Thought for the Week: The Divine impulse

Anthony Boulton reflects on the writings of Jean-Pierre de Caussade

by Anthony Boulton 22nd November 2013

The Reformation undermined the power of priesthoods and the ‘magical quality’ of their rituals, but in so doing buttressed ‘scriptural writings’ as the unchallenged ‘word of God.’ However, in the first verse of the anonymous gospel named after the disciple John, the ‘Word’ is translated from the Greek Logos, which means ‘the word not in its outward form but as connected with an inward thought.’ The thought of God must, therefore, refer to an intuitive feeling that could be described as ‘the Divine impulse’ taking place, not in the past or future, but in the here and now.