Knowing God Paperback – July 24, 1993

A lifelong pursuit of knowing God should embody the Christian's existence. According to eminent theologian J.I. Packer, however, Christians have become enchanted by modern skepticism and have joined the "gigantic conspiracy of misdirection" by failing to put first things first. Knowing God aims to redirect our attention to the simple, deep truth that to know God is to love His Word. What began as a number of consecutive articles angled for "honest, no-nonsense readers who were fed up with facile Christian verbiage" in 1973, Knowing God has become a contemporary classic by creating "small studies out of great subjects." Each chapter is so specific in focus (covering topics such as the trinity, election, God's wrath, and God's sovereignty), that each succeeding chapter's theology seems to rival the next, until one's mind is so expanded that one's entire view of God has changed. Author Elizabeth Eliot wrote that amid the lofty content Packer "puts the hay where the sheep can reach it--plainly shows us ordinary folks what it means to know God." Having rescued us from the individual hunches of our ultra-tolerant theological age, Packer points the reader to the true character of God with his theological competence and compassionate heart. The lazy and faint-hearted should be warned about this timeless work--God is magnified, the sinner is humbled, and the saint encouraged. --Jill Heatherly

"Week by week and day by day, Packer gives advice that is sure to motivate and inspire readers to reach for more in their quest to unite with God. A fine read for any devoted Christian." (James A. Cox, Library Bookwatch, December 2009)

"This is a book that urges us to know about God and then to know God in Jesus Christ. It is a book that serves up real meat―a thought-provoking call to apply ourselves to knowing who God is and to develop a close relationship with Him." (East Central Illinois Baptist Association, February 13, 2008)

"Something must be said for the staying power of a book like J. I. Packer's Knowing God. With some of the language and rhetoric updated, the foundational elements of the book are as powerful and strong as ever." (Chris Wise, The Christian Manifesto (thechristianmanifesto.wordpress.com), February 26, 2008)

"Packer was magisterial in substance, but adopted the tone of a fellow traveler. He convinced us that the study of God 'is the most practical project anyone can engage in.'" (Christianity Today, October 2006)

"If I can't put the Bible on this list, I'll choose a Packer book instead. Every national and world leader must seek to know the nations and world in which they serve. And in order to know this world and its people, we must first know the God who shaped and molded us all. Packer simply and powerfully re-introduces us to God: his attributes, actions, and, most important, his grace." (Joshua DuBois, "My Top Five," Christianity Today, September 2014)