Monotheism: not as simple as you think

The attributes of the persons of the Trinity are relational. These supersede the classical attributes of eternity, omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence or rather, produce a redefinition of them. God is not eternal in that he is above time he is eternal in that the truth of him will always be true. God is omniscient in that he holds together all knowledge. God is omnipresent in that nothing can separate his love from us. God is omnipotent in that nothing will overcome his love.

This means that God is involved in time, he is involved in the history and the politics of Israel and of the church. It means that he can be weak in the world, even die in the world yet remain Lord. Christianity is thus the end of simple monotheism.

As we picture God so we also picture man. All theology conjures an anthropology. The dominant anthropology of our time is that of modernity. For example when Descartes defined his cogito “I think therefore I am” he produced an ontology which defined man as a thinking being. It has occurred to me that those who procure abortions do so because they adopt this ontology. By definition the fetus is not a human being because it does not think and therefore its elimination is not murder. But if we were working from an ontology of relationship we would know that the fetus already has two parents and probably grandparents not to mention aunts, uncles, cousins and maybe even brothers and sisters. If the essentially human is described in terms of the analogy of relation then the fetus is fully human and the killing of it is murder.

The recognition that God and human beings exist only in that they exist in relation has the power to transform the world. In Luke 6:27 we hear Jesus say “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you”. Our existence as competitors, patriots, workers, leaders, consumers, homo or heterosexual or even those with rights is a pale and insecure existence compared with our existence that is defined by relation. The fact that the removal of those we love by divorce or death threatens our existence in a deep way bears witness to our true nature. We only are as we are with. This is why solitary confinement is the most exacting punishment.

This is the truth that is eternal, that is everywhere, is all knowing and all powerful. It is the truth of the gospel. The command to love our neighbours is not a moralism, it is a statement about our true ontology. In this age of late modernity we have been seduced by other spirits that determine human being in terms of experience, power, choice, rights, individuality, fulfillment. From these come the discontents of the age. While they look desirable they are poison to the human spirit.

The church stands for a different view, the ontology of being is replaced by the ontology of relation: “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark (RSV) 12)

God is one not because there are no other supernatural deities beside him, but because of the unity that the love of God and of the person next to us and even of our enemies produces. This is the way the tradition is saved from speculation as to the nature or existence of God and actually penetrates and transforms all of the lives on earth.