I find the sort of discussion about the essence of God (as in the early Chuch councils) to be quite boring and irrelevant to the second millenium now that we understand so much more about the nature of human being. And to my mind, being and existence are the same thing. I exist, and so does God, and what else is there to say, except that both are mystery. I cannot know why I exist, nor why God exists, but I experience both. My existence has both physical and spiritual elements, and I experience God as spirit, and as body in the Church. I am becoming more influenced by the mystics, and have found much food for thought from the Desert Fathers. This tradition is being carried on by the Christian meditation movement, and I encourage you (and everyone else) to give it a try.

Chris

Rowland:

The best modern introduction to contemplative prayer – Richard Rohr’s ‘Everything Belongs’. The best (Protestant) collection of devotional classics – Richard Foster’s ‘Devotional Classics’. Great reading. Also W E Sangster of a generation ago, and W A Tozer for two evangelicals who read and were inspired by the great Christian classics.

(Interesting that many Protestants/Evangelicals/Fundamentalists presumed God was dead for about 1,000 years until the Protestant Reformers cranked God’s actions up again :-)!!!

— * Shalom! Rowland Croucher