God So Loved the World: Clues to Our Transcendent Destiny from the Revelation of Jesus (Happiness, Suffering, and Transcendence)

Happiness, Suffering, & Transcendence Quartet #3

by Robert J. Spitzer

In this volume the brilliant Fr. Spitzer probes in detail the major question that if an intelligent Creator God - manifest in logical proofs, scientific evidence, and near death experiences - who is the source of our desire for the sacred, and the transcendental desires for truth, love, goodness, and beauty, would want to reveal himself to us personally and ultimately.

He then shows this is reasonable not only in light of our interior experience of a transcendent Reality, but also that a completely intelligent Reality is completely positive--implying its possession of a completely positive virtue - namely -love-, defined as agape.

This leads to the question whether God might be unconditionally loving, and if he is, whether he would want to make a personal appearance to us in a perfect act of empathy - face to face. After examining the rational evidence for this, he reviews all world religions to see if there is one that reveals such a God - an unconditionally loving God who would want to be with us in perfect empathy. This leads us to the extraordinary claim of Jesus Christ who taught that God is -Abba-, the unconditionally loving Father.

Jesus' claims go further, saying that He is also unconditional love, and that his mission is to give us that love through an act of complete self-sacrifice. He also claims to be the exclusive Son of the Father, sent by God to save the world, and the one who possesses divine power and authority. The rest of the book does an in-depth examination of the evidence for Jesus' unconditional love of sinners, his teachings, his miracles, and his rising from the dead. As well as the evidence for Jesus' gift of the Holy Spirit that enabled his disciples to perform miracles in his name, and evidence for the presence of the Holy Spirit today.

If this strong evidence convinces us to believe that Jesus is our ultimate meaning and destiny, and desire His saving presence in our lives, that evidence should galvanize the Holy Spirit within us to show that Jesus is Lord and Savior, -the way, the truth, and the life.- And our faith in him will transform everything we think about our nature, dignity, and destiny- and how we live, endure suffering, contend with evil, and treat our neighbor.

Genres: Philosophy, Catholic, Religion, Christian, Theology, Spirituality, Faith

448 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2016

About the author

Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, Ph.D., is a Jesuit priest, philosopher, and educator, and retired President of Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA).

Fr. Spitzer is currently the president of the Magis Center of Faith and Reason and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership.

http://www.magisreasonfaith.org/

Reviews

[C. Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third volume of a four-volume work, this book continues the superb analysis of the human condition and God's response to us begun in previous volumes. My main complain is that a disproportionate (to me) amount of space is given to summary and restatement. For some readers that might be welcome, but in many cases I found it tedious to be told things for a third or fourth time. I was also a bit put off by some of the details of Biblical scholarship and how they are handled. But these are minor complaints in light of what I think is a helpful, delightful, meaningful book.

[Michael Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Great Book

Father Spitzer tackles some of the key evidences for the claim that Jesus makes of himself. A great read for any Christian or non-believer who has an open mind.

[Brian Bloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Robert Spitzer. It can get a little dense but if you take your time I find that it all makes sense. Great book.