Among Eberhard Jüngel's more recognizable works is his 1977 magnum opus, "Gott als Geheimnis der Welt". This work is often looked to for Jüngel's critique of modern metaphysics, the instantiation of a hermeneutical theology of God's trinitarian being, and as his most developed treatment of how God self-determines in the "Sprachereignis." Jüngel, however, has explained that he thinks his most important contribution in the book appears in §18. Here he develops a novel form of theological analogy, which serves to thread the needle between Karl Barth's analogia fidei and Eric Przywara's "Analogia Entis".
What is perhaps less know of this work is that Jüngel devised the title as a play on a 1923 book by Przywara titled "Gottgeheimnis der Welt". In that work, Przywara seeks to discern God's mysterious presence within the world's ontological framework. He concludes that there is a tension-latent balance between nature and grace which is tipped in the favor of grace by the world's inherent sacramental nature. In other words, God can appear anywhere because the world is already embedded with his spirit. This early work lays many of the foundational thoughts developed in the monumental "Analogia Entis".
This paper will track the space opened up by the "als" in Jüngel's title. Ontologically, the metaphorical proposition preserves a distinct ontological sphere for creaturely existence. Jüngel thereby safeguards the doctrine of revelation by denying that God is in any recognizable way within the world. The world is not inherently sacramental, but must be interrupted by God's presence in order for God to become present. This then leads to Jüngel's "analogy of advent," which is his formal structure to comprehend God's interruptive presence in the world.
The space opened up by the "als" defines Jüngel's concept of "Welt" from the inside out, therein not seeking a definite boundary of what the world is, but allowing that boundary to remain a mystery in and through God's coming.