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10 - On God's Creation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

Harry G. Frankfurt
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
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Summary

Leazar said in Bar Sira's name: About what is too great for thee inquire not; what is too hard for thee investigate not; about what is too wonderful for thee know not; of what is hidden from thee ask not; study what was permitted thee; thou hast no business with hidden things.

Midrash Rabbah

1. I propose to ignore these instructions. I shall consider certain hidden things. In just what way did God create the world? What was the state of affairs before He created it? What was the nature of the creative process? What, exactly, did He do? And how may we understand, in the light of what He did, His relationship to the world and to mankind?

Of course these questions are too great, too hard, and too wonderful. It is true that we have no business with them. Still, there are other things in life besides business.

2. No one has yet produced, so far as I am aware, an adequate biography of God. We have no systematic developmental account of the character and activities of the deity whose career is related in the Old Testament. It is plain, however, that He is responsive to human behavior, and that He often reacts to it with great intensity. Moreover, it often seems that He regards Himself as being in some way dependent on the conduct of mankind.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

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  • On God's Creation
  • Harry G. Frankfurt, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book: Necessity, Volition, and Love
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624643.011
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  • On God's Creation
  • Harry G. Frankfurt, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book: Necessity, Volition, and Love
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624643.011
Available formats
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  • On God's Creation
  • Harry G. Frankfurt, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book: Necessity, Volition, and Love
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624643.011
Available formats
×