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features of a single entity or event. For example, "Human beings are naturally self-centered,"
and "Human beings are naturally altruistic." Both propositions are true statements about human
beings (I would suggest); however they make very different claims, worded in ways that appear
to contradict but, properly understood, do not. So a concurrence is a veridical paradox (like,
light is composed of waves and particles). This chapter proposes that some paradoxes regarding
God are nothing more than concurrences as defined here.
The term "mystery" originated in the classical Christian tradition to refer to a true
proposition about God (or set of propositions) that we have good reason to believe, that
nevertheless transcends human ability to grasp it in its entirety, either because aspects of the
whole truth are not available to us or because it appears to outstrip the capacity of human reason
to demonstrate its logical consistency. "God is love" is necessarily a mystery in the former way,
since we cannot fully fathom the sentence; "God is triune" has been understood to be an
example
of the latter. A concurrence is a mystery in this latter sense. Until a theological paradox is
demonstrably solved, the Christian tradition has termed it a mystery in this sense if there is
sufficient, supporting evidence.
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While the "mystery card" should not be pulled out too quickly,
the label has long been used within the classic tradition to acknowledge the limits of human
understanding, while still rejecting irrationalism and relativism, and we should not fear its use.
Looking to Proverbs 8 and John 1, believers have recognized that the rational order of the
universe is derived from God's comprehensive understanding of all things. The Christian faith
assumes that, though our minds can only go so far in knowledge and comprehension, God's
intellectual perfection guarantees there are no absolute contradictions in his understanding or in
the universe.
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