Thought for the Week: God is One and God is Many
Sandra Figgess reflects on expressions of God
A few weeks ago while I was sitting in Meeting for Worship, holding Gaza in the Light, I was struck by the thought that the part of the world which is the cradle of three monotheistic faiths – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – has so frequently been the centre of vicious, destructive conflict. I began to wonder if there is a link. Is there something about monotheism that is inherently threatening to peace?
Does the very idea of one God have a strong tendency to lead to the idea that there is only one Truth and one Right Way and, therefore, to a determination to attempt to eradicate all other ways in the name of God?
The starkness of monotheism is to some extent mitigated by such ideas as the Trinity in Christian theology, along with angels and saints, and by giving many names to the one God. But the pull of the One – not only one God but also one Prophet, one Way, one Law, one Book, one Church (while bonding to those who belong) so often leads to a denigration and rejection of everything else as erroneous and un-Godly and, therefore, rightly to be destroyed. We have seen this played out in the history of Europe during the Reformation period as well as in the current situation in the Middle East.
John Macquarrie, an existentialist Anglican theologian, offered a helpful interpretation of the Trinity which holds together the One-ness of God with an understanding of plurality and multiplicity. He speaks of ‘Holy Primordial Being’ (the source and root of all that is), ‘Holy Expressive Being’ (the expression of the One in everyone and everything that is and has been and will be) and ‘Holy Unitive Being’ (who draws all the rich variety of God’s expression back into unity). Our Quaker conviction that there is ‘that of God in everyone’ sits well within this understanding and allows us to be inclusive and understanding of difference among ourselves, as well as between ourselves and other faith traditions.
As human beings and human communities our needs are often in conflict and we feel threatened by one another and rise up to defend ourselves. This is challenging enough, but if we add to this a ‘righteous’ desire to defend the One True God against the unbeliever, the result is dynamite! If, on the other hand, we take seriously that everything and everyone that exists is an expression of God’s being – that the God who is One is also Many – then it follows that whatever harm we do to one another we are doing to an expression of God’s self and, so, we can not take up arms against one another in the name of God.
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