29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I guess war's ok...just a little inconvenient, May 19, 2005
This review is from: God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict (Paperback)
I finally finished this excellent book! I have been working through it for the better part of a month and a half! It is quite a book.
Greg Boyd makes a very compelling case for a "warfare worldview". The first half of the book argues from the Old Testament seeking to demonstrate a warfare worldview is the primary worldview represented in the Old Testament.
The second half of the book examines the New Testament and its foundations in a warfare worldview.
It is a powerful new way of thinking in my opinion. Obviously to hold to this worldview is to be a minority in current evangelical and protestant circles. But after reading this book I must say that I am comfortable and intellectually encouraged to move this way.
One of the most convincing features is the warfare worldview's handling of the problem of evil.
The traditional view is that God is in control of everything. Sovereignty is understood as omnicontrol. Therefore the question "why does an all-powerful, all good God allow bad things to happen" is legitimate. Boyd argues that the Bible does not conceive of God's sovereignty in the sense of omnicontrol. Because of this, God's will can and reddily is thwarted by spirits and humans who have freewill. Thus, when these beings chose to disobey God, they enter into warfare against their Creature.
If you're at all interested in a very stimulating and thoroughly biblical book (meaning, Boyd is constantly engaged in biblical exegesis throughout) dealing with theodicy and spiritual warfare, pick up this book. But don't plan to try to read it in a week like I did! This is a book that you will need to live with for awhile.
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51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
God at War Ultimately Wins, September 13, 2000
This review is from: God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict (Paperback)
This is a hard book to review. The major thesis is excellent and bears repeating: God in Christ is at war with the powers and principalities of this world. The decisive battle was fought and won by God in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ. The church now continues the battle until the return of Christ, when the victory will be fully won. Here, Boyd's "warfare" view accords with atonement positions of Gustaf Aulen, William Stringfellow, and to a lesser extent, Walter Wink.
The major strength of Boyd's position is that, as he says repeatedly, evil is not a philosophical problem to be solved, but a reality to be fought. On a practical level, we do not look for God's "higher purposes" in the evil events that occur in the world. Instead, we are to resist them in acts of both spiritual and social activism.
This viewpoint, unlike many of the more popular Christian world-views out today, EXPECTS evil to befall the Christian (1 Pet. 4:12). The Christian is in the middle of a war with Satan and his angels. Bad things can and do happen to good people in warfare. God does not promise complete protection in this life but only that He will be victorious in the end and that nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8:35-39).
The book fails on two levels. First, Boyd uses many "minority" views to buttress his arguments. The Gap Theory of Genesis 1:1 is used not only to explain the apparent age of the earth, but to wedge Canaanite and other pagan creation myths into the Genesis account. Boyd also argues for the annihilation theory of hell and damnation. Finally, Boyd is a militant Arminian who argues that God not only cannot change the will of His creatures but that He also cannot know the future with definite knowledge. These minority, and sometimes radical views, can make the more orthodox of his readers uncomfortable and may cast doubt onto his larger thesis on evil.
Second, Boyd's book is basically a theodicy (reconciliation between a Good God and creation filled with evil). It fails on that level because Boyd sometimes appears to cast the argument between God's omniscience (which Boyd says is limited to the present and the past) and "unexpected" evil events. Normally a theodicy must reconcile God's omnipotence, not His omniscience, against a creation filled with evil. "If God is all powerful why does he allow evil to exist?" It appears Boyd must ultimately redefine God's omnipotence in the same way as he has redefined God's omniscience. But Boyd does not confront that argument in this book.
"For example, how is this view of things compatible with a belief in God's omnipotence? Why would God create a world in which his will is not necessarily carried out? Why would God create beings who have the power to hurt so many others? How are we to conceptualize God being influenced by our prayers? Can God guarantee ultimate victory over his rebellious foes and our spiritual cosmic nemeses? If so, why does he not simply destroy those rebel forces now? Why does he tarry while the innocent suffer?" (Page 166). All these questions Boyd recognizes and even asks, but then defers the answers to a future and yet unpublished work. This is frustrating for the discerning reader and weakens the force of the book.
Still I recommend the book strongly. The power of the major thesis overcomes the book's weaknesses. Also, when the (hopefully) forthcoming "Satan and the Problem of Evil" is published, many of these weaknesses will be resolved or at least sufficiently addressed.
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45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
God at War, December 12, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict (Paperback)
I'm going to ignore the issue of whether I agree with Boyd's thesis or not. What I want to focus on is what this book does to the reader. It is impossible to passively take in what Boyd is writing. He forces you to think for yourself, regardless of whether you agree with him or not. I often had to put down the book, check out what scripture says, and ponder how it all ties together. Read this book if you want to be forced to develop a greater understanding of God's character based on what scripture says, rather than on what you've been told scripture says.
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