God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Christian Foundation) [Paperback]

Donald G. Bloesch (Author)

Book Description

Series: Christian Foundation | Publication Date: January 21, 1996

Voted one of Christianity Today's 1996 Books of the Year! The doctrine of God is receiving renewed and vigorous attention among theologians. Even a cursory examination of recent scholarship reveals what leading evangelical theologian Donald Bloesch describes as "a mounting controversy over the concept of God." God is variously portrayed as vulnerable (Jürgen Moltmann, Clark Pinnock), as lover (Norman Pittenger, Ronald Goetz), as friend (Alfred North Whitehead, Sallie McFague) and as empowerer (Rosemary Radford Ruether). Bloesch agrees that many of these proposals have some biblical merit. But what is lacking, he argues, "is a strong affirmation of the holiness and almightiness of God." So in this volume, which he considers the most important in his Christian Foundations series, Bloesch offers cogent criticisms and corrective insights on both classical and recently advanced views of God. He seeks to hold in faithful tension "the polarities that are reflected in God's nature and activity--his majesty as well as his vulnerability, his sovereignty as well as his grace, his wholly otherness as well as his unsurpassable closeness, his holiness as well as his love."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this third volume of his Christian Foundations series, Bloesch, professor of Theology at Dubuque Theological Seminary and one of the most sensitive and articulate evangelical interpreters of Christian theology today, turns his attention to the doctrine of God. He reads this central theological tenet through the lens of the infallibility of the Bible and through God's act of revelation in Jesus of Nazareth. In polemical fashion, he distinguishes his centrist evangelical position on the doctrine of God from that of other contemporary theologians like Jurgen Moltmann and John Cobb, whose portraits of God are drawn primarily from human experience and classical philosophy. Bloesch's study covers all the traditional foci of the doctrine of God, from God as Creator and Redeemer to the problem of evil. He brings particularly lucid insights to the concept of the Trinity and conveys a systematic theology that stands clearly in the tradition of this century's greatest theologians like Karl Barth and Emil Brunner.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"I haven't read any theological work as biblically and historically rich, as intellectually satisfying, or as spiritually exhilarating as Bloesch's [early volumes of Christian Foundations] since Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics." (David Gill in Christianity Today ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Paternoster Press (January 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0853645930
• ISBN-13: 978-0853645931
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,568,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply insightful!, May 27, 2000

By 

Matt Mason - See all my reviews

This review is from: God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Christian Foundations) (Hardcover)

Donald Bloesch does a masterful job soaking the issues related to the study of God's nature into the matrix of historical thought. He makes the reader aware of the philosophical strands which pervade the various doctrines related to God, and lends credit and criticism where they are needed. He suggests that the classical formulations of theology should be carefully examined and drained of some of the abstractions of philosophy, and that the aberrations of neo-orthodoxy be seen with the implications laid bare. Though Dr. Bloesch is not averse to the presence of reason and logic in the doing of theology, he emphasizes rightly that the God who occupies our thought must also transcend our comprehension. He opposes the reductionistic and rationalistic tendencies that are extant in modern theology. As a result of reading this book my understanding of theology proper has been calcified, and my awareness of differing views on the subject matter has been significantly increased.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Good, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Christian Foundations) (Hardcover)

This is the third volume of Bloesch's projected seven part systematic theology. He offers a useful discussion of some of the newer theories of God such as those of process theology. His own ideas are basically orthodox, although he seeks to correct the alleged Helenistic influences on the classical doctrine of God.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Good, October 29, 2001

By 

Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Christian Foundations) (Hardcover)

This is the third volume of Bloesch's projected seven part systematic theology. He offers a useful discussion of some of the newer theories of God such as those of process theology. His own ideas are basically orthodox, although he seeks to correct the alleged Helenistic influences on the classical doctrine of God.