Book contents
- Divine Hiddenness
- Divine Hiddenness
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Text
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 Divine Hiddenness and Phenomenology
- 2 God the Creator and the Natural Theological Attitude
- 3 Augustine
- 4 Anselm
- 5 Aquinas
- 6 Deferred Ostension
- 7 Hidden Minds
- 8 Desire, Wonder, and Gratitude
- Conclusion
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
3 - Augustine
Overheard Confession
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2026
Book contents
- Divine Hiddenness
- Divine Hiddenness
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Text
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 Divine Hiddenness and Phenomenology
- 2 God the Creator and the Natural Theological Attitude
- 3 Augustine
- 4 Anselm
- 5 Aquinas
- 6 Deferred Ostension
- 7 Hidden Minds
- 8 Desire, Wonder, and Gratitude
- Conclusion
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
At the start of the aletheistic tradition, in the Confessions Augustine pioneers a phenomenological approach to fixing the reference to God by means of a novel linguistic act, overheard praise, which mirrors and frames the beautiful forms of created things as themselves overheard linguistic acts; the existential choice of the reader is either to leave the speech as overheard or to enter the speech as addressee. Augustine interprets things as signs of their source, works out the objective order of love, and thematizes the paradox of God’s hidden presence and the creature’s beauty as a sign of the creator.
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- Divine HiddennessGod the Creator and Phenomenology, pp. 74 - 101Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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