Customer Reviews

On Who Is God? (A Book You'll Actually Read)

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In the midst of our culture of ever expanding information, it can be difficult to get a clear picture of who God really is. The portraits of God painted in recent books, movies, & magazines are often confusing at their best and downright wrong at their worst. I'm confident that this short book by Mark Driscoll will be a valuable resource that will add clarity to the fragmented picture many people have of God.

Mark is very engaging as a speaker. The same style that draws you into his sermons and lectures is alive and well in his writing. The material in this book is presented in a concise and clear manner that is accessible to the philosophically and theologically astute as well as the novice. There are two focuses in this book. First, Mark wants the reader to have a better understanding of who God is, in order that they might have a life-changing relationship of loving trust with him. Second, he wants to give a philosophical and theological explanation for who God is.

The book is broken down into five chapters and two appendices.

* Chapter 1: Knowledge about God
* Chapter 2: Perspectives about God
* Chapter 3: Nature of God
* Chapter 4: Incarnation of God
* Chapter 5: Worship of God
* Appendix 1: Websites for further study
* Appendix 2: Books for further study

Throughout the entire book, Mark backs up nearly every point he makes with a scripture reference. Readers will want to have their Bibles at hand. I would also encourage readers to take the time to read through the appendices in order to get familiar with various internet and print resources that Mark has recommended to enhance the reader's study of who God is and other apologetics-related topics.
Next time you're at the local bookstore, be sure to browse through this great little book. It is a great resource to share with non-believing or recently converted friends and family. Also, this book or any of the other three books in this series would be a great gift to share with visitors at your church.




Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill church [...] in Seattle. He is also co-founder and president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network [...]. Mark has penned an ever-growing list of books including: A book you'll actually read series, Vintage Jesus, Death by Love (Sept. 30, 2008), and others. Mark is married to his high school sweetheart Grace. Mark and his wife have been blessed with 5 children.

This is an awesome book! It contains answers to questions I've always wondered about and includes responses to skeptics, free thinkers, and new age types. Well done Mark Driscoll. Well done!

Driscoll has the right idea. I was looking to promote a newer book that provides a short, simple, and theologically accurate explanation of the nature of God. For the most part, Driscoll meets the criteria. For the most part, that is. As a bonus, Driscoll throws in some apologetics and various worldview stuff (which turn out to contain maybe the best material in the book).

Short. It is that, though I was unable to read it in an hour (despite the advertisement in the intro). It took me a couple but, admittedly, I stop often to underline and make notes.

Simple. There are some big words that those new to apologetics will trip on but the author generally does a good job of defining the terms if the context doesn't already take care of it.

Accurate. Here's where I'm not altogether thrilled with the book. I was in disagreement with how the attributes were assigned but that's not the end of the world. What really got me were the numerous theologically and otherwise imprecise statements.

For example, there is a statement about "mere monotheism" (p. 30) as if Trinitarianism is qualified monotheism. Later, (p. 57) Driscoll asserts that Jesus' claim to be God "crushed the monotheists' claim that God is anyone other than the Trinitarian God of the Bible." But orthodox folks never make such a claim and they are always monotheistic. Yes, some monotheists deny the Trinity but Driscoll doesn't spell out who they are as he should. It's a bit like telling a foreign exchange student, "The southerners' claim that whites are superior has been refuted." It pays to be specific- that's all I'm saying.

Also, Driscoll writes (p. 59) that "no leader of any religion has ever claimed to be God." Is he counting out the cults? In fact, plenty have made such a claim.

On page 66, Driscoll equates "Christian" with "little Christs". Yikes! That's Benny Hinn talk. I know what he means but these are dangerous grounds in my opinion. In fact, a Christian is a Christ-follower; let's leave it at that. I don't want anyone to think me a "little Christ". I need the Messiah. I'm not one, not even a miniature version.

On the same page, Driscoll writes that Christians "worship Jesus alone as God." This would make any modalist smile. But the statement is not true. Christians worship Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as God.

There were several other lines that were potentially confusing for an immature believer but they may not deserve mention here.

Those who have studied will survive Driscoll's occasional sloppiness, but those folks aren't the target. If the book aims to introduce the immature believer to a theological book, however small, it should take into greater account that immature believers need to be handled with care. Theological precision is a must.

The book has zest which counts in its favor. For example, "It is also said that pain, matter, and evil are unreal illusions, which does not make any sense after you stub your toe as you leave your yoga class." I was actually hoping for more of this.

One final thing: The book is overpriced. It is 6"X6" by 3/16" thick. It seems like $5.99 would be about right.

Shawn Meyer

Mark Driscoll is able to take a large question with millions of books written about it and condense this information in a small book that can be read in about one hour. Driscoll pulls from several different historical, philosophical, and cultural sources in his writings that is not overwhelming to the reader. A great book for people who are searching for who God is with several references for further detailed reading on the various topics.

I picked up "On Who is God" by Mark Driscoll to use with a group of men as a basic primer to our discussion on the character and person of God. I love the humor that Driscoll brings to his work, and it definitely helps when using this material with a group of guys just cutting their teeth on theology.

I was especially excited to find a book that was focused on discussing the nature and person of God. The problem I ran into is that while Driscoll did a great job of providing an apologetic for the existence of God, his discussion on the person of God was lacking.

Driscoll made a strong case for a Trinitarian understanding of God. This is great, the problem is that while he spends a large portion of the work addressing the nature of God, and the person of Jesus, he basically omits any discussion of the person of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, I can only give the book a 3 star review. Had Driscoll taken another 10 pages or so to discuss the person and work of the Holy Spirit, I'd have given it a 4 star review.

Mark Driscoll is a pastor I respect and admire, and often question. His book is challenging and was worth a couple reads. There were some things in there that I questioned, but, all in all, solid and worthwhile. Great and a worthwhile read on my Kindle

This book is ideal as a personal resource and for aiding in discussion with others. Definitely a great tool if you have the discipline and create the opportunities to use it.

First I'll say that I wanted the title of my review to reflect the basis for this little book. If you are a Christian who would like some clear scripture backup for your beliefs about God, you will love this book. If you are a non-spiritual person who is open to Christianity and would like some answers, you will like this book as well. If you believe in any other spiritual discipline besides Christianity, you will most likely read Driscoll's attempts to refute your beliefs in chapter 2, "Perspectives about God".

I was raised Christian, was saved and baptized at a fairly young age, then as I grew older I started questioning all the things I learned in church. I have studied various other spiritual disciplines, and I have learned quite a bit in the past 30 years. I feel that based on my studies, Driscoll's information on other beliefs is over generalized and incomplete. The scriptures he chose to backup the Christian faith are well chosen, although a couple of them are specific examples of why I started to question Christianity in the first place. As an example, on page 46 Driscoll is describing (as per scripture) the various aspects of God's emotions. An exerpt is as follows: The Lord...forgiving iniquity and transgressions in sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generations. (Ex. 34:6-7).

Simply put, I do not believe that; at least not in the sense that it is a punishment based on the wrath of God. I do believe that the actions of a parent can trickle down and have adverse effects on the children, but I believe that is a cause and effect solely in the hands of the parent and has nothing to do with God making sure that the children suffer for the father's mistakes. In fact, that would be the only way I would interpret the passage if I had to choose an explanation that made sense.

I will wrap up by saying that I love parts of the book and I think Christianity can be wonderful. I also think that some beliefs in other spiritual disciplines have merit. Although I feel the author is a loving and sincere Christian, I do not happen to agree with everything that is said in the book. Based on the book description I thought it would be a little less 'religion' and a little more 'spiritual'. A better book in my opinion is "Words That Heal Today" by Ernest Holmes. I was hoping to read something a little more along the lines of the Holmes book.

Bottom line, this book is meant to encourage Christianity and discourage any other spiritual discipline. These are my honest feelings on the book, even though I realize that a review like this will prompt those who disagree to cast an 'unhelpful' vote.