Wainwright and Alston on 'Mystery' in the Philosophy of Religion

        "For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8)

            Here's a quote I ran into earlier today from William J. Wainwright in his essay "Theology and Mystery," from The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, (pg. 80). I don't have any immediate reflections on this quote or this topic in general that would be worth writing down. But I will say that this is something that's been on my heart for some time. And the concern Wainwright and Alston share is one that I've been somewhat sympathetic to for for a good while, now:

"The most important reason for mystery, however, may be this. William Alston begins his recent 'Two Cheers for Mystery,' by observing that 'contemporary Anglo-American analytic philosophy of religion exhibits 'a considerable degree of confidence in its ability 'to determine what God is like; how to construe his basic attributes; and what his purpose, plans, standards, and values and so on are.' No one 'thinks we can attain a comprehensive knowledge of God's nature and doings. But on many points, there seems to be a widespread confidence in our ability to determine exactly how things are with God.' And, of course, the more confident one is, the less one will see any need for according the concept of mystery a central place in one's reflections on God. But what if failing to do so distorts these reflections ..."