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The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable
How can I know God if he is incomprehensible? Is it possible to know God in a way that takes seriously the fact that he is beyond knowledge? Steven Boyer and Christopher Hall argue that the "mystery of God" has a rightful place in theological discourse. They contend that considering divine incomprehensibility invites reverence and humility in our thinking and living as Christians and clarifies a variety of theological topics.
The authors begin by investigating the biblical, historical, and practical foundations for understanding the mystery of God. They then spell out its implications for theological issues and practices such as the incarnation, salvation, and prayer, rooting knowledge of God in a concrete life of faith. Evangelical yet ecumenical, this book will appeal to theology students, pastors, church leaders, and all who want intellectual and practical guidance for knowing the unknowable God.
The authors begin by investigating the biblical, historical, and practical foundations for understanding the mystery of God. They then spell out its implications for theological issues and practices such as the incarnation, salvation, and prayer, rooting knowledge of God in a concrete life of faith. Evangelical yet ecumenical, this book will appeal to theology students, pastors, church leaders, and all who want intellectual and practical guidance for knowing the unknowable God.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2012
17 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Christopher A. Hall
28 books24 followersChristopher A. Hall (PhD, Drew University) is chancellor of Eastern University and dean of Palmer Theological Seminary in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and has authored a number of books. He is an editor at large for Christianity Today and associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 27, 2015
Stephen D. Boyer and Christopher A. Hall. The Mystery of God. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012. xix + 235 pp. £12.99/$19.99.
Some ideas seem to enter evangelical thought as assumptions more than through systematic thought. Until recently, theological mystery or paradox was a prime example. There was shockingly little reflective, self-critical analysis of mystery prior to James Anderson’s excellent monograph on paradox and apologetics. The Mystery of God by Stephen D. Boyer and Christopher A. Hall is another helpful contribution to the discussion, though it is also disappointing in certain respects. Christopher Hall is an Episcopalian paleo-orthedox scholar and serves as the chancellor of Eastern University. Together with Thomas Oden, he is responsible for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Steven Boyer teaches theology at Eastern University.
One of the key metaphors the authors use for mystery is the sun. The glory of God in mystery is too dazzling for our direct gaze, but we can recognize mystery because it illumines our understanding. In part 1 (“the sun”) they distinguish mere puzzles from revealed mystery (the Pauline musterion). Mystery might stem from limited information or it might arise from non-analytical information about God, but the sense of mystery most relevant to this work is “dimensional”—transcending logic in the same way that a person who has only known two dimensions cannot comprehend three.
Chapter 2 surveys the biblical necessity of mystery, grounding it in God’s radical transcendence over every created thing. Chapter 3 is an excellent historical survey, tracing paradox in the church fathers, the medieval period, the Reformation and contemporary thought with special attention to Gregory of Nyssa, Aquinas, Luther, and postmodernism. Part 1 concludes with the epistemological question of how knowledge of God is possible at all, given His transcendence. We can know God because of the image of God in man and because God is graciously restoring humanity from the effects of the fall.
Part 2 (“the landscape”) explores mystery in five specific areas. After comparing heretical “solutions” for the Trinity with biblical information, the authors conclude that the Trinity is ultimately inexplicable. Still, we can find real analogies for the Trinity in human relationships because we are God’s image-bearers. Similarly, chapter 6 points out the necessity of the incarnation for human salvation, placing the mystery of the incarnation in context with the broader biblical metanarrative. The discussion on prayer (chapter 8) explores God’s immutability and impassability, concluding that prayer compels us to enter into God’s intentions for shalom—the well-being of His restored creation.
Chapter 7 discusses mystery and salvation by pitting two different approaches to the problem. Calvinists start with biblical premises and follow rigorous logic until they run up against God’s love and justice. At this point, the authors assert, Calvinists make an arbitrary appeal to mystery. Arminians, on the other hand, start with a committment to libertarian freedom and find themselves contradicting biblical information. The book argues that mystery should stand between these extremes—freedom mysteriously begins in God and it is then mirrored in his image bearers.
The final chapter is troubling, as Boyer and Hall discuss mystery and world religions. Arguing from general revelation and the fact that no one holds a monopoly on truth, chapter 9 suggests that believers should learn from the assertions of non-Christian religions. In fact, even explicitly counter-biblical assertions such as God’s impersonality (Hinduism) might become theological insights for the discerning theologian.
There are many things to be appreciated about this book—particularly the analysis of mystery itself and the historical survey in part 1. Nor are the more specific discussions in part 2 without benefit. Boyer and Hall typically answer questions by placing them in their broader theological context, within the metanarrative of Scripture. In the process, they make some helpful connections. Unfortunately, one is often left wondering how much these discussions truly relate to mystery. On the Trinity, the incarnation and prayer, the reader finishes with less regard for the tensions as they stand. Ironically, the authors’ explanations seem to dull the sense of tension in the biblical text. In its place, mystery begins to feel more like an open door for mystical imagination than an opportunity for exegetical precision and humble submission to the confines of Scripture.
The books discussion of mystery in salvation is disappointing. Why frame the tension between two theological systems rather than identifying the assymetries in the text? And is it really fair to criticize Calvinism for adhering to biblical propositions, seeking logical consistency while working outward, and then accepting mystery where logic can go no further? Given a high view of Scripture, what other legitimate approaches could there be?
But the chapter on world religions is easily the most problematic. While general revelation is an established theological category, Scripture everywhere points to the suppression that results, not the fresh insights of sinners with open ears and willing hearts. The clarity and breadth of enscripturated revelation dwarfs the truth about God found in nature. To use Calvin’s metaphor, Scripture is always the lens through which we see general revelation clearly, not the other way around. Where does Scripture speak of false religions positively or encourage us to learn from them? We hearken to anti-biblical religions only at our own peril, and mystery is not a powerful enough concept to rationalize that fact. It is unfortunate that a book so helpful in some respects and so necessary in evangelical discussion should conclude with such misleading and faulty suppositions.
Some ideas seem to enter evangelical thought as assumptions more than through systematic thought. Until recently, theological mystery or paradox was a prime example. There was shockingly little reflective, self-critical analysis of mystery prior to James Anderson’s excellent monograph on paradox and apologetics. The Mystery of God by Stephen D. Boyer and Christopher A. Hall is another helpful contribution to the discussion, though it is also disappointing in certain respects. Christopher Hall is an Episcopalian paleo-orthedox scholar and serves as the chancellor of Eastern University. Together with Thomas Oden, he is responsible for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Steven Boyer teaches theology at Eastern University.
One of the key metaphors the authors use for mystery is the sun. The glory of God in mystery is too dazzling for our direct gaze, but we can recognize mystery because it illumines our understanding. In part 1 (“the sun”) they distinguish mere puzzles from revealed mystery (the Pauline musterion). Mystery might stem from limited information or it might arise from non-analytical information about God, but the sense of mystery most relevant to this work is “dimensional”—transcending logic in the same way that a person who has only known two dimensions cannot comprehend three.
Chapter 2 surveys the biblical necessity of mystery, grounding it in God’s radical transcendence over every created thing. Chapter 3 is an excellent historical survey, tracing paradox in the church fathers, the medieval period, the Reformation and contemporary thought with special attention to Gregory of Nyssa, Aquinas, Luther, and postmodernism. Part 1 concludes with the epistemological question of how knowledge of God is possible at all, given His transcendence. We can know God because of the image of God in man and because God is graciously restoring humanity from the effects of the fall.
Part 2 (“the landscape”) explores mystery in five specific areas. After comparing heretical “solutions” for the Trinity with biblical information, the authors conclude that the Trinity is ultimately inexplicable. Still, we can find real analogies for the Trinity in human relationships because we are God’s image-bearers. Similarly, chapter 6 points out the necessity of the incarnation for human salvation, placing the mystery of the incarnation in context with the broader biblical metanarrative. The discussion on prayer (chapter 8) explores God’s immutability and impassability, concluding that prayer compels us to enter into God’s intentions for shalom—the well-being of His restored creation.
Chapter 7 discusses mystery and salvation by pitting two different approaches to the problem. Calvinists start with biblical premises and follow rigorous logic until they run up against God’s love and justice. At this point, the authors assert, Calvinists make an arbitrary appeal to mystery. Arminians, on the other hand, start with a committment to libertarian freedom and find themselves contradicting biblical information. The book argues that mystery should stand between these extremes—freedom mysteriously begins in God and it is then mirrored in his image bearers.
The final chapter is troubling, as Boyer and Hall discuss mystery and world religions. Arguing from general revelation and the fact that no one holds a monopoly on truth, chapter 9 suggests that believers should learn from the assertions of non-Christian religions. In fact, even explicitly counter-biblical assertions such as God’s impersonality (Hinduism) might become theological insights for the discerning theologian.
There are many things to be appreciated about this book—particularly the analysis of mystery itself and the historical survey in part 1. Nor are the more specific discussions in part 2 without benefit. Boyer and Hall typically answer questions by placing them in their broader theological context, within the metanarrative of Scripture. In the process, they make some helpful connections. Unfortunately, one is often left wondering how much these discussions truly relate to mystery. On the Trinity, the incarnation and prayer, the reader finishes with less regard for the tensions as they stand. Ironically, the authors’ explanations seem to dull the sense of tension in the biblical text. In its place, mystery begins to feel more like an open door for mystical imagination than an opportunity for exegetical precision and humble submission to the confines of Scripture.
The books discussion of mystery in salvation is disappointing. Why frame the tension between two theological systems rather than identifying the assymetries in the text? And is it really fair to criticize Calvinism for adhering to biblical propositions, seeking logical consistency while working outward, and then accepting mystery where logic can go no further? Given a high view of Scripture, what other legitimate approaches could there be?
But the chapter on world religions is easily the most problematic. While general revelation is an established theological category, Scripture everywhere points to the suppression that results, not the fresh insights of sinners with open ears and willing hearts. The clarity and breadth of enscripturated revelation dwarfs the truth about God found in nature. To use Calvin’s metaphor, Scripture is always the lens through which we see general revelation clearly, not the other way around. Where does Scripture speak of false religions positively or encourage us to learn from them? We hearken to anti-biblical religions only at our own peril, and mystery is not a powerful enough concept to rationalize that fact. It is unfortunate that a book so helpful in some respects and so necessary in evangelical discussion should conclude with such misleading and faulty suppositions.
February 15, 2020
I’M DONE!!!! Took me over a month but I got through it.
This was a deep book. I could only read a chapter at a time and I could only read in quite when I had no distractions because even then, I had trouble reading. This is not an easy book. The ideas and language are at a high level. That being said, there were nuggets among the hard stuff that were amazing and I really got a lot out of. I think this is a book that you’d learn more from after multiple readings.
My favorite thing about this book was how balanced they were. They presented sides equally and fairly and the often presented a third way where they thought prevailing ideas fell short. I really appreciated how complete and thorough and balanced they were. I have no idea what the authors’ theological biases are and I appreciate that.
This was a deep book. I could only read a chapter at a time and I could only read in quite when I had no distractions because even then, I had trouble reading. This is not an easy book. The ideas and language are at a high level. That being said, there were nuggets among the hard stuff that were amazing and I really got a lot out of. I think this is a book that you’d learn more from after multiple readings.
My favorite thing about this book was how balanced they were. They presented sides equally and fairly and the often presented a third way where they thought prevailing ideas fell short. I really appreciated how complete and thorough and balanced they were. I have no idea what the authors’ theological biases are and I appreciate that.
June 4, 2015
This is the kind of theology that i want to do. This is the stuff that leads you to where life is found. This is the stuff that directs you to prayer and worship. Not an easy read, but an important one.
August 16, 2024
This book reads like a college text. One benefit possessed is a personal knowledge of Dr's Hall and Boyer through a former student. Like Lewis the text benefits from read, consideration and reread before moving on.
Read
October 8, 2025A fascinating book from one of Eastern's best professors, Dr Boyer. The chapters on how divine mystery impacts our understanding of salvation and of world religions were particularly thought-provoking.
March 29, 2020
Very helpful
August 22, 2024
Recommended by Renovare and I'm glad that I picked it up.
October 21, 2013
An adept, skillful exposition on the most demanding religious subject: pure theology.
The authors use two metaphors throughout in order to seek to make sense of the difficulty: the sun, which causes blindness if you look at it directly but yet its light illuminates and allows us to see everything else, which helps to show how whereas we cannot directly look upon God, through what God has revealed about Himself, we can make sense of everything else we can see; and the book Flatland and the concept of two-dimensional Flatlanders attempting to come to some understanding of a 3-dimensional object, showing the challenges we experience as finite, physical humans in understanding what is transcendent and spiritual.
The concept of mystery is well explored in the first section of the book, and the authors attempt to maintain the tightrope of recognizing that there is always more that we can never know about God, and how God, by His very nature, is well beyond any attempt we may make to comprehend Him, yet nevertheless He has revealed some things about Himself to us so that we might have some understanding (even if that understanding is the confession of how much we do not know!). "Mystery" is the idea of revelation, of God seeking to make Himself known in some way, and also the means by which we can come to grips with many of the aspects of God and His work and their internal tensions/seeming contradictions, that two things that to our eyes may seem contradictory might well be both true if seen in its fullness, as God sees it.
The authors then apply these ideas to the theology at hand: the Trinity, the Incarnation, salvation, prayer, and interaction with world religions. The authors' explanation of heresy regarding the Trinity as the result of men attempting to smooth out and make more "rational" what God revealed about Himself is excellent, and that the revelation of God as Triune, One in relational unity, so to speak, as well as the Incarnation, helps make the world in which we live more comprehensible (hence the sun metaphor).
The authors, as historic Protestants to some degree, leave a bit too much unfinished with their attempt to reconcile Augustinian/Calvinist insistence on God's sovereignty and Arminian insistence on human responsibility through the prism of "mystery," in which it remains possible that God remains sovereign while humans maintain a level of free will. The authors' deeper exploration of "free will" and the inherent contradictions that exist at its core is good, but no such exploration is made in terms of Calvinist notions of "sovereignty", its definition accepted prima facie instead. Likewise, the authors take total depravity as a given, having no room for human response to the Gospel, although their concept of mystery as well would explain how it could be that God has done all that is necessary for man to be saved and yet man must himself respond, accept, and pursue that salvation in Christ.
The authors do well at expressing how "theology is not just knowledge about God, but the knowledge that God himself is." Great quotes include, "knowing God is a matter not merely of analyzing data about him but of entering into him" and the response of Cyril of Jerusalem when asked why he attempted to learn more about God if God is beyond our understanding: "I am endeavoring now to glorify the Lord, not to describe him." They do well at showing how theology can never be about mastering God but instead being awed and humbled by Him, leading to glorification and praise, the essence of "worship" as usually construed.
The authors' explanation of God's impassibility is extremely valuable, especially for those of us who are a bit divorced from the Greek philosophical paradigm, and provide a robust defense of why it ought to still be considered one of God's virtues. The exploration of ascertaining correctives to our own perspectives through the critique and theology of other religions is interesting but a bit esoteric.
This review cannot do justice to the nuance and full explanatory power of the original. For those interested in theology, a must read.
**--book received as part of early review program
The authors use two metaphors throughout in order to seek to make sense of the difficulty: the sun, which causes blindness if you look at it directly but yet its light illuminates and allows us to see everything else, which helps to show how whereas we cannot directly look upon God, through what God has revealed about Himself, we can make sense of everything else we can see; and the book Flatland and the concept of two-dimensional Flatlanders attempting to come to some understanding of a 3-dimensional object, showing the challenges we experience as finite, physical humans in understanding what is transcendent and spiritual.
The concept of mystery is well explored in the first section of the book, and the authors attempt to maintain the tightrope of recognizing that there is always more that we can never know about God, and how God, by His very nature, is well beyond any attempt we may make to comprehend Him, yet nevertheless He has revealed some things about Himself to us so that we might have some understanding (even if that understanding is the confession of how much we do not know!). "Mystery" is the idea of revelation, of God seeking to make Himself known in some way, and also the means by which we can come to grips with many of the aspects of God and His work and their internal tensions/seeming contradictions, that two things that to our eyes may seem contradictory might well be both true if seen in its fullness, as God sees it.
The authors then apply these ideas to the theology at hand: the Trinity, the Incarnation, salvation, prayer, and interaction with world religions. The authors' explanation of heresy regarding the Trinity as the result of men attempting to smooth out and make more "rational" what God revealed about Himself is excellent, and that the revelation of God as Triune, One in relational unity, so to speak, as well as the Incarnation, helps make the world in which we live more comprehensible (hence the sun metaphor).
The authors, as historic Protestants to some degree, leave a bit too much unfinished with their attempt to reconcile Augustinian/Calvinist insistence on God's sovereignty and Arminian insistence on human responsibility through the prism of "mystery," in which it remains possible that God remains sovereign while humans maintain a level of free will. The authors' deeper exploration of "free will" and the inherent contradictions that exist at its core is good, but no such exploration is made in terms of Calvinist notions of "sovereignty", its definition accepted prima facie instead. Likewise, the authors take total depravity as a given, having no room for human response to the Gospel, although their concept of mystery as well would explain how it could be that God has done all that is necessary for man to be saved and yet man must himself respond, accept, and pursue that salvation in Christ.
The authors do well at expressing how "theology is not just knowledge about God, but the knowledge that God himself is." Great quotes include, "knowing God is a matter not merely of analyzing data about him but of entering into him" and the response of Cyril of Jerusalem when asked why he attempted to learn more about God if God is beyond our understanding: "I am endeavoring now to glorify the Lord, not to describe him." They do well at showing how theology can never be about mastering God but instead being awed and humbled by Him, leading to glorification and praise, the essence of "worship" as usually construed.
The authors' explanation of God's impassibility is extremely valuable, especially for those of us who are a bit divorced from the Greek philosophical paradigm, and provide a robust defense of why it ought to still be considered one of God's virtues. The exploration of ascertaining correctives to our own perspectives through the critique and theology of other religions is interesting but a bit esoteric.
This review cannot do justice to the nuance and full explanatory power of the original. For those interested in theology, a must read.
**--book received as part of early review program
February 19, 2013
Short Review: The Mystery of God is focused on helping us to understand how to talk about the mystery of God (how God is unknowable) in a way that allows for the revealed knowledge of God (scripture, Christ's incarnation, etc) and placing that in a historical and theological context.
Part one is a mix of historical theology and philosophical background. The authors looking at how historical theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther and others and understood the God as both unknowable and knowable. There is a wide range of theological streams that the authors pull from so they quite adequately prove their point that God as unknownable and mystery is part of long term orthodox Christianity. And then mixed in with the historical theology is the philosophy of what knowing God is all about and how knowing God is fundamentally different from knowing other types of knowledge.
It is here that the authors using their ongoing illustration of how 2 dimensional people could theoretically understand how a ball is different from a circle, but they never can fully know the difference because they are unable to experience the full difference because they lack the ability to move in three dimensions. Or how a cylinder will look like both a circle and a rectangle depending on the angle if you are in 2 dimensions, but it is actually neither a circle or a rectangle in the reality of three dimensions. The illustration has its problems, but it gets the basic point across.
This first section is a bit dense and takes a bit to get through. But that leads to the second section where the authors walk through various doctrines and illustrate how mystery works and makes our theological life richer and more fulfilling. Using the Trinity, Christ's Incarnation, the nature of Election and salvation, Prayer and interfaith relationships, the authors show how we should and should not use the concept of mystery appropriately.
This is a book I am planning on reading again soon. Well worth reading.
My full review is at my blog at http://bookwi.se/mystery-of-god/
___
The publishers provided me a digital copy of the book for review through netgalley.
Part one is a mix of historical theology and philosophical background. The authors looking at how historical theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther and others and understood the God as both unknowable and knowable. There is a wide range of theological streams that the authors pull from so they quite adequately prove their point that God as unknownable and mystery is part of long term orthodox Christianity. And then mixed in with the historical theology is the philosophy of what knowing God is all about and how knowing God is fundamentally different from knowing other types of knowledge.
It is here that the authors using their ongoing illustration of how 2 dimensional people could theoretically understand how a ball is different from a circle, but they never can fully know the difference because they are unable to experience the full difference because they lack the ability to move in three dimensions. Or how a cylinder will look like both a circle and a rectangle depending on the angle if you are in 2 dimensions, but it is actually neither a circle or a rectangle in the reality of three dimensions. The illustration has its problems, but it gets the basic point across.
This first section is a bit dense and takes a bit to get through. But that leads to the second section where the authors walk through various doctrines and illustrate how mystery works and makes our theological life richer and more fulfilling. Using the Trinity, Christ's Incarnation, the nature of Election and salvation, Prayer and interfaith relationships, the authors show how we should and should not use the concept of mystery appropriately.
This is a book I am planning on reading again soon. Well worth reading.
My full review is at my blog at http://bookwi.se/mystery-of-god/
___
The publishers provided me a digital copy of the book for review through netgalley.
November 11, 2014
It took me forever to read this but not because it isn't a well written book. It contained the kind of information that I like to tackle a little at a time. I read the second half faster than the first because the second half applies the mystery of God to many of the questions I have had through my faith journey. Some will love the apologetics/logic approach and others may be put off by it but it is completely accessible and helped me articulate many of the conclusions I have come to over the years. Recommended!
February 8, 2013
I didn't like the analogies used in the opening chapters. And probably wouldn't have read further if this weren't required reading for class.
As the book progressed, however, the authors did a really good job elucidating a few of the central doctrines of Christianity. Arguably one of the best writings on evangelical doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, Salvation, and Prayer. Clear, critical, and accessible for non-seminarians. I would say it's a worthwhile read.
As the book progressed, however, the authors did a really good job elucidating a few of the central doctrines of Christianity. Arguably one of the best writings on evangelical doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, Salvation, and Prayer. Clear, critical, and accessible for non-seminarians. I would say it's a worthwhile read.
January 3, 2015
It takes a delicate touch to explain things by invoking the inexplicable. The author does a great job of using analogy and solid theology to help explain why God being a mystery is not only a sufficient explanation for significant theological issues but a necessary one.
Sometimes the book is a little dry and academic, but it is well worth plowing through slowly and thinking about each section.
Sometimes the book is a little dry and academic, but it is well worth plowing through slowly and thinking about each section.
Read
June 19, 2015Very good book. I generally anything Chris Hall writes. This one starts withe the concept of mystery and then applies it to the Trinity, the Incarnation, Salvation, Prayer, and world religions.
Want to read
December 12, 2013The 2014 Christianity Today Book Awards: Theology/Ethics
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2...
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2...
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