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Engaging the Doctrine of God: Contemporary Protestant Perspectives

Publishers:
, 2008
ISBN: 9781441253477
(1)

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Overview

Traditionally, evangelical theology has been committed to a position of classical theism, emphasizing God’s immutability and omniscience. Of late, traditional affirmations have been challenged by theologians who affirm a more Christological focus (often drawing from Karl Barth’s theology) and by those who affirm a theology of “open theism.”

The essays gathered in this collection give evidence of the depth and creativity of contemporary evangelical theology as well as the variety of positions held by those within the movement. Part one focuses on New Testament studies and the earliest development of a Christian doctrine of God. Part two considers two figures who have significantly influenced evangelical theology. Part three examines the cross, the suffering and sovereignty of God, and the contemporary debate, and part four concludes with a chapter on theology and pastoral care.

Both scholars and clergy will find that these essays represent the range of thought within the evangelical tradition. The contributors provide readers with a stimulating guide to the contemporary debate.

Essential for students, scholars, pastors, and laypeople, this informative volume brings fresh perspectives on theological matters. With the Logos Bible Software edition, searching by topic or Scripture references will further help your understanding—you’ll compare, for example, the systematic theologies of various scholars or denominations.

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Key Features

  • Collects essays representing the breadth of thought in modern evangelicalism
  • Offers thoughts on four separate areas of study in evangelical theology

Contents

  • “Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference Sermon: The Lamb That Was Slain,” by N.T. Wright
  • New Testament and Early Christian Origins of the Doctrine of God
  • Historical Perspectives
    • “John Calvin and the Hiddenness of God,” by Paul Helm
    • “Jonathan Edwards’s God: Trinity, Individuation, and Divine Simplicity,” by Oliver D. Crisp
  • Theological Perspectives
    • “Life in and of Himself: Reflections on God’s Aseity,” by John Webster
    • “God and the Cross,” by Henri A. Blocher
    • “The Compassion of God: Exodus 34:5–9 in the Light of Exodus 32–34,” by Pierre Berthoud
    • “The Sovereignty of God,” by Stephen N. Williams
    • “The Actuality of God: Karl Barth in Conversation with Open Theism,” by Bruce L. McCormack
  • Practical Theology Perspectives

Top Highlights

“The truth is that what these theologians are interested in is basically two things: the will of God as it relates to free rational creatures and the question of what God knows and when he knows it. So open theism has to do, above all, with the doctrines of providence and divine foreknowledge.” (Page 190)

“Open theism today is pretty much what it was in its origins: a highly aggressive, missionary movement in theology which seeks to convert the evangelical churches to what it alleges to be a more ‘biblical’ understanding of God.” (Pages 189–190)

“The basic intuition is that the future is ‘open’ not only for us but also for God—‘open’ because God has chosen not to control the decisions made by free rational creatures. God may indeed have a ‘central’ purpose which he determines ‘from eternity’ (i.e., before creating) to bring to fruition. But how God brings this purpose to fruition in time is itself conditioned by free acts which God does not control and—precisely because he does not control them—cannot foresee.” (Page 190)

“third, that both claim to know what God is before a consideration of Christology” (Page 188)

“Open theists hold (for reasons we will consider in a moment) that an exhaustive divine foreknowledge is logically incompatible with human freedom, and so they conclude that God’s foreknowledge is limited. God may know in advance that which he will effect, acting alone and without the cooperation of his creatures. But God does not know in advance what the outcome of any cooperatively produced effects will be. To put it this way is to suggest that what is most basic to open theism is not its position with regard to divine foreknowledge but rather its take on the divine concursus. The doctrine of concursus, or ‘cooperation,’ is that aspect of the doctrine of providence which addresses itself to the question of how God interacts with rational creatures in order to ensure that his will is done.” (Pages 190–191)

Contributors

Praise for the Print Edition

One will find meaty essays here on an important topic: the doctrine of God. The inroads of philosophical secularism in the academy have injured orthodox presentations of God by many Christians. This book can help thoughtful Christians, not because the essays are all equally consistent in upholding orthodoxy, but because they present the parameters of the discussion in engaging ways.

—Logia

A very fine work. . . . McCormack describes Engaging the Doctrine of God as exploratory and a kick-start to a conversation. Indeed it is both. . . . Stimulating and theologically sophisticated material [is] found in this excellent book.

—Themelios

How to understand divine impassibility is a major theme of most of these essays. Some will interest a broader community of scholars working on the doctrine of God and be useful for seminary and graduate courses. Reformed theologians in particular may find the implicit debate between Helm and McCormack concerning Calvin and Barth’s understandings of God thought provoking.

—Religious Studies Review

Preachers will . . . welcome Engaging the Doctrine of God. . . . [It] present[s] fertile ground for serious theological reflection.

—Preaching

Evangelical theologians, ministers, students, and others interested in contemporary Protestant perspectives on the doctrine of God will find this an engaging and insightful book. It provides an excellent introduction to these important issues and makes a helpful contribution to the discussion.

—Bibliotheca Sacra

Product Details

Bruce Lindley McCormack, Princeton Seminary’s Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology, earned his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also holds an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary and an honorary doctorate of theology from the Friedrich Schiller Universitat in Jena, Germany. A Presbyterian, McCormack is interested in the history of modern theology, from Schleiermacher and Hegel through Karl Barth. His courses cover Schleiermacher’s Glaubenslehre and the doctrine of atonement in Christian tradition. He is a member of the General Assembly committee commissioned to write a new catechism for the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has been a member of the panel on doctrine for the Church of Scotland. A member of the Karl Barth-Stiftung in Basel, Switerzland, he is North American editor of the Zeitschrift fuer Dialektische Theologie, published in Holland.

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  1. Edwin

    Edwin

    4/25/2016

$31.99