In keeping with the classic Christian tradition, Great Is the Lord sets out the doctrine of God in a way that illumines the mind, moves the heart, and stirs the soul to praise the triune God
In keeping with the classic Christian tradition, Great Is the Lord sets out the doctrine of God in a way that illumines the mind, moves the heart, and stirs the soul to praise the triune God. Ron Highfield introduces students, ministers, and others to the “traditional” doctrine of God held by the majority of the church from the second to the twentieth century: God is triune, loving, merciful, gracious, patient, wise, one, simple, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, omnipresent, immutable, impassible, and glorious.
Irenically challenging open theism and process theology, Highfield shows that the classical doctrine of God actually preserves our confidence in God's love and his liberating action better than its opponents do. This traditional doctrine, Highfield argues, grounds our dignity and freedom in the center of reality, the trinitarian life of God. Highfield's work maintains the highest intellectual standards throughout even as it offers a true theology for the praise of God.
Geoffrey Wainwright
— Duke University
"This book is theology in the strict sense: it is the study of God — God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and who reveals himself as such to his creation. The author examines all the questions that perennially occur and offers answers that match Scripture as interpreted along the strongest strands of the Christian tradition. Highfield's clear and persuasive writing should help us toward a better observance of what he calls God's threefold command for us: to acknowledge his greatness by seeking him, following him, and praising him."
Thomas H. Olbricht
— Pepperdine University
"Ron Highfield has reflected widely and profoundly on the doctrine of God. Great Is the Lord is a remarkable work. The approach is that of a believer who prizes what he delineates as mainstream views about God from within Scripture to the present. Highfield dialogues with most of the major theologians over this time frame and provides rich bibliographies of current studies regarding their perspectives. He especially converses with process theologians and proponents of open theism. This textbook, more than any other now available, offers cogent and penetrating insights into the theological skirmishes at the beginning of the twenty-first century."
C. Robert Wetzel
— Emmanuel School of Religion
"The subtitle of this book — Theology for the Praise of God — should resonate with readers who have grown both tired and suspicious of theological texts that owe more to an Enlightenment epistemology than to an attempt to understand God as revealed in Holy Scripture. Ron Highfield is fully aware of the issues raised by critical studies of the biblical texts, but he does not allow these to interfere with the essential revelation conveyed by Scripture — namely, the nature and activity of the Creator God. . . The book reveals a breadth of research unusual in a text of this kind."
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