Talk of “divine severity” calls, of course, for a conception of the divine, or of God. It also would be helpful to have some sense of God’s purposes, if God exists, in relating to humans and the severity in their lives. This chapter offers some illumination on these fronts, in order to suggest how divine severity can fit with the perfect goodness of a God worthy of worship.

God and Grace

Worthiness of worship

Setting the bar high, indeed as high as possible, we will approach the term “God” as a supreme title of personal perfection rather than a proper name. (We can always lower the bar if our overall evidence calls for this.) Likewise, some variants of monotheism suggest that the term “God” is a normative title requiring worthiness of worship. Given such a title, no mere potentate who dominates over all others will qualify as God. Something beyond domination is needed, because worthiness of worship is needed. Such worthiness is normative, not merely descriptive, and therefore does not support the false claim that “might makes right.” According to this view, “God” is not God’s name, because the term “God” is a normative title. A title can be meaningful but lack a titleholder. In talking about God, then, we can give a fair hearing to proponents of atheism and agnosticism without begging questions against them or otherwise dismissing them.