Why is it ‘A God,’ not ‘God' in Mark Sanford’s “I want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances, but third, fourth, eighth chances”?
There was a quote of ex-South Carolina governor Mark Sanford in his victory speech in the House vacant seat election in the New York Times article (May 13) written by Gail Collins under the title “Guess who’s back”:
“I want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances, but third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chances,”
I thought the word, ‘God’ is an uncountable noun, - unless you are in a polytheist world.
(BTW, according to Japanese myth, there are 8 million! gods and godess in the universe).
Is it grammatically right to place an infinite article before the capitalized 'God'?
Did he mean that there is a merciful God who awarded him many chances albeit a lot of scandalous misconducts he had committed among many Gods, or there is a merciful aspect of God in the God?
Solution 1:
The structure "a God of [X]", when referring to "the God" is in fact Biblical. See for example:
- Psalm 68:20 "Our God is a God of salvation"
- Gen 16:13 “You are a God of seeing”
- Isa 30:18 "For the Lord is a God of justice"
- 1 Cor 14:33 "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace."
- Jer 51:56 "for the Lord is a God of recompense"
- Deut 32:4 "A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,"
- 1 Sam 2:3 "for the Lord is a God of knowledge"
In fact, although the Jewish/Christian Bible is monotheistic in that it acknowledges only one true God, it also understands that surrounding cultures are polytheistic. So, often scripture will speak of other "gods", even though it insists that they are false gods. See, for example Isa 37:19:
[the Kings of Assyria] have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone.
So despite it's recognition of the polytheistic cultures of the day in forms like "a god", at the end of the day the Bible will continue to insist on the uniqueness of God (Jude 1:25):
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Solution 2:
I would suggest that "a god" (small "g") is perfectly acceptable, meaning one god out of (possibly) many gods, whereas I would understand "God" (capital "G" as for a personal name or other proper noun) to be referring to one specific god (often, but not necessarily, the Christian God).
On the other hand, in the particular context you quote (“I want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances, ..."), I think the usage of the indefinite article is normal, as in the song "There'll always be an England, and England shall be free, ...". Equally you could say "I want an America that is free of guns ..." (just to pick a topical subject - not expressing an opinion!).