About the Book

While offering cogent criticisms of the classical view of God, Donald G. Bloesch skillfully seeks to hold in faithful tension "the polarities that are reflected in God's nature and activity--his majesty as well as his vulnerability, his sovereignty as well as his grace, his wholly otherness as well as his unsurpassable closeness, his holiness as well as his love."

Book Synopsis

The doctrine of God is receiving renewed and vigorous attention in theology. Even a cursory examination of recent scholarship reveals what leading evangelical theologian Donald Bloesch describes as "a mounting controversy over the concept of God."God is variously portrayed as vulnerable (Jürgen Moltmann, Clark Pinnock), as lover (Norman Pittenger, Ronald Goetz), as friend (Alfred North Whitehead, Sallie McFague) and as empowerer (Rosemary Radford Ruether). Bloesch agrees that many of these proposals have some biblical merit. But what is lacking, he argues, "is a strong affirmation of the holiness and almightiness of God."So in this volume, while Bloesch offers cogent criticisms of the classical view of God, he skillfully seeks to hold in faithful tension "the polarities that are reflected in God's nature and activity--his majesty as well as his vulnerability, his sovereignty as well as his grace, his wholly otherness as well as his unsurpassable closeness, his holiness as well as his love."

From the Back Cover

Drawing on an immense fund of erudition, Donald Bloesch turns to the central subject of life and theology - God. He addresses an impressive array of issues, both perennial and contemporary, including gender language of God, the resurgence of pantheism, God's essence and attributes, process theology's understanding of God, the problem of evil, the mystery of the Trinity, and weak as well as strong points of the biblical-classical synthesis on the doctrine of God.

Review Quotes

"I haven't read any theological work as biblically and historically rich, as intellectually satisfying, or as spiritually exhilarating as Bloesch's [early volumes of Christian Foundations] since Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics."

--David Gill in Christianity Today

About the Author

Donald G. Bloesch (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is professor of theology emeritus at Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He has written numerous books, including Essentials of Evangelical Theology, The Future of Evangelical Christianity, The Struggle of Prayer and Freedom for Obedience. He is also a past president of the Midwest Division of the American Theological Society.