God's Hiddenness
From Victoria Silver on Milton's Irony
I recently wrote an essay for a class on John Milton (the guy who wrote Paradise Lost). In line 26 of the first book of Paradise Lost, Milton states his purpose in writing this massive and influencial work: to “justifie the wayes of God to men”. Any text that seeks to vindicate God’s goodness in the face of evil is referred to as a ‘theodicy’, and this is exactly what Milton is trying to do. However, because it is God’s ways that must be justified, God himself is central to Milton’s entire project. Milton, then, is in a tough spot: how should he portray God?
Many people, upon first reading Paradise Lost, are put off by Milton’s depiction of God. God the Father makes His first major appearance in book 3, where He makes a speech about mankind’s Fall and their eventual salvation via Jesus’ Incarnation. However, in this speech, God comes off as overly harsh and self-righteous1. Like me, you may initially be tempted to chastise Milton for this obvious failure. God is supposed to be loving and compassionate, right? Even non-christians know that. How could Milton have missed the mark this badly?
C.S. Lewis, in his Preface to Paradise Lost, challenges those readers who dislike Milton’s God, saying: “[m]any of those who say they dislike Milton’s God only mean that they dislike God: infinite sovereignty de jure, combined with infinite power de facto.” Literary critic Stanley Fish defends Milton’s God on similar grounds:
Critics of Milton’s God complain of his harshness and wish that the poet had been able ‘to suggest a loving God’ or at least a God less ‘obstinately there’, rather than this ‘invitation . . . to stare God full in the face’; but Milton would be derelict in his duty if he were inconsiderately kind and protected his reader from the full force of the Truth.
Even though it is true that God’s wrath and power do not contradict his love and compassion, the reader is still likely to feel dissatisfied at Milton’s God. Wouldn’t Milton’s theodicy have been more successful if God was portrayed in a more appealing manner? Indeed, I was one of these dissatisfied readers, until I read Victoria Silver’s book Imperfect Sense. Silver’s main argument is that readers ought not to be dissatisified with Milton’s portrayal of God in Paradise Lost, as it is entirely consistent with both scripture and the foundations of protestant theology. In these two sources, God’s true nature is understood to be hidden from humanity; in other words, our day-to-day lived experience of God is not reflective of God’s character or intentions.
We are promised eternal life, but we are dead; we are told of a blessed resurrection, but we are in a state of corruption; we are pronounced righteous, and yet we are dwelling places of sin; we hear that we are happy, and yet we are buried under countless miseries; we are promised riches of every kind of good, but are exceedingly hungry and full of thirst; God cries that he will come to us quickly, and yet to our own cry he seems to be deaf.
The main scriptural example of God’s hiddenness is found in the book of Job. Job is said to be perfect and upright, and to fear God. Even so, God allows him to face a number of great calamities, including the loss of his family and all his worldly possessions. However, throughout these trials, Job remains faithful to God and proclaims that He is good. This persistence in faith, in total contradiction to his experience, is what proves Job’s righteousness.
In short, God doesn’t necessarily appear to us as we want to picture him; but like Job—or in Luther’s reading, Abraham—our justification lies in imagining him to be otherwise than he seems from our experience.
There are other relevant verses on God’s hiddenness found throughout the Bible, including the book of Isaiah:
‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? (Isaiah 45:9)
Martin Luther, the father of protestantism, also speaks of God as unknowable. While he does not use the term ‘hiddenness’, his concept of the ‘masks’ of God is similar:
Until now we have dealt only with the veiled God, for in this life we cannot deal with God face to face. Now the whole creation is a face or mask of God. But here we need the wisdom that distinguishes God from his mask. The world does not have this wisdom. Therefore it cannot distinguish God from His mask.
Luther goes on to clarify the doctrine of justification; it is in our willingness to live in this tension between what we know about God and how we experience Him that we are justified. This is the measure of our faith. If we are unable to assert God’s goodness in the face of suffering and adversity, then our faith is weak, or false.
While I found Silver’s book hard to read, I am glad I read it2. Not only did it redeem Milton’s God for me, but it also provided me with a robust framework for understanding the book of Job, my faith and justification, as well as my own life experiences. God can often seem far away, and our Enemy wants to use this feeling to discourage us. We should not, however, interpret this feeling to mean that there is something wrong with ourselves. Rather, we ought to see it as an opportunity to strengthen our faith, and to put more trust into God’s plan for our lives. God is not an old man with a big white beard sitting in the sky3, He is God. Incomprehensible. We, as humans, are not capable of comprehending an infinite God in our finiteness, and we often need to be reminded of this. It can be easy to slip into the mistake of casting God in our own image, and judging Him based on our humanly sense of justice. Milton’s God reminds us that God’s ways are unlike our ways, and His thoughts unlike our thoughts. Like Job, we are the ones in the wrong if we attempt to measure His actions by our own understanding. In the face of evil and suffering, our best option is to simply say “God, you are good, and I trust you.”
Of course, God is righteous, so there is no contradiction here, but Milton did not have to portray Him in this way, as it is distasteful.
I really only read the first two chapters, but whatever. It’s not like I added it to my Goodreads or anything….
As Cima da Conegliano would have you believe, based on the painting above….