Yahweh, unlike the mountain and...

Yahweh, unlike the mountain and fertility gods of the ancient Canaanites, refuses to be bound by any geographical locale. All of the 'high places' pretending to capture the divine presence must be torn down as idolatrous in the highest degree. The prophet Nathan warns David, as he plans to build the temple, that no-one can presume to build a house for God. Yahweh, the one who dwells in thick darkness, will not remain on call' in Jerusalem, at the behest of the king (2 Samuel 7). A theology of transcendence will never be fully comfortable with place. Hence, the tension between place and placelessness remains a fiercely vigorous one, struggling to understand the truth of a great and transcendent God revealed in the particularity of place.