“God’s Hearing is Both Anchored in God’s Classical Perfections and Also at the Heart of the Gospel:” Charles Helmer at LATC 2025

I don’t play favorites with the breakout sessions at LATC, and I’m excited about all (twelve!) of them. But I have to admit that the way Charles Helmer has developed his theology of divine hearing in the direction of our conference theme has really drawn me in. Helmer’s explanation of what it means, and why it matters, that God hears us, is a wonderful mixture of biblical imagery, classical doctrine, and contemporary application. If you can get to Los Angeles on March 12-14, 2025, you need to come to the Los Angeles Theology Conference. We won’t be broadcasting or recording it, and the in-person experience is wonderfully engaging and welcoming. There will be a book in due course, but the gathering is the thing.

Here’s a quick exchange with Helmer about his paper:

Q: LATC 2025’s theme is Receiving Redemption, and it focuses on how salvation is received by human persons and communities. Why did this aspect of soteriology catch your attention and make you propose a paper on it?

A: For some time I’ve been interested in issues of receptivity and conceptions thereof. Notions of human and divine receptivity have received a fair bit of theological attention in recent years (and here I’m thinking especially of two symposia on receptivity sponsored by the Church of England’s Common Awards Research Network), and I’ve found myself drawn to these discussions, not least because of my research on what scripture means when it conceives of God as a “hearer”. Though, because of my commitments to the classical divine perfections, I’m regularly puzzled by language of divine receptivity and am eager to anchor it in notions of human receptivity. This is, in part, what my conference paper seeks to do.

Q: The title of your paper is “Out of the Depths I Cry: Augustine, the Gospel, and the Ears of God”.  How will you be approaching the conference theme in this paper?

A: Well, lately I’ve been exploring Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos because they have recently received an updated English translation, and because they remain, I think, underexplored. Because the Psalms so frequently speak of God hearing, listening, or inclining God’s ear, Augustine is forced to comment on this idea often. Moreover, talk about God’s hearing desperate pleas and cries for help is usually associated with salvation and deliverance in scripture (think of the paradigmatic example of the Israelites crying out to God and being heard in Exodus 2:23-25). In Augustine, what I have found most interesting is the way that his understanding of God’s hearing is both anchored in God’s classical perfections and also at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. More surprising still is that many of Augustine’s interpretations are consistent with what contemporary feminist theologians, as well as Karl Barth, have said about God’s hearing; namely, that it precedes human speaking and is central to the gospel.

So, without giving too much of the paper away, I am arguing that, somewhat ironically, God’s hearing the desperate cries of creatures—an apparent receptivity by God—is, rather, our very own reception of the good news of the gospel. Being heard by God means receiving salvation.

Q: Can you describe how this paper fits in with your previous theological work, or with your recent scholarship?

A: Yes, my most recent work, The Lord Who Listens: A Dogmatic Inquiry into God as Hearer (Leiden: Brill, 2024) is a sort of miniature dogmatics on the topic of God’s hearing, covering creation, anthropology, and christology. When I finished the book, I thought I was ready to move on. But reading Augustine’s Exposition of the Psalms has pulled me back in, not least because the way his exegesis is controlled by his well-known doctrine of the totus Christus. So I’m still thinking theologically about God’s hearing, but a bit more anchored in Augustine’s thought now.

Q: What are you looking forward to at the conference? Are there any papers or theological issues that have especially caught your eye?

A: Kathy Tanner has been—unbeknownst to her—a major influence on my thinking. I’ve benefited greatly from her writing and other conference presentations. I’m always challenged to think about old problems in new ways or, somewhat frustratingly, made aware of problems in my own thinking. So I’m really looking forward to her paper—I think.