Pathos Boga w myśli Abrahama J. Heschela
The Pathos of God in the teaching of Abraham J. Heschel

Summary/Abstract: The God of philosophers was rigid, indifferent and too lofty to care about the plight of both the world and man. The gods presented in different mythologies used to possess animalistic passions, sensual desires, they were more capricious and egoistic than men, and man, uncertain of his plight, was merely a plaything in their hands. According to Heschel, the image of God, as presented in the teaching of the Israeli prophets, is far from what we can find out from the ancient (and not only) thinkers, as well as in the Greek and Babylonian mythologies etc. What is, according to the Jewish thinker, the proper image of God? First of all, the biblical God is personally concerned and moved by the acting and plight of man. On the one hand, this concern is highlighted by His mercy, on the other hand, it is immersed in the darkness of His wrath. God is transcendent and impossible to grasp by human reason, and at the same time, he is full of love, compassion, as well as regret, caused by the sins of man. This image of God was preached by the Old Testament prophets, and Heschel declared this to be the pathos of God.

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