Eternal in Love: A Little Book About a Big God

by R. T. Mullins

Do you want to be close to God? The answer to a question like this is wrapped up in knowing what God is like, understanding the reasons for why God acts as he does, and learning how to promote God’s goals for creation. In this short book, readers will explore issues about the nature of God, consider why God would create anything at all, and why God would create this particular universe. Through a mixture of devotional insight and philosophical analysis, one will come to a better understanding of the majesty of God.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology

Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2024

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five smiley faces out of five. When is the last time you laughed out loud as you read a book on philosophy of religion? Alvin Plantinga's later works? Well, that's too long. Enter the Reluctant Theologian R. T. Mullins. After several academic tombs and a slew of tedious articles, Mullins has provided in this little book (as the subtitle suggests) an entertaining while simultaneously challenging and personal journey in understanding the nature and purposes of God. Pros: it's short, it's humourous, and it has breadth. Cons: it's short, it is not introductory, lacks depth (Mullin's other works provide the depth). I was challenged as I read it, I laughed (literally out loud), deeply moved at times contemplating along with Mullins his intellectual journey, and saddened when it came to an end.

[Andrew Ryland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on Christian theism I have read in decades

I highly recommend this gem of a book that kept coming up with credible and reasoned explanations that dealt with questions that I'm not sure I'd ever formulated, but when I read this book they crystallised and fitted into the theistic framework fully for the first time. And that framework is biblical so far as I can see it. And I write this as someone who's been reading the Bible for nearly fifty years.

[Nathan Bozeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mullins dives into difficult topics that are absolutely fascinating to think about - God's perfect rationality, passibility, the general and particular problems of creation, etc... All to get toward the end goal of learning how to get closer to God. Highly recommend if you're interested in philosophy of religion and theology!

[Dave Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am deeply appreciative of the work Mullins is doing, especially when it comes to his role in preserving a necessary discipline- theology- in a world where academics has been severely crippled by ongoing economic struggles. There is a sense in which, sadly so, we might not know what we have until it's gone. Which is not to play into hyperbole- there will always be theology- but the academic field faces an uphill battle in terms of its ability to invest in its continued development. When experts are unable to give the necessary time, and that time gets compromised by broadening the field of interests behind areas of specialization, the robustness of the field becomes compromised.

Mullins is connected to some examples of thriving centers, and has a particular area in his own specialized field- analytic theology. One of his passions is striving to encourage and grow robust analytics that can also communicate well to the average person. The more people can encounter theology as accessible and relevant and applicable, the more a younger generation can hopefully grab the baton. This is one such book. It's real analytics from a real scholar written with an interest in communicating well. As such it does an excellent job of giving us a foundation for Christian philosophy/theology along with some key tools and questions to dig deeper.

[Yuri Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for those who already know Mullins. I’ve read through each of his books, and 170+ of his podcast episodes. I haven’t his good articles yet. lol.

But you hear Mullins. You hear his scholarship mixed with snippy humor, like you can tell he’s tired of internet thomists.

This book’s chapter one friendship with God has been impactful on my own faith. There has to be a personal reason as to why God creates. This reason may be out of his love of creating and them expressing that love through a dynamic relationship with His creatures. This is attained through our surrender of our lives to him and accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

I enjoyed this book. I will say it will challenge some assumptions you may have on who God is and how he acts.

I would recommend this book to the lay person thinking about wetting their feet into basic questions of analytic theology. Mullins does some much more heavy duty work on his book End of the Timeless God, and From Divine Timemaker to Divine Watchmaker.