness is an intuition that our limits of space and time, our finitude, depend upon a larger unity of the universe. When we become conscious of this dependence, we are on a journey toward the discovery of the meaning of our lives. We have an openness to that which transcends us. Schleiermacher would call such transcendence the Infinite, the Universe, or the All. We will not discover such meaning through insisting upon our isolated individuality. Individuals are not islands. The implication is that we do not discover meaning by focusing simply upon self. Rather, we discover meaning in our engagement with or openness to the world. Meaning comes from beyond us as isolated individuals.              Such a r...

In Chapter 6, Pannenberg discusses the unity and attributes of the divine essence, continuing his theological concern of identifying God as Christians understand God. At the close of this discussion, I will have a brief reference to his use of one of his other books. Karl Barth discusses the reality of God in Church Dogmatics Chapter 6, Volume II.I. He will also discuss what it means for God to act, to act freely, and to act freely as one who loves. After discussing the perfections of God, he will discuss the perfections of divine loving in contrasting terms: grace and holiness, mercy and righteousness, patience and wisdom. He will also discuss perfections of the divine freedom in contrasting terms: unity and omnipresence, constancy and omnipotence, eternity and glory. Paul Tillich discusses the reality of God in Volume I of his Systematic Theology. He will discuss God as ultimate concern. He will discuss the actuality of God as Being itself, as living, as creating in originating, s...