The argument is made that naming God is never really naming God but only naming our understanding of God. To take our ideas of the divine and hold them as if they correspond to the reality of God is thus to construct a conceptual idol built from the materials of our mind.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that our names and concepts of God are merely reflections of our own understanding, not the true nature of the divine.
Peter Rollins emphasizes that when we name or define God, we are not capturing the essence of God itself, but rather articulating our limited interpretations and understandings. This action can lead to the creation of a 'conceptual idol', a representation that is inherently flawed and only reflective of our mental constructs rather than the ultimate reality of God.
In practice
In a philosophical discussion on the nature of divinity.
When religion is good, it will take care of itself. When it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one.
It is done. Once again the Fire has penetrated the earth, not with the sudden crash of thunderbolt, riving the mountain tops: does the Master break down doors to enter His own home? Without earthquake, or thunderclap: the flame has lit up the whole world from within.
We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
The Few assume to be the deputies, but they are often only the despoilers of the Many.
To claim you are more detached, more alien to everything than anyone, and to be merely a fanatic of indifference!
I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.
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