The Philosophical Salon

God, Charlie, No One
Jean-Luc Nancy
Translated by Patrícia Vieira & Michael Marder
“Blessed be Thou, No One”: this verse of Paul Celan appears in his poem
“Psalm”. This formula, like much of the poem, imitates a phrase in the
Psalms of David (“Blessed be Thou,” or “Praise be unto Thee, Lord”). As
various commentators have emphasized, and as is clear to anyone with
some understanding of the spirit of “monotheism,” far from being blasphemous
or “atheist,” this formula enunciates a deeper truth shared by
the three great Abrahamic religions (and, in a completely different register,
also shared by Buddhism). Namely, that “God is not ‘someone’.”
When one says, “I am X” (for example, “Charlie”), one identifies with
a name that refers to a specific person. Many may have the same name
but each makes it more specific through one or more other names (family
name, sometimes that of the region, of a profession…). “Someone,” a
person, is a concrete existence, recognizable in the world even if one cannot
be reduced to any kind of pure and simple “identity.” There are religions
in which the gods have proper names because there are several of
them (at times, a great number) and each has a particular mode of presence,
with specific functions. Each can, therefore, have its own figuration
that distinguishes it. These are not persons; they are figured presences
that derive their life from the persons who pray to them and perform
their rites.
The name “God” is not the name of such a figure. For this reason, the
unique “god” of monotheism, in all its instantiations, cannot be represented.
The images of God are not, in the first place, forbidden; they are,
above all else, impossible. Even there where they are not formally prohibited,
the faithful know full well that these images are not God (this is true
even when the images are attributed a sacred value, as is the case of the