Imagining God

Journal article


Wolfe, Judith. (2023). Imagining God. Modern Theology. 40(1), pp. 97-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.12846
AuthorsWolfe, Judith
Abstract

This article interrogates the role of the human imagination in ordinary perception and orientation, in encounters with art, and in practices of faith. Philosophers and psychologists have long argued that perception is irreducibly imaginative, in the sense that to perceive intelligibly is, in part, to integrate sensory data into forms or wholes that are not simply given. The ability to do this is what continental philosophy calls ‘the imagination’, and the imagination in this sense is central to how humans apprehend and orient themselves in the world. This centrality introduces an element of risk into all human apprehension of the world, other people, and the divine, which cannot be overcome by spiritual or epistemological safeguards. Rather, such risk is inalienable, not least to a life of faith. The article discusses ways to understand and engage this dynamic, especially through theological encounters with art.

Keywordshuman imagination; philosophy; faith; theology; art
Year2023
JournalModern Theology
Journal citation40 (1), pp. 97-109
PublisherWiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN0266-7177
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.12846
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85147179340
Web address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/moth.12846
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range97-109
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online02 Feb 2023
Publication process dates
AcceptedFeb 2023
Deposited03 Jun 2024
Additional information

© 2023 The Author. Modern Theology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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