Customer Reviews

God the Father Almighty: A Contemporary Exploration of the Divine Attributes

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If you're not from the Evangelical/ Reformed/ Baptist/ Fundamentalist or dislike any of the forementioned denominations, then don't read this book. The other critics should respect each denomination's view. If they don't feel the challenge in reading this book then feel free to read Rahner's Foundations or Aquinas' Summa Theologica if you're Catholic and Charles Hodge's Systematics or Charnock's Existence and Attributes of God if you're a Protestant; but don't criticize a prefectly fine book for laymen and seminary students. If you think this book is too fundamentalist, wait till you read Berkhof's or Grudem's Systematics.

This book is Biblical like any of Erickson's other books. It is philosophical but not Eurocentric, so it does lack the 'academic rigor/tone' that other philosophical/theological arguments in other books have. However his arguments are convincing enough for me. Follow his arguments carefully then they're very useful both to reaffirm your faith but also for defense in debate or explaining things to others. Other readers may have failed to appreciate Erickson because they haven't read his other books. Once you've read his Systematics and then his other more unidoctrinal books then you can see that he's not saying random Biblical facts all over the place. But then this is understandable because buying all his books does cost a lot.

Note: If you already have Erickson's "What does God know and when" there will be overlaps between the two books. If you already have that book along with "God in Three Persons" then there will be even greater overlap. There are also some overlaps with his Systematics, but the Systematics summarizes things well, so that's okay. This book is still worth it despite the overlaps because the info overlaps are scattered around in the other books.

I won't buy this book (ISBN:0801027829) at biggerbooks/ecampus if I were you because they might send you a reprint edition paperback copy instead of the original nice brown hardback (like what they did to me). They do let me return the book but then that's a hassle.

Understanding this the Theology Proper, the doctrine of God is very important. This doctrine can sound boring and is abit outdated but it is fundamental once you see how this doctrine penetrates your view on all the other doctrines. Erickson helps alleviate the pain by not making us read a list of statements regarding God's Attributes. His tone is very conversational and colloquial. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I do.

A mastercrafted volume reviewing a critical issue of our day - the attributes of GOD. With all the recent attempts to re-evaluate and redefine the Biblical concepts of Who God is, this is a refreshing affirmation that what Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and all serious monothesists have held is that God is Almighty, All-knowing, All-present without exception. Many neo-theists ask, How can God know the unknowable, i.e. all future events, words, thoughts of free moral agents who themselves have not yet acted, thought, spoken? Isn't the future open to some degree, unavailable even to God Himself? Psalm 147:5 answers that question: 'Great is our LORD, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." Unless the Hebrew and English word for INFINITE has changed over the years, honest exegetes are confronted with a mind beyond finite human logic or comprehension. See Erickson's excellent volume, The Evangelical Left for the implications of a departure from an INFINITE vs. finite understanding of God's foreknowledge. This can only inevitably lead to: God the Father(Almost) Almighty and a rewording of the Apostle's Creed, updated to embrace neotheism. For to limit God's knowledge/wisdom is to place human boundaries on His ability/power. Thankfully the author holds to the Biblical concept of the God of ultimate, not penultimate foreknowledge(Is.46:10, Jn.21:17, Job 38-39)

This is one of the best books out on the doctrine of God. It interacts quite well with non-traditional schools of thought. It is well-balanced with Biblical and philosophical evaluations.

I grew up believing (I thought) in the God this book talks about. At this point in my life, I suppose I ought to be thankful to authors like Erickson, since it was deep immersion in this sort of exclusive writing that finally made me think about what I claimed to believe. There are so many real Christian ways to talk about the idea of God, and though this book is well written and argued (one star), the tunnel-vision in the book really mars it.... Since these reviews aren't places for personal stories, let me just say that, while this book does a wonderful job describing the sort of God fundamentalists want to believe in, once you get past Bible-worship in your life you find it all just too incredible to take seriously. A good book if you already believe all this stuff, but not theological at all and certainly not anything thoughtful. Erickson drags out all the unwieldy "omnis" and "supras" for display, but covers no new ground and ends up wallowing in his own presuppositions.