The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
Week 2: Chapter 1 — The Holy Grail
Read Chapter 1 of The Holiness of God.
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Sproul opens with a cultural survey of the human fascination with the holy, asking why people across all times and cultures are drawn toward the sacred even as they flee from it. As you read, pay attention to the tension he identifies between attraction and terror.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.Sproul uses the legend of the Holy Grail and the wider phenomenon of the 'quest for the sacred' to argue that the hunger for holiness is universal. What does this universality suggest about human nature and our relationship to God?
2.Sproul draws on Rudolf Otto's concept of the 'mysterium tremendum et fascinans' — the mystery that is both terrifying and fascinating. In your own experience, have you ever felt something like this in the presence of what seemed sacred or transcendent? What was that like?
3.Sproul distinguishes between the idea of holiness as 'moral purity' (the common understanding) and holiness as 'otherness' or transcendence — the idea that God is in a category entirely apart from creation. Why is the second definition actually more foundational than the first?
a.How does understanding holiness as 'otherness' change the way you read a passage like Isaiah 6?
b.Does thinking of God as radically 'other' make him feel more distant, or does it change the nature of how you approach him? Why?
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