Knowing God and Being Human

All Christians have inherited notions about what it means to “know God.” Esther Meek explains that our knowing God flows from our being human, and that knowing him is paradigmatic of all human knowing. Drawing from James Loder’s Transforming Moment, she describes the four dimensions of being human: 1) the world, 2) the self, 3) the void, and 4) the holy. The third and fourth dimensions especially are important for understanding what it means to know God. When we face the void—the possibility of annihilation—we must cry out and look for the gracious in-breaking of divine saving activity. All knowing involves similar conflict and context, a struggle to understand and an in-breaking of understanding. As humans, we must embrace the void, beg for the holy, and embody gratitude within the mutuality and trust of our Christian community.

Biography

Esther Lightcap Meek is a Professor of Philosophy at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA. She is also Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas Texas and formerly Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO. She has written three books on Covenant Epistemology, Longing to Know (2003), Loving to Know (2011), and A Little Manual for Knowing (2014).