What do you think?
Rate this book
God Without Measure: Working Papers in Christian Theology: Volume 1: God and the Works of God
In this second volume, Webster progresses the discussion to include topics in moral theology, and the theology of created intellect. An opening chapter sets the scene by considering the relation of christology and moral theology. This is followed by a set of reflections on a range of ethical themes: the nature of human dignity; mercy; the place of sorrow in Christian existence; the nature of human courage; dying and rising with Christ as a governing motif in the Christian moral life; the presence of sin in human speech.
Webster closes with studies of the nature of intellectual life and of the intellectual task of Christian theology.
Webster closes with studies of the nature of intellectual life and of the intellectual task of Christian theology.
- GenresTheology
240 pages, Paperback
Published June 28, 2018
10 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
John B. Webster
47 books39 followersProfessor John B. Webster, MA, PhD, DD, FRSE was a notable contemporary British theologian of the Anglican communion writing in the area of systematic, historical and moral theology. He was educated at the independent co-educational Bradford Grammar School and at the University of Cambridge.
See also: John Webster
Image: Drawn by Rachel Nigh
See also: John Webster
Image: Drawn by Rachel Nigh
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 12, 2026
It took me a long time to work through this, mostly because almost every sentence in the book is worth pondering. Something about the way Webster writes just makes me smile--he is beautifully poetic, precise-verging-on-pedantic, and brilliant in a classically academic kind of way. I was reminded anew of the smallness of humankind and the bigness of God and, therefore, the magnitude of grace. I will definitely be coming back to this book for years to come.
April 23, 2024
Absolutely incredible. Required reading for anyone aspiring to be a theologian.
May 12, 2022
I slowly worked back through this one again for an upcoming publication. There are no words for how wonderful this volume is. It borders on feeling silly to rate on a site like this but I figured I'd still do it. Without exaggeration, this is top three most meaningful books in modern theology for my theological development. Webster was the best and this is him *at* his best.
June 24, 2025
Some of the sweetest honey one can find.
October 15, 2020
The more I read of John Webster, the more convinced I am that I will be reading and profiting immensely from his work for the rest of my life. Better than anyone I’ve ever read, Webster sees every aspect of the Christian life as deriving directly and organically from God’s inner life as the eternally-happy Trinity. To read Webster is to be continually reminded of one’s creatureliness, only then to be awakened with a fresh sense of wonder and delighted awe at the wild, lively plenitude of God’s gracious love to undeserving, fallen, and rebellious creatures. This is the first of two volumes, and I cannot wait to begin the second!
June 19, 2023
Utterly astounding. I know I will return to these essays when I have serious questions about everything from Aseity to Justification.
November 5, 2024
Phenomenal. His entire book comprises essays on various issues that always find their roots in the eternal Trinity. His robust doctrine of God is thorough and done better than most theologians. To read this book by Webster is to get your hands deeper into the pool of classical theology or classical theism. I will re-read this again. I can't begin to describe this book's meaning for me theologically.
Read
September 15, 2025Topic: What makes theology theological?
March 16, 2022
John Webster's collection of essays here is profound, and enjoyable to read. In it, Webster pushes back against many trends in contemporary Protestant theology, by showing us that the rhetorical assaults of the modern theologians are without ground - in fact, classical theology possesses many of the characteristics which it is charged with not having (although, not in the sense that the moderns seem to want).
Along with this pushback against modern theology, Webster has a strong unifying theme to his work here: theology is to be theological. That is, theology is about God. For theology to be about God, it needs to actually be about God (not redefine itself into only about God's works), it needs to follow the principles of theology (God's Word and the Spirit's illumination of regenerate intellect), it needs to be aimed at the right ends (fellowship with God, not academic scholarship), and it needs to be done with the requisite character. This last point is perhaps the most important, although least elaborated, or the qualifications for how theology is theological - theology is not "me-centric." Of course, this would bother the modern academic world, which focuses on process/method, rather than on the virtue of the practitioner. Explicit attention to "theological theology" is given in the closing essay - and this should be read by anyone who runs across a reference to Webster's concept of theological theology, as people will try to piggyback his concept onto their own work, while disregarding the substance of what he actually says (ex: Crisp's "Analyzing Doctrine"). You should consider reading the closing essay first.
The essays move in the pattern of God in himself, to God in his works. Why this pattern? Because it follows the "material order" of theology. God precedes his works (even if the order of cognition is the reverse). And God makes himself known in his works - not his works known in his works. In fact, the latter essays on God's works also follow this pattern, first addressing God in himself as the ground of what is to be said on his works.
The first 5 essays are on God in himself. The one on aseity as "life in himself" was fantastic. Webster helpfully points out that aseity is more than just "independence" (which ironically is dependent on other things for its definition - it is a definition in opposition), but actually is God's self-sufficient life in himself, of which the form is the Trinitarian processions. This is helpful, as it shows the positive content of theology (rather than theology only by negation), and defends classical Christianity from some charges leveled against it in modern theology.
The final essay of the first part, which addressed the first four verses of Hebrews (a sort of extended exegetical reflection), was interesting, but seemed also to fall a bit flat as the climax to the first part. At this point, the reader is reminded that this book was not written as a book. It was written as a collection of essays, which were independently published. This leads to a thematic unity, but a lack of formal coherence at times, and quite a bit of repetition. More on this later.
In the second part, Webster addresses the works of God. Creation (3 essays), providence (1), salvation (2), and ecclesiology (2).
Creation has 4 components: God in himself, God's act of creation, the nature of created things, and God's relationship to created things. Webster's 3 essays on creation each mention these 4 items, and focus on one of them. The one omitted: the nature of created things. This is interesting, and it demonstrates the difficulty of Webster's project of "theological theology." It also led to a large amount of repetition between the 3 chapters. Key points: the Trinitarian appropriations in the work of creation (creation through the Son actually implies the equal divinity of the Father and Son); an excellent analysis of "ex nihilo;" and the concept of creaturely dignity (as creatures, being creatures is not dishonorable).
The essay on providence was good, if brief. Webster helpfully addresses that providence is not an "abstract truth" or a throwaway affirmation, but rather a direct experience of God's action in all things. This includes, necessarily, suffering. Can one who has not suffered understand and believe in providence?
The essays on salvation were also good. At times I found myself a bit lost in the one on the Son's work, and this essay was the only place where I recall Webster mentioning the concept of God's righteous anger against sin, and punishment of sin. Elsewhere, he seems to describe it passively, as an almost natural/automatic consequence of sin, rather than a judgement of God (which is weird, given his normal anti-mechanistic mindset). The essay on justification was almost "meta-theology," and gave a good discussion for why the buzzphrase "justification is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls" is not entirely accurate.
The two essays on ecclesiology had helpful thoughts. The first one was directly on ecclesiological principles (although it is difficult to see how they might be related to practice), and the second was a response of sorts to a Roman Catholic concept of tradition. These essays were probably the low point of the book. While the whole book contained profound points, and was helpful and interesting, the quality distinctly decreased throughout from section to section (the closing essay was one of the best though). Webster is at his best in theology proper.
And this leads be back to the point of repetition, formal coherence, and thematic unity. Webster's goal for theological theology: that it would have God as its object, and all things relative to God. However, at times it seems like this is only previewed, and a bit undercooked. It is true that theology proper is the ground of God's works. Yet most of Webster's presentation of God's works is a reiteration and recapitulation of the same theology proper, before getting to the last 10% where he briefly discusses the work under consideration and says "there's more to be said, but too much for the present scenario." I'd enjoy reading what more there is to be said - but as it is, it seems like the specific subject area of the work under consideration has been evacuated in most of Webster's treatment. Perhaps this is a side-effect of the fact that this book is a collection of independent essays, and that he is attempting to get the reader in a mindset of God's being grounding God's works. Yet at the end...I long to see "creation" talked about "theologically," with the topic actually being creation, and not 90% of a repeat of theology proper.
Highly recommended.
Along with this pushback against modern theology, Webster has a strong unifying theme to his work here: theology is to be theological. That is, theology is about God. For theology to be about God, it needs to actually be about God (not redefine itself into only about God's works), it needs to follow the principles of theology (God's Word and the Spirit's illumination of regenerate intellect), it needs to be aimed at the right ends (fellowship with God, not academic scholarship), and it needs to be done with the requisite character. This last point is perhaps the most important, although least elaborated, or the qualifications for how theology is theological - theology is not "me-centric." Of course, this would bother the modern academic world, which focuses on process/method, rather than on the virtue of the practitioner. Explicit attention to "theological theology" is given in the closing essay - and this should be read by anyone who runs across a reference to Webster's concept of theological theology, as people will try to piggyback his concept onto their own work, while disregarding the substance of what he actually says (ex: Crisp's "Analyzing Doctrine"). You should consider reading the closing essay first.
The essays move in the pattern of God in himself, to God in his works. Why this pattern? Because it follows the "material order" of theology. God precedes his works (even if the order of cognition is the reverse). And God makes himself known in his works - not his works known in his works. In fact, the latter essays on God's works also follow this pattern, first addressing God in himself as the ground of what is to be said on his works.
The first 5 essays are on God in himself. The one on aseity as "life in himself" was fantastic. Webster helpfully points out that aseity is more than just "independence" (which ironically is dependent on other things for its definition - it is a definition in opposition), but actually is God's self-sufficient life in himself, of which the form is the Trinitarian processions. This is helpful, as it shows the positive content of theology (rather than theology only by negation), and defends classical Christianity from some charges leveled against it in modern theology.
The final essay of the first part, which addressed the first four verses of Hebrews (a sort of extended exegetical reflection), was interesting, but seemed also to fall a bit flat as the climax to the first part. At this point, the reader is reminded that this book was not written as a book. It was written as a collection of essays, which were independently published. This leads to a thematic unity, but a lack of formal coherence at times, and quite a bit of repetition. More on this later.
In the second part, Webster addresses the works of God. Creation (3 essays), providence (1), salvation (2), and ecclesiology (2).
Creation has 4 components: God in himself, God's act of creation, the nature of created things, and God's relationship to created things. Webster's 3 essays on creation each mention these 4 items, and focus on one of them. The one omitted: the nature of created things. This is interesting, and it demonstrates the difficulty of Webster's project of "theological theology." It also led to a large amount of repetition between the 3 chapters. Key points: the Trinitarian appropriations in the work of creation (creation through the Son actually implies the equal divinity of the Father and Son); an excellent analysis of "ex nihilo;" and the concept of creaturely dignity (as creatures, being creatures is not dishonorable).
The essay on providence was good, if brief. Webster helpfully addresses that providence is not an "abstract truth" or a throwaway affirmation, but rather a direct experience of God's action in all things. This includes, necessarily, suffering. Can one who has not suffered understand and believe in providence?
The essays on salvation were also good. At times I found myself a bit lost in the one on the Son's work, and this essay was the only place where I recall Webster mentioning the concept of God's righteous anger against sin, and punishment of sin. Elsewhere, he seems to describe it passively, as an almost natural/automatic consequence of sin, rather than a judgement of God (which is weird, given his normal anti-mechanistic mindset). The essay on justification was almost "meta-theology," and gave a good discussion for why the buzzphrase "justification is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls" is not entirely accurate.
The two essays on ecclesiology had helpful thoughts. The first one was directly on ecclesiological principles (although it is difficult to see how they might be related to practice), and the second was a response of sorts to a Roman Catholic concept of tradition. These essays were probably the low point of the book. While the whole book contained profound points, and was helpful and interesting, the quality distinctly decreased throughout from section to section (the closing essay was one of the best though). Webster is at his best in theology proper.
And this leads be back to the point of repetition, formal coherence, and thematic unity. Webster's goal for theological theology: that it would have God as its object, and all things relative to God. However, at times it seems like this is only previewed, and a bit undercooked. It is true that theology proper is the ground of God's works. Yet most of Webster's presentation of God's works is a reiteration and recapitulation of the same theology proper, before getting to the last 10% where he briefly discusses the work under consideration and says "there's more to be said, but too much for the present scenario." I'd enjoy reading what more there is to be said - but as it is, it seems like the specific subject area of the work under consideration has been evacuated in most of Webster's treatment. Perhaps this is a side-effect of the fact that this book is a collection of independent essays, and that he is attempting to get the reader in a mindset of God's being grounding God's works. Yet at the end...I long to see "creation" talked about "theologically," with the topic actually being creation, and not 90% of a repeat of theology proper.
Highly recommended.
November 22, 2022
Favorite theology book.
January 25, 2025
Glorious light from high windows. It seemed like every time I picked it up and read some pages, I felt that remarkable road to Emmaus feeling: the strangeness of the heart set on fire. And again and again, I turned back to my Christian life and found that everything had grown richer, deeper, and brighter.
An interesting thing throughout was the fact of Webster’s diction. It is highly technical, but in a way elegant, and at the right moments, sublime and powerful. Simple phrases such as, “...the logic and rhetoric of excess.” or “...learning of the promises of God, describing them well and letting their goodness fill our sails…” season the pages, giving the distinct flavor not only of truth but also of awe. Along with this, Webster seems to have an endless store of quotes that hit just the right spot at the right times.
Simply put: I am immensely thankful for this book.
An interesting thing throughout was the fact of Webster’s diction. It is highly technical, but in a way elegant, and at the right moments, sublime and powerful. Simple phrases such as, “...the logic and rhetoric of excess.” or “...learning of the promises of God, describing them well and letting their goodness fill our sails…” season the pages, giving the distinct flavor not only of truth but also of awe. Along with this, Webster seems to have an endless store of quotes that hit just the right spot at the right times.
Simply put: I am immensely thankful for this book.
December 5, 2020
I hope to re-read these.
August 28, 2021
I'm definitely a Webster fan(atic). He's brilliantly simple, doxological, and a master communicator of theology proper.
July 31, 2023
One of my top reads, ever. The depth and thought provoking ways Webster lays out the Persons and Being of God really ministers to my soul.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews