Grace
GRACE. The religious significance present in the Anglo-French word grace is both multifaceted and ambivalent. As a theological term, it may attempt to pinpoint the activity of God here and now, or it may disclose nothing less than the reality underlying all of religion and faith.
This almost transparent term points to the fundamental power and horizon of every revelation, to the ultimate religious question and statement in any religion, for grace stands primarily not for human virtue but for God's presence. Grace is a divine activity in human history and in human lives. The reality signified by ḥesed ("loving-kindness") in the Hebrew scriptures and by charis ("grace") in the Greek scriptures can be found in the Dao, in the power of the Hindu triad, and in the radical absence contemplated by Buddhism. Occasionally one can find in these other traditions the same theological discussions about the mediation by grace of the divine in human freedom and suffering.
Christian theologians have filled volumes with definitions and classifications of grace. Because God remains mystery, the ineffable presence of the deity eludes precise definition, and therefore the ultimate meaning of the word remains mysterious. In theology, as distinct from the expression of religion in art (where grace is shown rather than defined), the word grace frequently denotes either too much or too little.
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