If God is One, and if there can be no other God, there can be no idea of God.
Meaning of the quote
The quote suggests that if there is only one God and no other gods, then we cannot have a clear idea or understanding of what God is. This means that since God is the only divine being, we cannot fully comprehend or imagine what God is like, because there is nothing else to compare God to. The idea of God becomes difficult to grasp if there is nothing else divine to reference.
About Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss was an American scholar of political philosophy who had a long career as a professor at the University of Chicago. He studied the works of Plato, Aristotle, and other influential thinkers, and his research focused on reinterpreting their ideas for contemporary political theory.
More quotes from Leo Strauss
If God is One, and if there can be no other God, there can be no idea of God.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
God is therefore unknowable. This is the fundamental premise of the Bible.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
God’s reasons for communicating with man must be subsumed under his reason for communicating to him his account of his creation of the world – and man.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
But the God of the Bible is not only One, but the only possible One.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
If the highest things are unknowable, then the highest capacity or virtue of man cannot be theoretical wisdom.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
All there is to thinking is seeing something noticeable, which makes you see something you weren’t noticing, which makes you see something that isn’t even visible.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)
I cannot know anything of which there is and can be only one.
History of Political Philosophy scholar (1899-1973)