📘 Lexicon Entry: Divine Presence

God’s active presence with creation, both transcendent beyond creation and immanently involved with it, demonstrating divine choice to be with humanity without dominating or being absorbed.

A theological concept describing God’s active presence with creation that maintains perfect balance between transcendence and immanence, where God chooses to be intimately involved with creation without either dominating it or being absorbed by it. Divine Presence challenges reductive approaches that either remove God from creation (deism) or collapse God into creation (pantheism), offering instead a vision of divine engagement that enables rather than diminishes human agency. This concept provides theological foundation for Being With and directly counters Practical Atheism by emphasizing God’s active engagement with creation. Divine Presence redefines blessing as relationship rather than material success, challenging [Prosperity Materialism](placeholder-url) and demonstrating divine presence that enables rather than dominates, addressing [Authoritarian Spirituality](placeholder-url).

Theological Alternative

divine presence, incarnation, pneumatology, immanence, transcendence, presence theology, covenant presence

Geevarghese-Uffman, Craig. “Divine Presence.” *Political Theology Lexicon*. https://www.commonlifepolitics.com/p/lexicon. Accessed [date].

God’s presence involves both transcendence beyond creation and immanent involvement with it

Divine presence enables rather than diminishes human agency through non-competitive relationship

God’s choice to be with humanity reveals divine character rather than divine need

Divine presence manifested through covenant, incarnation, and Spirit rather than abstract omnipresence

Blessing understood as relational presence rather than material prosperity

Divine presence reduced to either distant transcendence or absorbed immanence

God’s presence understood as competitive with human agency

Divine presence instrumentalized for material or political benefit

Presence divorced from divine character and reduced to mere power

Blessing equated with material success rather than divine relationship

Balance of transcendence and immanence without collapse into either deism or pantheism

Non-competitive relationship where divine presence enables human agency

Covenantal and incarnational rather than merely abstract or philosophical

Relational understanding of blessing and divine engagement

Covenantal theology revealing God’s commitment to relationship with creation

Incarnational theology demonstrating divine presence through embodiment

Pneumatological theology articulating Spirit’s presence in creation and believers

Trinitarian theology grounding presence in divine communion

God’s presence with Israel in tabernacle and temple (Exodus 40:34-38)

Incarnation as "God with us" (Matthew 1:23)

Spirit’s presence in believers (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Promise of God’s continual presence (Matthew 28:20)

Theological responses to secularization emphasizing divine engagement rather than withdrawal

Liturgical and sacramental practices that embody divine presence

Ministry approaches emphasizing accompaniment and presence over problem-solving

Interfaith dialogue grounded in divine presence rather than religious superiority

Systematic theology examining transcendence-immanence relationship

Biblical theology tracing presence themes from covenant to incarnation to eschatology

Comparative religious studies on divine presence across traditions

Political theology analyzing implications of divine presence for public engagement

Related Primary Concepts: Interindependence through non-competitive divine-human relationship

Key Alternatives: Being With, [Trinitarian Participation](placeholder-url)

Theological Mutations Addressed: Practical Atheism, [Prosperity Materialism](placeholder-url), [Authoritarian Spirituality](placeholder-url)

Historical Context: Biblical covenant theology, incarnational theology, pneumatological developments

May 23, 2025

*This entry is part of the Political Theology Lexicon, accessible exclusively to subscribers. View the complete lexicon to explore related concepts and the full theoretical framework.*