Touch of God

The most important matter of concern for theologians today, as always, is the existence of God. Theologians of the past have relied upon rational proofs for God’s existence, especially those based on an analysis of contingency and causality. These Thomistic proofs served their purpose in a culture that was permeated with philosophical orientations and metaphysical argumentation. But such logical arguments seem to have lost their relevance in our technological age. Many people today are looking to religion not so much for spiritual guidance, counseling or psychotherapy as for some kind of experience of the mystery which is God. Individuals seeking meaning and hope in their lives are not comforted by a God described as the Necessary Cause or Unmoved Mover. Rather they seek to experience the presence of the personal and loving God of Biblical revelation and the Judeo-Christian tradition. They search for signs of the divine presence in their daily life experiences. This problematic of identifying God’s presence in an experience may necessitate the construction of an entirely new theological methodology radically different from the traditional one which proceeded largely by way of rational analysis. Realizing this, Father Meyer analyzes, from the theological point of view, the experience of God’s presence in daily life and surveys the criteria and norms by which that experience can be identified as being of divine origin. He also includes an analysis of the fundamental yet often forgotten role of the Holy Spirit in religious experience, thereby exploring the basis of the current Pentecostal movement.

Rev. Charles R. Meyer was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1945. After obtaining a doctorate in theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois he pursued further historical studies at the Gregorian University in Rome. Currently he is an Emeritus Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. Among the books he has published are: ’A Contemporary Theology of Grace’ (1971), ’The Touch of God: a Theological Analysis of Religious Experience’ (1971), ’What a Modern Catholic Believes about the Holy Spirit’ (1974), and ’Religious Belief in a Scientific Age’ (1983). He has been a frequent contributor to ’Chicago Studies’, and his articles have appeared in the ’New Catholic Encyclopedia’, ’The American Ecclesiastical Review’, ’The Homiletic and Pastoral Review’, ’Review for Religious’, and ’Worship’, among others. He is presently involved with the interface between religion and science.