Deus absconditus

Deus absconditus (Latin: "hidden God") refers to the Christian theological concept of the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. The term is derived from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, specifically from the Book of Isaiah: "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior" (Isaiah 45:15). Quotes from the English and Greek Bible referring to the hidden God are listed in "Deus Absconditus - The Hidden God" by M.M Nikoletseas pp 21-27^[1]

Protestant reformer Martin Luther unfolded his views on the concepts of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio (1525)

This concept was particularly important for the theological thought of the medieval Christian theologians Thomas Aquinas,^[2] Nicholas of Cusa,^[3][4] John Scotus Eriugena^[5] and Martin Luther.^[6]

"The precise manner in which God is not visible by man is not always clear, often because of imprecision in translation. For example in the English translation God hides himself, while in the Greek translation man cannot see God. In the case in which man cannot see God we may not necessarily conclude that God is hiding; there may be other reasons, e.g. it may be that man is not capable of seeing him. The Greek verb οἶδα (ᾔδειμεν) stands for knowing, and it may not necessarily refer to the act of seeing, which may be more unambiguously expressed by ὁρῶ."^[7]

Today, the Christian theological concept of Deus absconditus is primarily associated with the theology of Martin Luther and later Protestant theologians.^[6] Luther unfolded his views on Deus absconditus in his theological treatise De Servo Arbitrio in 1525. But he had already hinted at this idea in his lectures on the Book of Psalms and in his lecture on the Epistle to the Romans ten years earlier. The opposite of Deus absconditus in Lutheran theology is the concept of Deus revelatus ("revealed God").^[8]

In the Kingdom of France, the concept was important to the Jansenist movement, which included Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. The French philosopher Lucien Goldmann would title a 1964 book on Pascal and Racine, The Hidden God: A Study of Tragic Vision in the Pensées of Pascal and the Tragedies of Racine.

See also

• Deus deceptor
• Deus otiosus
• Ethical monotheism
• History of Christian theology
• Outline of theology
• Philosophical theology
• Theodicy
• Theology of the Cross