Quotes about Immanence

The flight away from self to God is not a "forgetting self" in the sense that man thereby loses himself. Rather, in the experience of the Spirit there is bestowed on man the deepest possible experience of himself: for the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of revelation which illuminates the human spirit, in which it is immanent, by telling man what he is.

The theme, then, that will be with us throughout this study is the reciprocal relationship of God's transcendence and God's immanence;

God is never in the world in any way except in his absolute transcendence of it.

In the light of this clarification of the finite/infinite distinction, we can see that 'revelatory' action, including whatever events allow us a closer conscious share in infinite agency (in the love of the Trinity, to use the conventional theological phrasing), will be, not an interruption of the finite sequence, but a particular configuration of finite agency such that it communicates more than its own immanent content.

God for us, God alongside us, God within us.

God is not a question about what may or may not be up there or above or out there— God is what we're unquestionably in.

Though earth and man were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.

And yet the Christian gospel is more than a transcendent reality, more than "going to heaven when I die, to shout salvation as I fly." It is also an immanent reality—a powerful liberating presence among the poor right now in their midst, "building them up where they are torn down and propping them up on every leaning side." The gospel is found wherever poor people struggle for justice, fighting for their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

God is not remote from us. He is at the point of my pen, my (pick) shovel, my paint brush, my (sewing) needle - and my heart and thoughts.

It is only when we understand the transcendence of God that we see how amazing his immanence is, and what a huge privilege it is to be able to enjoy God's intimate friendship.

What now does the divine immanence mean in direct Christian experience? It means simply that God is here. Wherever we are, God is here. Ther eis no place, there can be no place, where He is not.