The Phenomenology of Prayer - Post 2

The author of The Phenomenology of Prayer discuses the concepts of the sacred in the "Prayer as Kenosis" section. These concepts seemingly are contradictory, in that the first is that the sacred cannot appear and the second is that the sacred can come into our world by incarnating itself. The first can be seen in many religions, with the author giving an example of Zeus appearing in his true form and reducing the person who experienced this to ashes, as well as the example from class of Exodus 33:18-20 where God could not show himself to Moses and God states that "no one can see me and live." The author then gives an example of the second with Zeus appearing as a wanderer who people of that time. This is the notion of kenosis and can be seen in examples like when God takes on the form of a slave. While at first these notions seem to be complete opposites, one can see how they also work together. While we as humans might not be able to fully grasp the glory of the divine, the divine finds a way for us to experience it and to therefore experience the glory of God. This can be from things like God creating the tablets with the commandments on them to something like carving the grand canyon, where many people experience the wonder of God's work every year.