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God of Our Fathers: Classical Theism for the Contemporary Church
“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.” Isaiah 40:25
Protestantism today has an idolatry problem. Not merely in the sense of worshipping false gods—of pleasure, wealth, or politics—but in the sense of worshipping the Triune God of Scripture according to images and ideas of our own devising. Whether it’s a God who suffers and changes alongside his creatures, or a “Trinitarian circle dance” of divine personalities, or a hierarchically-arranged Trinity that serves as a blueprint for gender relations, modern evangelical theology has strayed far from historic Christian orthodoxy. Needing a God that can be put on a greeting card or in a praise song, our idolatrous hearts shrink the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob down to size, and make him more like us.
Amidst this scramble to make God more relevant, we seem to have forgotten that the only God truly capable of saving us is a God who is radically other and transcendent, far above our imaginings. This incomprehensible God is not the God of the philosophers, as modern revisionists frequently charge, but the God of the Bible. The essays in this volume, written by scholars and pastors deeply concerned for the life of the church, seek to retrieve and defend the tradition of classical theism as the historic Protestant faith, rooted in Scripture, philosophically coherent, and still relevant to the needs of the church today.
Protestantism today has an idolatry problem. Not merely in the sense of worshipping false gods—of pleasure, wealth, or politics—but in the sense of worshipping the Triune God of Scripture according to images and ideas of our own devising. Whether it’s a God who suffers and changes alongside his creatures, or a “Trinitarian circle dance” of divine personalities, or a hierarchically-arranged Trinity that serves as a blueprint for gender relations, modern evangelical theology has strayed far from historic Christian orthodoxy. Needing a God that can be put on a greeting card or in a praise song, our idolatrous hearts shrink the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob down to size, and make him more like us.
Amidst this scramble to make God more relevant, we seem to have forgotten that the only God truly capable of saving us is a God who is radically other and transcendent, far above our imaginings. This incomprehensible God is not the God of the philosophers, as modern revisionists frequently charge, but the God of the Bible. The essays in this volume, written by scholars and pastors deeply concerned for the life of the church, seek to retrieve and defend the tradition of classical theism as the historic Protestant faith, rooted in Scripture, philosophically coherent, and still relevant to the needs of the church today.
- GenresTheologyPhilosophy
233 pages, Paperback
Published April 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 31, 2024
A mix of great and average, I'm not sure who I'd recommend this set of essays to.
Chapter 1 is some fascinating history and a great argument against the theological revisionism of the 20th century.
Chapter 2 is a teaser for the more recent book "Natural Theology" by the same author (David Haines)
Chapter 3 attempts to argue for Divine Timeless Eternity, but felt like it didn't get much beyond explaining the position.
Chapter 4 is a moderate case for more integration and friendly dialogue of Biblical Theology with Systematic theology with a moderate but helpful case against EFS presented as an example of how these disciplines could work together that felt like it should have been twice as long.
Chapters 5 and 6 pick holes (that need picking) in some recent approaches in systematic theology (one looking at doctrine of scripture and the other doctrine of missions)
Chapter 7 was an interesting but (to me) underdeveloped case that reformed churches often have an insufficiently trinitarian focus in their conduct of the Lord's Supper.
Chapter 8 feels like a teaser for "Enduring Divine Absence" by the same author (Joseph Minich) though the precise focus is a little different.
Chapter 1 is some fascinating history and a great argument against the theological revisionism of the 20th century.
Chapter 2 is a teaser for the more recent book "Natural Theology" by the same author (David Haines)
Chapter 3 attempts to argue for Divine Timeless Eternity, but felt like it didn't get much beyond explaining the position.
Chapter 4 is a moderate case for more integration and friendly dialogue of Biblical Theology with Systematic theology with a moderate but helpful case against EFS presented as an example of how these disciplines could work together that felt like it should have been twice as long.
Chapters 5 and 6 pick holes (that need picking) in some recent approaches in systematic theology (one looking at doctrine of scripture and the other doctrine of missions)
Chapter 7 was an interesting but (to me) underdeveloped case that reformed churches often have an insufficiently trinitarian focus in their conduct of the Lord's Supper.
Chapter 8 feels like a teaser for "Enduring Divine Absence" by the same author (Joseph Minich) though the precise focus is a little different.
July 24, 2018
Theological heavy lifting. Introduces a number of topics related to theology and the doctrine of God, natural theology, and inspiration. Examines some of the theological currents of more recent scholars along with Church Fathers and Reformers like Melanchthon.
Will take a second reading for me to "pass the test" on this book.
Will take a second reading for me to "pass the test" on this book.
September 2, 2018
Started Strong
This was an incredibly thought provoking journey through the study of classical Christian theism. I thoroughly enjoyed all but the last two essays (though I probably didn’t enjoy them as much because they are topics I’m not very well versed in.)
This was an incredibly thought provoking journey through the study of classical Christian theism. I thoroughly enjoyed all but the last two essays (though I probably didn’t enjoy them as much because they are topics I’m not very well versed in.)
July 13, 2018
I didn't care much for the chapter that placed Van Til outside Christian orthodoxy and for the one about the Lord's Supper. Virtually everything else in the book was outstanding.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews