To The Unknown God

""This book contains a careful, thorough, and where necessary skeptical as regards doubtful evidence (especially in the case of Plato and the Old Academy) of the beginnings in European thought of the negative or apophatic way of thinking and its relations to more positive or kataphatic ways of thinking about God. One of its greatest strengths, perhaps the greatest, is that the author makes clear that none of the persons concerned, Hellenic, Jewish or Christian, was engaged in the pursuit of a philosophical abstraction, or the heaping of rhetorical superlatives on God. They were rather concerned to present the origin of the universe as an intimately present living reality which infinitely transcends our thought and speech. This, combined with careful attention to the varieties of negative theology and its relations with positive, and the particular difficulties experienced by the members of the various traditions involved, makes the book the best introduction to the negative theology available."" -A. H. Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of Greek, University of Liverpool, England. Emeritus Professor of Classics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Senior Fellow of the British Academy. Irish academic Deirdre Carabine has lived and taught in Uganda for more than twenty years. She has recently been founder Vice-Chancellor at the Virtual University of Uganda (VUU), the first fully online university in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that she set up International Health Sciences University in Kampala. She has taught at Queen's Belfast, University College Dublin, and Uganda Martyrs University. Currently, she is Director of Programmes at VUU. She attended the Queen's University of Belfast where she graduated with a PhD in philosophy, and University College Dublin where, as one of the first Newman Scholars, she gained a second PhD in Classics. She is also author of John Scottus Eriugena in the Great Medieval Thinkers Series (2000).

A Penguin Classic Ancient pagan beliefs, the great Greek epics, and the Bible all inform this extraordinary novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, which occupied him for more than five difficult years. While fulfilling his dead father’s dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father’s spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph’s prosperity, and the farm flourishes—until one brother, frightened by Joseph’s pagan belief, kills the tree, allowing disease and famine to descend on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man’s attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God and the forces of the unconscious within. This edition features an introduction and notes by Steinbeck scholar Robert DeMott. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

We live in the age of religious pluralism where all religions are considered the same and different paths lead to the same spiritual destination. It is important for Christians to learn how to affirm Jesus Christ as the only way to God—while also paying due respect to people of other faiths and worldviews. In The Unknown God: A Journey with Jesus from East to West, Mathew P. John explores the redemptive revelations lurking in the darkness outside the boundaries of Christian tradition. In this spiritual journey through six major world religions, readers encounter a variety of symbols that point to the Jesus of the Bible. From Hindu avatars and Buddhist bodhisattvas, to Sikh gurus and Muslim prophets, and the Jewish messiah, consider how different religions attempt to answer the deep longing for a savior ingrained in the collective conscience of humanity.

What is the so-called New Atheism? The first decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed a cluster of authors who have attained public notoriety through their mockery of religion and their popularizing of atheism. How should Christians and other believers understand and respond to this aggressive attack on their faith? In this collection of sermons, leading academic theologians and philosophers who have written about the New Atheists seek to sum up their thinking and help us make sense of this contemporary phenomenon--and offer a richer and more sophisticated account of what belief in God is really about. Contributors include: Tina Beattie John Cornwell Conor Cunningham Terry Eagleton David Fergusson David Bentley Hart Timothy Jenkins Alister McGrath

Kenny, a philosopher by profession, struggles with the intellectual problems of theism and the possibility of believing in god, especially in an intellectual climate dominated by Logical Positivism. Here he revisits the Five Ways of Aquinas and argues that they are not so much proofs as definitions of God. He is also in constant dialogue with Wittgenstein for, Kenny writes, no man in recent years has surpassed him in devotion of sharp intelligence to the demarcation of the boundary between sense and nonsense.

There is no doubt that America is in the midst of a spiritual crisis. Millions of people are trying to find meaning in their lives by returning to old-time religions, or by seeking out new cults, fads, channelers, 12-step programs, and self-help books. Bill Moyers has called this search for spirituality "the biggest story -- not only of the decade but of the century." Now, Sam Keen, the New York Times bestselling author of Fire in the Belly, addresses this crisis and provides a blueprint for bringing spirituality into everyday life in Hymns to an Unknown God: Awakening the Spirit in Everyday Life. Using practical examples from his and other people's lives, Keen tells readers how to cut through what he calls the "spiritual bullshit," and recover the sacred in their love affairs, families, jobs, and politics -- in short, how to recover the "Unknown God." Down-to-earth and articulate, Sam Keen is a popular social commentator, philosopher, and teacher. He describes himself as "overeducated at the Ivies," with degrees from Harvard and Princeton. His work has been featured in a special Bill Moyers PBS interview, and for over twenty years he was a consulting editor at Psychology Today. How to Use Your Spiritual Bullshit Detector: In a world of one-minute solutions, false spiritual leaders, and instant spirituality, how can you tell which beliefs are valid and separate the bogus from the genuine. Sex and the Spirit: Why is it that sex and spirituality are so interconnected and confusing? Keen explains the conflict between "I want" and "I should," and tells readers how to integrate sensuality, sexuality and spirituality to experience truly deep and loving relationships. Consecrating Our Days: Rituals for Living: Keen gives more than a dozen suggestions for personal rituals to remind readers of the sacredness in their everyday lives, including creating a private place as a personal sanctuary, learning to make time to think deeply, setting aside personal days as times of celebration, and more.

There is a very interesting account found in Acts 17:22-23 in which the Apostle Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens. While he waited, he was provoked within his spirit when he found the city was given over to idols. Paul addressed the men of Athens by saying, In all things you are very religious, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. It is startling to know that the men of Athens were religious, they had objects of worship, and they had an altar; yet they didn't even know the God of their worship! We know altars to be a place of sacrifice, prayer, and religion; but the question arises, How do you worship whom you don't even know? Even Jesus gives us a glimpse into the importance of knowing Him intimately in Matthew 7:22-23: Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew [my emphasis] you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (NKJV) Note that Jesus's emphasis was not on rituals but, rather, on relationship. We must ask ourselves today, are we any different from the men of Athens? I'm afraid that week after week, we fill edifices with people who don't even know God. Sure, we have objects of worship. We have buildings, instruments, podiums, microphones, lighting, etc., but do we know the God of our worship? With the help of the Holy Spirit, I will declare as the great apostle did to the men of Athens, The Unknown God.