4. Christian Theism

The Search for Ultimate Reality in God's Self-revelation Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. — Hebrews 1:1–2 [p 126] [p 127] God is the Ultimate Reality and he can be known Central to Christian theism is its proclamation that God is the Ultimate Reality and he can be known. God has not left it to our unaided human reason to work out what Ultimate Reality might be like. God has himself taken the initiative to make himself known to us. He has done so in many ways: through creation; through the voice of conscience; through history, especially through the Old Testament prophets; but supremely by himself becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ. By this divine act of self-communication God has transcended two obstacles in the way of our getting to know him: Obstacle 1: The essential limitation of abstract human reasoning At its best, abstract human reasoning can only produce an idea of God. Now, in any subject an idea of a thing is always substantially less than the thing itself. An idea of a thing is o...