Author: SUN Shuai, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China.
Abstract:
This paper attempts to uncover the theological and metaphysical implications of the double hiddenness of God in Luther, and analyse the influence of this concept on the rise of modernity. The author discusses in turn Luther’s distinction between Deus absconditus and Deus relevatus in On the Bondage of the Will, and his theology of hiddenness in Heidelberg Disputation. On this basis, the author tries to argue two points: the first is that God’s double hiddenness is deeply interwoven in the spiritual trials of Christ and the saints; the second concerns Luther’s theological dialectic of God’s hiddenness and manifestation, negation and affirmation. In Luther’s dialectic, only in faith as “creatrix divinitatis”, can the hidden God be reconstructed as God. This is where the subjectivity of faith in Luther has its deepest theological root.
Keywords:
Deus absconditus, Deus relevatus, manifestation, theological dialectics
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