Hidden Histories, Hidden God Conference
April 15-18, 2010, Rice University
Attendees of the Hidden Histories, Hidden God Conference, Reflecting Pool, Rothko Chapel: Enoch Gbadegesin, Kocku von Struckrad, Stephen Finley, Andrei Orlov, April DeConick, Jeffrey Kripal, Marcia Brennan, John Turner, Claire Fanger, Bernard McGinn, Grant Adamson, Chad Pevateaux, Bill Parsons, Shira Lander
Hidden God, Hidden Histories panel. April DeConick, Kelley Bautch-Coblentz, Andrei Orlov. Photo taken by John Turner.
Hidden God, Hidden Histories. John Turner, Andrei Orlov, Bernard McGinn. Photo from John Turner.
Hidden God, HIdden HIstories dinner break at Thai Spice in the Village. Photo taken by John Turner.
Published volume of select papers from this conference
Histories of the Hidden God: Concealment and Revelation in Western Gnostic, Esoteric, and Mystical Traditions
Edited by April D. DeConick and Grant Adamson
Gnostica Series. Durham: Acumen 2013
In Western religious traditions, God is conventionally conceived as a humanlike creator, lawgiver, and king, a being both accessible and actively present in history. Yet there is a concurrent and strong tradition of a God who actively hides. The two traditions have led to a tension between a God who is simultaneously accessible to humanity and yet inaccessible, a God who is both immanent and transcendent, present and absent. Western Gnostic, esoteric, and mystical thinking capitalizes on the hidden and hiding God. He becomes the hallmark of the mystics, Gnostics, sages, and artists who attempt to make accessible to humans the God who is secreted away.
Histories of the Hidden God explores this tradition from antiquity to today. The essays focus on three essential themes: the concealment of the hidden God; the human quest for the hidden God, and revelations of the hidden God.
Reviews
“An exciting collected volume arranged around the topic of concealment and revelation in theological discourses, with a focus on Gnosticism, esotericism, and mysticism across the Abrahamittic religions. The diversity of the topics and diachronic span from antiquity to contemporary times makes this volume truly one of a piece.” – Heterodoxology blog