Customer Reviews

Exploring Mormon Thought: The Attributes of God (vol. 1)

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Almost since its inception, the LDS concept of God has been maligned, misrepresented and misapplied by critics and members alike (though admittedly more of the former). Starting with the theistic conceptions of the Pratt brothers (inventive and inspiring though most of it is), the critique of materialism by T.W.P. Taylder riddled with 17th century dogmatism, and the famous debate between B.H. Roberts and the Rev. Van der Donkt, LDS theism has had a rough and tumble ride. Even in the mid to late 20th century, the LDS concept of God has often been either ignored or rejected out of hand without so much as a (serious) consideration (with very few exceptions). Blake's latest work (and the next two volumes in the series) presents LDS theism in a coherent light, giving it an intellectual respectability that cannot (or should not) be ignored.

David Paulsen, respected philosopher of religion at BYU, stated this of Blake's work: "Besides providing a worthy model of bilingualism [between the secular and the spiritual] which LDS scholars would do well to emulate, this book is ground-breaking in another respect: is by far the most penetrating and comprehensive study of the LDS understanding of the nature of God yet undertaken" (p. xv). With this I must concur. Even the work of Sterling McMurrin pales in comparison with this work, both in scope and lucidity.

Blake approaches the issue of theism from a broad perspective, providing basic information on classical theism, process theism and LDS distinctives. He discusses the classical views of God, their theoretical/philosophical foundations and ably critiques them, presenting arguments against the absolutist conception that have been given almost since its inception to the present. The primary topic of this volume in the series (as the title states) is the attributes of God, most particularly the "omni's" (omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnitemporal, and the relevant sub-attributes, aseity, impassibility, simplicity and pure actuality).

Following his presentation and critique of classical theism, Blake next approaches these topics from an LDS perspective. He provides the reader with distinctive LDS contributions to these issues, presenting a new foundation upon which one can build an understanding God and His relation to the world. Though some of the concepts will be familiar to those who have read Hartshorne and Whitehead, among others, the inclusion of distinctive LDS concepts place Blake's theistic conceptions in a slightly different category than those presented in process thought (including the emphatic anthropomorphism of LDS theism, as opposed to the "primitive" deity of process neo-classicism).

The final, and admittedly most important, part of Blake's book is the last two chapters on Christology. After explaining the initial development and concepts of various Christology's (particularly the "dual nature" theory), Blake presents what has to be the most lucid, explicit description of LDS Christology, in light of the previous chapters, ever given. Though previous LDS authors imply many of the concepts Blake gives explicitly (B.H. Roberts immediately comes to mind), none approach the topic as thoroughly as Blake has in this work. Blake's professed Christology presents a profound, coherent, integrated view that has wonderful ramifications (even for the mechanism of the atonement, though I do not believe Blake has yet seen the possible connection).

It is my belief that this work will be the seminal reference for an LDS concept of God for years to come. Blake has set the foundations that generations of LDS philosophers/theists may build on (and hopefully advance from). Though admittedly not an explication of *the* LDS concept of God (if such exists), Blake's analysis provides one viable (and powerful) path that the practicing LDS can walk down with faith and reason synergistically integrated.

In this book Blake Ostler situates the Mormon concept of God within the framework of the analytic philosophy of religion. The result is a book length discussion of Mormon theology that surpasses in sophistication anything that has been written since Sterling McMurrin's Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion, and in my opinion Ostler's treatment is better than McMurrin's (an often overrated thinker). There has been a recent increase in interest in the philosophical analysis of Mormon theology. Thus far the results have been confined mainly to academic journals and panel discussions. With Exploring Mormon Thought, the first major book length treatment of Mormon theology, by a Mormon, written in philosophical language has emerged from these discussions. This book represents a sophisticated statement of Mormon doctrine that anyone approaching the subject from a philosophical perspective will have to deal with in the future.

One of the book's great strengths is its discussion of Christology, which to my knowledge has never been treated philosophically from a Mormon perspective. If the book has a weakness is that it probably spends more time than it needs to in reviewing and summarizing recent academic literature in the analytic philosophy of religion. The summaries will be useful for a reader unfamiliar with the material, and Oslter is obviously trying to situate his book in this discussion by signaling that he has been diligent and responsible in canvassing the relevant literature. However, the discussion gets tiresome at times, and I suspect that some portions of the book will not age well as a result. Indeed, at times one is at a loss to see what -- if anything -- is peculiarlly Mormon about Ostler's discussion.

Still, this is a must read book for anyone interested in philosophy and Mormonism.

Years ago I had in interest in Theology that started when I was a child visiting my grandfather. He was a step-grandson and protégé of B.H. Roberts and had many of his books in his library. I read many of those books and had discussions with my grandfather on many of the subjects referenced by Roberts, including his views on the character of God. After my mission, I went to school, got an engineering degree, went to work, got an MBA and focused on my career and did not delve much more into theology other than my normal scripture study, and some discussions with friends and co-workers. In recent years I have had a renewed interest in the subject, and I noticed that there were not many books on theology from an LDS perspective.

I stumbled onto this book after seeing some favorable reviews on the internet. This book met all of my expectations on explaining the LDS view of the attributes of God, and even exceeded them by going into a very good summary of mainstream Christian views of God. Since I am somewhat of a beginner on theology, Blake's summaries of how the great theologians viewed the characteristics of God were invaluable to me. He covered many of the discussions that have been debated over the centuries very clearly and contrasted them to LDS views.

I had always thought myself as somewhat of a deep thinker, but I discovered in this book that I hadn't even scratched the surface. It has been a great pleasure to read and learn so much. I was fascinated by the problems that are created by the traditional concepts of God. I now have a greater understanding on why so many theologians are Calvinist; it seems to be the logical conclusion to the fundamental assumptions about God. It was also nice to see how the LDS concept of God avoided these problems.

I highly recommend this book for LDS who want to learn more about the attributes of God from an LDS and non-LDS perspective. It should also be useful for non-LDS interested in the Mormon concept of God.

Exploring Mormon Thought: The Attributes Of God by Blake T. Ostler is the first volume of a planned series of intense, deeply reasoned and profoundly written works on the issue of Mormon thought. Providing the reader with an in-depth examination of the Christian and Mormon viewpoints of God that is very highly recommended reading for both Mormon and non-Mormon students of Christian oriented theology, Exploring Mormon Thought is an astute, detailed, philosophical, intrinsically fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking treatise.

Although I agree with all reviewers on here thus far, I must give this book a five. The reviews that give it a four have something in their minds to compare this book to, I do not. To me, this line of thinking is what I have been waiting for ever since I started having questions about my religion back in my first year of seminary in 9th grade. Nobody answers my questions like Blake, although I still have many that are left unanswered.
I have read his second book as well and as a prequel or standing alone, vol. one gets merits either way. Not only does this book put on paper what I have been formulating for the past 12 years, but I finally have a book that deseret book sells to give to my mom who raised me under the principles Ostler argues against.

I can't imaging granting 5 stars to any book on theology: there can be no devotional value in a critical dissection of divinity, and no intellectual sport in purely semantic speculation.

Yet Blake Ostler's heavy book Exploring Mormon Thought: The Attributes of God is a positive contribution to Christian intellectuals and students of comparative religion. The author presents a thorough and evenhanded survey of Christian intellectual conceptions of the nature of God and the relevance of all the Hellenistic absolutes (omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, timelessness, and impassivity). And with a relatively light touch, he positions Mormon conceptions of Deity and Christology within the spectrum of Christian thought.

As a faithful Mormon intellectual, I can confirm that Ostler's portrayal of Mormonism is authentic.

My only gripe is that in the one topic about which I can claim expertise (the temporal implications of Relativity) Ostler butchers his facts. But as Abraham said, between physicists and theologians there is a great gulf fixed . . .

Blake Ostler is "a practicing attorney specializing in educational law, employment law, and intellectual property." He wrote in the Preface to this 2001 book, "This book was not written to be a book. It began and remained notes written to myself to clarify issues for my own edification. Later, I set out to do a simple article that clarified the Mormon concept of God for responsible theologians, philosophers and professionals outside the Mormon religion... A manuscript of this book was finished in 1990 and used in (an) honors philosophy of religion course at Brigham Young University during the spring semester of 1990... This book is essentially the book completed in 1990. However, I have endeavored to update it based on recent developments."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"In large part, the refusal to define 'God' is characteristic to Mormonism's approach to theology as a whole." (Pg. 1)
"Mormons believe that traditional Christianity took a wrong turn by adopting Greek philosophy as the matrix to understand God." (Pg. 27)
"There is no authoritative systematic development of Mormon beliefs. There is no final, once and for all, statement of the truth." (Pg. 69)
"The earliest doctrine encountered by Mormon converts in the 1830s was not a significant departure from the previous Catholic-Protestant views." (Pg. 74)
"(T)he Book of Mormon ... spoke of God's immutability only in the sense that he did not change in the way he acts through miracles (Mormon 9:19) and in his commitment to everlasting love (Mormon 8:18)." (Pg. 79)
"I suggest that God's foreknowledge must be understood in the sense that God knows all possibilities but does not know which of these future possibilities will be actual." (Pg. 117)
"God can create a stone he cannot lift and still remain omnipotent." (Pg. 119)
"Mormon thought entails that God cannot create matter out of nothing." (Pg. 133)
"Yet baptism for the dead also answers how God knows who would have been saved if given a chance during this life---for they are in fact given a chance after this life to accept the gospel through the preaching in the spirit world..." (Pg. 180)
"Finally, I think it is untenable to require that a view cannot be adopted if it is contradicted by some scripture. If such a criteria were widely adopted, there would be precious few religious beliefs that could be held." (Pg. 304)
"I have argued that God cannot know future contingents with certainty; rather, God knows from all eternity all possibilities." (Pg. 379)
"Similarly there is no reason to believe that divinity may not be fully mature humanity realized through the grace of God." (Pg. 447)