God, Revelation, and Authority (Volume 1: God Who Speaks and Shows) [Paperback]

Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

A monumental six-volume set that presents an undeniable case for the revealed authority of God to a generation that has forgotten who he is and what he has done.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Crossway Books (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581340419
• ISBN-13: 978-1581340419
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,528,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CARL F. H. HENRY is widely recognized as a foremost thinker, educator, author, and theologian. He holds the ThD from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the PhD from Boston University. He was the founding editor of Christianity Today, the Chairman of the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966, and the Program Chairman for the Jerusalem Conference on Biblical Prophecy in 1970. He is the author of some thirty-five volumes, a number of which have had a decisive influence on the shape of Christianity in America, including The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1948), Evangelicals at the Brink of Crisis (1967), and the monumental six-volume work God, Revelation, and Authority (1976-1983). In addition, he has taught and lectured around the world at major universities on every continent.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christianity yesterday, today, and forever, March 19, 2002

By 

swingreen "swingreen" (Brooksville, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God, Revelation and Authority, Vol. 1: God Who Speaks and Shows, Preliminary Considerations (Hardcover)

This magnum opus of Dr. Henry's theology is simply the most thoughtful, incisive, and relevant work in modern theology, evangelical or otherwise.

Henry's basic propositions are at once both simple and profound - that revealed truth must be communicable in propositional form, that is, in complete sentences, with subject, verbs, and objects. Truth is not a commodity for the intellectually or spiritually elite. In other words, if you cannot tell me in plain language what the truth is, then I must question whether or not what you are considering is really the truth. Furthermore, God has set this example by personally revealing Himself in this manner in our own objective, external history - the same history of which we are all now a part. This is not to say that there are truths in the universe that are not communicable verbally, only that the Truth that has been revealed by God must be, and has been, communicated in that manner.

Henry's antagonists are those theologians (Barth, Bultmann and company)who propose that history is of two kinds - the day-to-day, external, objective history with which we are all familiar, and a special, internal "geschichte" history where God reveals himself internally to individuals within gaps in the causal uniformity of external history, and the less extreme theologians (Moltmann, Pannenberg, and company) who propose that there is one, encompassing salvation-history ("heilsgeschichte") within which there is no distinction to be made between the natural and supernatural and hence, no need to distinguish between two different kinds of history.

Although some find the concepts of geschichte and heilsgeschichte intellectually appealing in that the altogether-other God is revealing himself in an altogether-other history that is suitable to His nature, it falls short of the biblical concept of salvation, in which God has revealed Himself personally and powerfully within our own, external day-to-day history, where we live, die, marry, raise children, and work out our lives. The logical conclusion of geschichte seems to be that, if our salvation has been wrought in a different kind of history that stands apart from our own familiar day-to-day history, then so must our Christian life be wrought in a similar fashion. Heilsgechichte hold up slightly better under scrutiny, but still falls short by de-mystifying the supernatural into the realm of the ordinary. Henry demonstrates that these concepts are neither biblical nor Christian.

Once, he told us a story about a press conference he attended with Karl Barth. During the question and answer period, Dr. Barth was engaged in several lively discussions on his theme of geschichte. When it came Dr. Henry's turn to pose a question, he asked, "Herr Barth, what would the newspapers have read on the morning following the resurrection?" The visibly disturbed Barth responded, "Did you say you were the editor of Christianity Yesterday, or was it Christianity Today?" Henry calmly responded, "That would be Christianity yesterday, today, and forever."

I am aware that his detractors use the tired, old, "just another [biased] *evangelical* perspective" argument, as if the mere use of the term dispatches Henry's contribution to the growing body of truly irrelevant theology. I sometimes wonder if these detractors have taken the time to make an honest appraisal of Henry in the same manner as they request the rest of us to do with Pannenberg, Moltmann, Barth, Bultmann, and company? Or even worse, does geschichte and helsgeschichte captivate their attention because they allow salvation to be considered separately from the course of daily life?

I am afraid, however, that you must read Henry for yourself and decide, as I, the student, am not greater than his Master.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carl Henry - updated, July 17, 2002

By 

thisisgibbie (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God, Revelation and Authority, Vol. 1: God Who Speaks and Shows, Preliminary Considerations (Hardcover)

Carl Henry was a theologian of great character and insight.
This series is his opus.

A few clarifications: Dr. Henry was an Evangelical theologian not a Fundamentalist (he broke with them in the 40s), a term which is particular to Protestantism from 20th Century America; but which was redefined by a religious studies project at the University of Chicago to defame any conservative religious viewpoint which may effect public values. Also, he wasn't a literalist, as some would coin, but holds that God has communicated with clarity in the text - a similar notion to that of John Wycliff. His view is universal not just American.

It is long. Look through the Indices to see what subject you want to study.

Unfortunately, Dr. Henry was pilloried by many academics and contermporary "evangelicals" who wanted to shed his influence for post-modern presuppositions or post-Bartian notions.

Dr. Henry understood the Lord as above a singular history and greater than one's words, but one who seeks to communicate liberty to those who want to hear.

He passed away on December 7, 2003 in Watertown, WI.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book in 20th Century!, May 10, 2000

By 

Richard K. Min (Dallas, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God, Revelation and Authority (6 Volume Set) (Paperback)

Dr. Henry is "the founder and father and the primary architect" of Evangelicalism in 20th century, and the today's leading think tank among the 20th century intellectuals and scholarship since 1940's. No doubt, He is the living landmark of 20th century. This volume is his masterpiece and his life-time monument. And I dare to say the landmark of the 20th century in Christian philosophy and theory. The volume 1 brings the best academic and philosophical survey and discussion that 20th century could offer. If one can read through carefully, he/she will (1) survey the contemporary philosophy and theology with "the" master, and (2) be able to critique all in the first class scholarship and in "the" Evangelical perspective. I guarantee that this volume enables its faithful reader to be the world-class critical thinker in Christianity. If you want to challenge the top of "the" mountain of today's intellectual and leading scholarship in Christian Philosophy and Worldview, I recommend first of all without any hesitation, this volume! (He is a humble and godly man, and my dear teacher with Father's heart equipped with Grace and Truth of God. He lectured this volume to our class years ago and I was blessed enough to take a few courses from this world-class master).