Beyond the disguised friend: immanence, transcendence and glory in a Darwinian world

Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point a quotation from the Anglican theologian Aubrey Moore, writing at the end of the nineteenth century: ‘Darwinism … under the disguise of a foe, did the work of a friend’. I use this to discuss the problems for a scientifically-informed Christian theology that come from overstressing divine transcendence (which can lead to a sense of divine distance, even absence, from creation) or overstressing divine immanence (which can blur the distinction between God and the world). To achieve an appropriate balance between transcendence and immanence is also very important for an ecological theology.

The Christian Scriptures say little directly about transcendence and immanence, but they speak a great deal about God’s glory. I present an understanding of divine glory as a sign of the divine reality, and show that this offers a way of speaking about both transcendence and immanence. In particular, the Incarnate Christ shows how God’s immanence can take intense and particular form. As Christians are ‘transformed from one degree of glory to another’ (2 Cor. 3:18), they become signs of Christ the great sign of God. A Trinitarian God who draws believers into intimate fellowship with the divine life is transcendent in the radical character of God’s immanence.