Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 278

25J:

§ 59.

tion.

THE DEPENDENT CHARACTER

This refutes the idea that unconscious of Himself, or that

less

[Div. Ill

God may be more or He could be seen by

us in His works, without His willing or knowing

it.

Since

Theology has its rise only from the fact that archetypal Theology imprints itself in it, there is nothing in the ectype which was not first in the archetype. Everything, therefore, from without that mingles itself with the ectype and does not come to it from the archetype, is contraband and must be excluded. A child may watch his father without his perceiving it or wanting to be watched a precocious child can sometimes know his father better

this ectypal

;

than he can

know

himself

;

but nothing of

take place with reference to God, because

all this all

can ever

this springs

from the imperfection of the father or from the superiority of his child, and the very idea of God excludes every possibility both of incompleteness in God and of superiority All representations of this sort, therefore, in His creature. which have crept more and more into Theology, must be banished

as

they start out essentially

impious, since

The second from the exaltation of man above God. point, which must be emphasized in the ectypal character of our knowledge of God, is the truth of our knowledge of If the ectypal originates by the imprint of the God. archetypal, the ectypal image is no phantasy, no imagination, but an image in truth. Just as we saw in the antithesis between Theology here and hereafter, that our knowledge of God on earth shall then be done away, and rise again in a higher form of a knowledge "face to face"; but always such, that the truth of our knowledge "in part" shall be the more fully exhibited by the completer knowledge in heaven. Our given knowledge of God derives from this its absolute character, not as to its degree of completeness, but with reference to its connection with its object, i.e. with God. God who is, has knowledge of Himand from this self-knowledge God has taken the knowlself edge given to us. This excludes not only doubt, but also ;

the dilution of subjectivism, as of

the knowledsre

of

God

in

if

our formulated statement

our confession were unim-

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