The Space Between

Is there a God “out there”? God is “everywhere present and filling all things,” we say in our Orthodox prayers, but is He “out there?” For what it’s worth, I want to suggest for a moment that He is not. Largely, what I am describing is what takes place in our imagination – that is, what we picture when we pray and how we think of God as we seek Him.

There are, to my mind, two primary ways of thinking and speaking about God. One is “juridical,” the other “ontological.” Juridical relationships are largely how we imagine relationships in our modern culture. We think of ourselves as individuals with rights and obligations, with a series of demands made on us by others and on others by us. The rules and laws of our society govern these forces. For us – everybody and everything is “out there.” Thomas Hobbes, writing during the years of the English Civil War, described this as the “war of all against all.” He opined that only a strong government could manage such a state of nature.

“Ontological” means “having to do with being.” My relationship with myself is ontological. I am not “out there” from myself. In the modern imagination, that is where ontology stops. There is my existence (“in here”) and everything else and everyone else is “out there.” The war goes on.

This is a deeply inadequate view of life. Consider the relationship we have with our parents. We are, quite literally, “bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh.” We share a biological reality that is itself our existence. This can be extended towards other human beings. We never(!) exist alone. We can be “considered” alone for the purposes of study and the like, but we are no more alone than any of the cells within our bodies. We are social beings, but social in a manner that has to do with our very being and not merely with juridical arrangements.

The story of Joseph Stalin’s death is an interesting case in point. His exercise of brutal force on all those around him (including members of his own family) was a triumph of juridical ideology. As he lay dying (so the story goes), no one goes to his aid. There is too much fear. In the end, relationships that are shaped along purely juridical lines fail to give life. Indeed, they foster death.

St. Silouan said, “My brother is my life.” Nothing better states the ontological character of our existence. If my brother is my life, however, what is this space between us? An image that comes to mind is leaves on a tree. The life of every leaf depends on the life of every other leaf, just as all leaves depend on the life of the tree. The “space” between the leaves exists only in an imaginary manner. They are connected in a single life. The life of one is the life of all.

The space between is part of our modern imagination. The language of rights, for example, seeks to assert connectedness by juridical means, but only increases the emptiness of the space between. It is little wonder that this juridical imagery, when turned towards God, fails to nurture the soul. What we know of “out there” is always surrounded with uncertainty and anxiety. The juridical depends, ultimately, on violence. We can only “make” (“force”) things to bridge the empty space between us. And, of course, the space remains empty, regardless.

The modern paradigm, composed of juridical relationships, is the mother of loneliness, teaching our hearts that they exist in a fragmented world of temporary, negotiated cease-fires in an otherwise war-of-all-with-all. The language of rights, rooted primarily in older warrior cultures of Northern Europe, have given us our world of contracts, but never a world of true being.

God is not “out there” in the sense imagined by the juridical mind. At its very heart, “everywhere present and filling all things” means that there can be no “out there” with regard to God. God is only “here.” The Scriptures commonly describe God as dwelling “in us.” St. Paul describes our bodies as “temples of the Holy Spirit.” The language of Holy Baptism is not one of establishing a juridical relationship. It is the language of union, as is the language of the Holy Eucharist.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Jn 6:56

All of this can easily remain little more than an intellectual distinction. My conversations over the years, however, tell me that our juridical imagination dominates how we see God. We long for a relationship with One who is “out there,” while remaining oblivious to the God who dwells in us. In a recent conversation with a young convert who was struggling with a sense of God’s absence, I said, “But you breathe Him!”

Life (and existence in all forms) has been reduced to science-facts, objects or properties of objects. In truth, all things have their existence in God (not in themselves). We live in a creation that was brought into being out of nothing – it has no being in and of itself. From an Orthodox perspective, the existence of anything is proof of the existence of God.

We recognize, however, an even greater union within human beings. Of us alone, it is said that God breathed into us and we became living souls. To know God is also to know oneself – and, we may say, we cannot know ourselves apart from God, for there is no such self.

Of all the writers in Scripture, the one who says the most about problems of being, existence, connectedness and such, is St. John. And, for St. John, the key within all of these things is love. Consider this classic statement:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

“…if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” This is the language of mutual indwelling that has no place within a juridical model of relationships. God is love. Indeed, in this passage there is a consistent blending of action and being. God not only does (He loves us) but He is what He does (God is love).

This manner of being is the image according to which we are created. Love constitutes our true being. “My brother is my life.” This is more than a moral statement: it is a reflection on the very nature of true existence. For this reason, the “space between,” must be seen as a delusional artifact of the juridical imagination. We are created to exist as love – love of God, love of the other, love of self. When we withdraw from the love of God and the love of other, then the love of self collapses into a solipsistic loneliness. Sadly, we have frequently structured the modern world to accommodate and promote the lonely self. Our neighborhoods, our cities, our mode of transportation, our world of entertainment and consumption thrive on the lonely self and seek to fill the space between. However, you cannot fill emptiness with emptiness.

“Out there” is “in here.”

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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29 responses to “The Space Between”

  1. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Is there anything “out there” that might suggest for even one minute that typical western atonement theories (like penal substitutionary atonement for example) can also promote and support union with God? What is all this talk, then, about sanctification in the Protestant world?

  2. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    I think the emptiness of PSA and such is their reliance on a metaphor for how everything works that sort of makes God an actor among actors…and ultimately ruling the universe through an imposition of violence. It’s just inadequate (to say the least). Perhaps every metaphor is inadequate – but some are more inadequate than others.

    I think the “sanctification” talk is simply because there’s all this material in the NT that simply won’t fit in the PSA model, so you add another layer (sanctification) to try and account for it.

  3. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    How does sanctification differ in the Orthodox world when compared to the Protestant world? Aren’t they both ontological/spiritual concepts?

  4. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Father,
    Is it too harsh to say that PSA is destructive to the soul? It seemed that way to me even when I was a child. It initiated my path away from Christ even as a child because I was given the impression by various preaching that it was the exemplar of all Christianity. Obviously such preaching wasn’t correct but to those who have little exposure to other Christian theology, it appears to be heavily emphasized in American churches and culture.

    Your book is a healthy antidote.

  5. Kenneth Avatar
    Kenneth

    In my prior experience as an evangelical Protestant, “sanctification” never meant union with God as the Orthodox mean. It instead meant becoming more “Christ-like” in the sense of being more moral (behaving better). I think Fr. Stephen recently pointed out in a comment that understanding the Christian life in terms of imitating the morality of Christ instead of union with Christ is one aspect of secularism.

  6. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Dee,
    I think I would say that it is “potentially” harmful to the soul – in that it’s not true. I first “quit” Christianity (at age 13 as a nominal Baptist) rejecting the notion that God sends bad people to hell, etc. God as “Cosmic Enforcer” is simply bad theology. It was not a serious, well-thought-out rejection – just the rantings of a 13 year-old. Also, at that time in the South, my Baptist Church was preaching biological racism and some pretty nasty stuff (it was 1966). So, I was just quitting. It was a mess.

    I think it’s possible to read the Scriptures in a manner that yields PSA (people do it all the time). It says a lot about the nature of reading and interpretation. However, it ultimately means ignoring a lot of Scripture and certainly the bulk of Orthodox tradition.

    America is a secularized Protestant culture. Modernity itself is rooted in all of that. Its references are to various aspects of Christianity (individualism, for example, is a distorted version of the doctrine of personhood). Modernity, for example, is not an outgrowth of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. It’s not even an outgrowth of Roman Catholicism.

    But when we do a historical analysis – we’re only really helping ourselves see the world around us more clearly. It doesn’t fix it. The real question has to do with how we live in the world.

  7. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Kenneth,
    Yes. Well said. I cite Hobbes in the article – the world as everyone against everyone – struggle. It’s a picture of people as radical individuals in which everyone has to exercise power (violence) against everyone else in order to have any place at all. Hobbes argues for the power of the state as the only thing that can keep order in all of this. There are lots of government consultant types who adhere to Hobbesian theory.

    There’s no place for communion in that model. You could fit PSA into that model – God just being the biggest power of all (but only one power among many). Morality is a sort of negotiated position that people assume in order to avoid total destruction…

    But, Hobbes is a theoretician or philosopher who is working from within 17th century English Protestant thought. It is one of the most revolutionary centuries in English history – arguably the most revolutionary.

    There’s a sort of child’s version of theology (some would say “Sunday School”) in which a sort of cartoonish way of thinking about God is employed in the place of true theology. Statements such as “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” are simply not considered.

    My book, Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, was, in a way, an attempt to present classical Orthodox thought with some teachable images to introduce people to an ontological understanding.

    In our locale, a number of Evangelical schools require a “faith statement” of their employees. I’ve seen Orthodox people get turned down because they submitted the Nicene Creed as a faith statement. Instead, the Evangelical institution wanted a statement regarding Scripture and an acceptance of Penal Substitution Atonement theory. It’s not that they are “non-creedal” but that their “creed” is a different creed. It becomes a kind of unintentional heresy.

  8. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thank you Fr. Stephen, Kenneth and Dee.

  9. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Thank you, Fr. Stephen. This writing brought me to tears. It’s so simple, and we make it so complicated. Just like I’m about to do ha! Forgive me in advance.

    I’m wondering if you feel these times we’re living in are exceptional in their deception, evil, and catastrophes, or if you think “oh, that’s just because we hear news 24/7 from all over the world” I’ve heard that explanation/dismissal a few times now over the years, and I’m not completely sold on it.

    I know enough not to trust my feelings, but I do sense something very intense building, ever since the pandemic it seems to be getting worse. I know I’m not alone. Even the weather being so violent. I’m in a sort of boring area weather-wise, and even here we’ve had the most intense storms constantly, all summer. Lots of damage, many trees that have been alive and well since the late 1800’s coming down. Which is not normal for this area. I also was heartbroken like everyone else over the Texas Christian camp tragedy. I couldn’t shake it for days.

    And meanwhile, I read the Bible, and there’s a lot of stuff I come across like this (Revelations 11:18): “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

    So am I not supposed to connect what I’m reading to what I’m seeing happening around me? Just take it all as metaphor? It frustrates me. At least in Buddhism there’s a definitive stance on this “realm” as they call it: it is illusion. And it’s solution: meditate, cause no harm, develop compassion and hope to never come back here again. Which was comforting but now? I’m just in the woods.

    Maybe you could shed some light on this for me, correct my thinking. There’s also the reality that we simply are kept in the dark about so many things. Who really knows who runs the world? Jesus says Satan rules this world, and that is clear, but I think part of Satan running the world is leaving God’s people very confused about what to trust, what they really know about this world. After the pandemic, there were so many lies that I started seriously questioning even the most basic things I was taught as a little girl. I started asking (and am still asking): how do I know that that’s true, besides the fact that grown-ups told me it is?

    Anyway, I’d appreciate your insights, if you have any to offer. Thanks for this blog, as always.

  10. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Ontology is the only explanation for the Cristian narrative mystery.

  11. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Hello Mallory. I know you directed your questions to Fr. Stephen, so I hope you don´t mind me offering up some thoughts of my own.

    For so long I struggled with the Bible … such an ancient and often ambiguous set of writings. The Old Testament and all its violence. The parables and the harsh words of Jesus. The Book of Revelation and its fiery judgments. When taken only at face value and when read in isolation without the guidance and Tradition of the Church, it´s no wonder people look to Buddhism and New Age and such as worldviews that seem more compassionate and loving. The Bible is a violent book in many places, but it does belong to the Church which belongs to the loving and compassionate Lord of all. I certainly don´t have all the answers, but do I trust in the goodness of God that the Church proclaims and I trust the Church to help me find this loving and compassionate Lord in the pages of her holy book; a book that is only part of the immense liturgical and sacramental life of the Church. I have come to the conclusion that if I don´t see Jesus Christ and his mercy in the pages of Holy Scripture, then something else must be going on. As such, I then try to seek spiritual guidance with the Church.

    To your other concern … maybe we have become more violent and evil as human beings in modern times, maybe not. I tend to think that evil and violence runs in cycles. I think the better question might be to ask … regardless of the historical evaluations I make about the world around me, how do I live in whatever epoch I find myself in? I believe Fr. Stephen commented along these lines yesterday somewhere on the blog and I hope he will respond to your comments soon as well.

    I thank you for your presence in this space Mallory. Have a good day.

  12. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Mallory,
    We certain live in a time that has its own darkness. I’ve heard it said, “This may not be the Last Days, but it rhymes with it.” Back during the pandemic, one of my reading projects focused on the 6th century (Byzantium) and later on the 14th-15th century (Britain and France). Both were times afflicted with the Black Death. Both had things that were trial to the Church. Our pandemic times were quite mild by comparison. But it was good for my soul to spend some time looking at what others had endured (and come through).

    One of the ways we survive is by paying attention to what is at hand rather than far away. That’s the problem of our news cycle. They don’t care about the news, they only care about clicks. They are all about money and advertising.

    At hand, there are plenty of things to attend to: family, friends, church, the poor, the sick, the needy, etc. I like to say, “Do the next good thing.”

    I’m convinced that our present problems will end – and that it could be catastrophic when it does. But, it will likely not be the last catastrophe – just a big one. We’ll see. But it will happen regardless of what I do. What matters is what is at hand – the good that God has given for me to attend to.

    I am old enough to know that I likely have less than 20 years left to live. So, it makes me think more locally, more immediately. God is with us. Here. Now. Everywhere.

  13. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Mallory,
    Some additional thoughts this morning…

    Back in 1975, I signed up for a class at my university that was born out of a special grant entitled, “Sociology of the Future.” We read material from across the spectrum, and had guest lectures from almost all of the authors. It was an exercise in forecasting the future (more or less) and considering the effects on the culture. I have to say, some 50 years later, that many of the things have come about – and in ways not quite imagined. Probably the most unlooked for developments have been those that are related to the advent of the smartphone. As technology goes, it might be the least of our developments. As culture goes, it’s probably the most impactful.

    If the world had no internal guidance, no backbone to support the reality of culture, then it would be possible to imagine all kinds of disasters. Chaos seeking chaos…

    But as it is, I am convinced of something different – rooted in Orthodox teaching. Human beings have a nature that is inherently good (even if our present world leaves that somewhat darkened and obscured). But, just as Romans 8 describes “all of creation groaning in travail” (longing for the wholeness of the resurrected world), so human beings inherently long for the goodness of God – for the kindness of love – for the well-being of all things.

    There are things (like an unchecked profit-motive) that drives many present-day trends (it’s actually the love of money, not some dark philosophy, that drives the world’s insanity). There is, strangely, also God’s mercy at work in the world – many times in the form of death and failure. Evil leaders don’t live forever. Evil empires collapse. Evil has an odd way of falling into its own entropy. Goodness abides. It is reborn with every child that comes into the world. As it says in 2 Cor. 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” So it is also with the world.

    Think of the many terrible things that the world has witnessed…and yet…love abides.

    Yesterday, I held an 8 day-old child and did the naming prayers that are an Orthodox practice. She is just one of so many being born in our parish. Each is a newborn hope – being nurtured in a loving community committed to Christ and the fullness of the faith. It lifted my spirits.

    St. Paul said (and he was in prison looking towards his own execution):

    “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8–9)

  14. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Hello Fr. Stephen. In the Orthodox Church, are there name days and birthdays? What I mean is, when the child is born is the birthday … right? Then on the 8th day the child is named in the Church? My niece´s husband is Greek Orthodox and he has spoken about this distinction between days, though frankly I am still confused.

  15. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    A birthday is the day you are born. A “nameday” is the feast day of the saint for whom you are named. There was a time (in some Orthodox cultures) that a child was given the saint’s name of the day the child was born (which can yield some pretty unfelicitous monikers). However, in common Orthodox practice, a child is born (there are prayers giving thanks for that event). Then, on the 8th day, there are prayers offered by the priest and the child is formally named. The child and the mother are “churched” on the 40th day (or thereabouts), and the Baptism takes place sometime after that. That order of things is sometimes disrupted by various things – distance, etc.

    In the West (don’t know about RC’s), with the Anglicans, a child was named at Baptism. The priest said, “Name this child,” and the sponsors gave the name. But, I’ve not kept up with their prayerbook changes so I don’t know what they do any longer.

  16. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Oh, I am so grateful for these answers, Fr. Stephen. They console me while also not making me feel I’m not seeing what I’m seeing, no small feat. Thank you! I will keep your answers close to me, so I can reread when I need the reminders.

    And yes, I have seen evil fall the way you describe, even in my own personal circle.

    Matthew, thank you for sharing your experience, I’m grateful for your kindness!

  17. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much Fr. Stephen.

  18. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks to you as well Mallory.

    If you´re willing to share, I´m wondering how your search for an Orthodox Church in the Philadelphia area is going.

  19. John Swensen Avatar
    John Swensen

    Fr. Stephen bless me , a sinner! Thou hast well said, dear father!
    I kiss your right hand, John Swensen

  20. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    John,
    Glad you enjoyed it!

  21. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Matthew,

    Sure! But I haven’t made much progress–I attended services steadily throughout the winter at two different Orthodox churches in the Philly suburbs, and visited once an Anglo-Catholic parrish in the city. As I’ve mentioned here somewhere before, the Anglo-Catholic service moved me and the church St. Clement’s is truly breathtaking, built in 1856 I believe.

    Unfortunately, and this I count as a fault in me, the Orthodox churches made me uncomfortable. I didn’t feel at home, and I stopped going eventually. I also stopped doing yoga during that time because I was told I was calling in demons and got super depressed, so I started again for my sanity. I was forcing myself into a shape. So I’m still looking. Someone recommended a Quaker meeting house that I can walk to, and it sounds nice that you just sit there in silence in community, but I don’t really know anything about Quakers.

    It’s a little tricky now with my mother being sick and my toddler. I brought her once and she told me she hated it. Yet every bedtime, like clockwork, she asks me how God made X. “How did God make the houses?” “How did God make babies, bunnies, pasta?” etc etc so obviously something got in there. She also prays for rain.

    Didn’t mean this to be so long! God bless everyone.

  22. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much for sharing Mallory. I wish you all the best on your journey.

    FWIW – I had a very difficult time fitting in at the nearby Greek Orthodox parish. There was little or no interest taken in helping me to convert and being integrated into the parish community. It was also culturally and linguistically another world for me, not to mention my wife wanting to become Catholic. There was also, for me, a large disconnect between what I had been reading and learning about Orthodox theology and spirituality and what I was experiencing in the Divine Liturgy … but that´s simply my experience here in Germany. I know Orthodoxy is another world altogether in the U.S.

  23. Dee of Sts Herman and Olga Avatar
    Dee of Sts Herman and Olga

    Matthew and Mallory,
    I think conversion to Orthodoxy can be difficult for some. For me the most difficult part was becoming a Christian. I think I’m still working on that.

    Nevertheless I wouldn’t be anywhere else except for an Orthodox Church. In the long run I was looking for Christ, not so much a church that could be a ‘home’ because Christianity itself was the biggest hurdle.

    Similar to both of your respective experiences some have converted to Orthodoxy but were uncomfortable and wanted something they were more familiar with. They received approval for establishing a western- rite Orthodox church. However, interestingly, what I have explored (online exploration) in the western- rite Orthodoxy just didn’t feel like Orthodoxy to me. I don’t think I would have felt at home there after living as I have in Eastern Orthodoxy.

    There is definitely a different ethos in Orthodoxy. There is no denying that.

    May our Lord bless you both in your life in Christ! My prayers of blessings to you both.

  24. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    In my town there are four Orthodox parishes: three Antiochian and one Greek. My late wife and I started attending at the Greek parish. It was not pleasant or welcoming.

    There are three Antiochian (one based on Anglican rites; the other two based on Syrian rites). They largely speak American now.

    I enjoy the Antiochian rites.

  25. Matthew W. Avatar
    Matthew W.

    Michael –

    FWIW, I loved the Antiochian parish I was a catechumen at.

  26. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Thanks so much for your thoughts Dee.

    This “looking for Christ” (for me, Christ´s fullness) is what drew me to the liturgy and sacraments of the ancient Church. For the longest time I was only shopping around for a Protestant church that could meet my needs – personal, theological and spiritual.

  27. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Matthew, I completely relate to this: “There was also, for me, a large disconnect between what I had been reading and learning about Orthodox theology and spirituality and what I was experiencing in the Divine Liturgy”

    Thank you for articulating what I felt as well.

    Dee, yes me too, I am looking for Christ. Perhaps for me that is not in an organized church setting. I will keep praying to be shown!

    God bless everyone here.

  28. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Mallory,
    There will always be some amount of disconnect between what we read in books versus what we encounter on the ground (in a parish). Books can write in ideal terms – parishes live in human terms – complete with all the limitations and brokenness that come with it. Sometimes the limitations are as simple as cultural differences, etc.

    It’s like getting married. We never marry “perfect” people (just as our spouses can’t find us to be perfect, either). But, it’s a journey. You’re in my prayers. Be patient with the yourself and the world around you.

  29. Mallory Avatar
    Mallory

    Thank you for your prayers, Fr. Stephen. My search for “perfect” people and places has caused much suffering! May God help me.

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