Deliver Us

Thirteenth century theologian Eckhart von Hochheim (Meister Eckhart) once wrote “Pray God deliver me from God.” At first glance, this statement seems the very heart of blasphemy. But as is often the case, it demands a closer look. Eckhart was tried for heresy, which was a typical reaction in the Middle Ages (some things don’t change…).

At first blush, this statement seems to want nothing to do with God, which is undoubtedly where the heretical accusations arose. But if we think about this plea a bit rather than dismissing it outright, something else is there. Perhaps Herr Eckhart was thinking not of dismissing God per se. Perhaps he was thinking a little deeper. (In the Middle Ages, as now, “deeper thinking” was problematic in the eyes of those who hold the power.)

The thing that we may need delivering from is our concept of God. Ah…now perhaps we have something. I believe Meister Eckhart came to realize that the ideas/concepts/notions that we hold about God can easily become too entrenched. Most of these notions, I would venture, are learned from parents, elders, clergy, tradition, and, yes—scripture. The trouble is that God is not easily grasped by our little minds. We get ideas, we develop theology, we even come up with religions. And there’s nothing wrong with those things. We do well to grapple with spiritual things and to try to bring our very rational minds to terms with them.

But we need to be prepared for the eventuality that our ideas are wrong—or at least, incomplete. How often has human history shown that no matter how much we think we understand something, there will always come those “oh, wait!” moments? So doesn’t it stand to reason that we’ll have those realization moments with God as well? In fact, it’s very liberating. We may have our opinions, even our deeply held values, but there’s no pressure to get everything right—there’s no final exam at the end of it all. Come to think of it, is there really a way we can get it all right? I don’t think God expects that of us. So maybe we should let ourselves—and each other—off the hook, too.