Page 73 - Eclipse of God

46 Chapter 4

obtruding as central; to classify it by a process of identification
with something else already comprehended, and thus put it in
its place; but that identification does not prove successful. All
that is necessary to see this clearly is to compare the above-
cited sentences with any one of the Biblical verses which en-
join or praise the love of God, which are the origin of that
concept. What Cohen is enjoining and praising at this point is
something essentially and qualitatively different from the love
of religion and the knowledge of morality, although it includes
both. Yet in Cohen’s revision of his Berlin lectures of 1913– 14,
published in 1915 under the title, “The Concept of Religion in
the System of Philosophy,” he gives expression to a love which
does away once and for all with that curious “is.”
“If I love God,” says Cohen (and this use of his of “I” touches
the heart of the reader, like every genuine “I” in the work of
every genuine philosopher), “then I no longer think Him . . .”
(and that “no longer” is almost direct testimony) “. . . only the
sponsor of earthly morals. . . .” But what? But the avenger of
the poor in world history. “It is that avenger of the poor whom
I love.” And later, to the same effect: “I love in God the father
of man.” At this point “father” means the “shield and aid of the
poor,” for, “Man is revealed to me in the poor man.”
How long a way have we come from the “love of religion”!
Yet the new element in Cohen is expressed with even greater
clarity and energy: “Therefore shall the love of God exceed
all knowledge. . . . A man’s consciousness is completely filled
when he loves God. Therefore, this knowledge, which absorbs
all others, is no longer merely knowledge, but love.” And it is
extremely logical that the Biblical commandment to love God
is cited and interpreted at this point in the same connection: “I
cannot love God without devoting my whole heart as living for
the sake of my fellow- men, without devoting my entire soul as
responsive to all the spiritual trends in the world around me,