Does God Have a Future?: A Debate on Divine Providence

by Christopher A. Hall and John Sanders

Sparked by the openness of God movement, the authors irenically debate over the nature of God and divine providence.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801026040
• ISBN13: 9780801026041
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good

The tone of this discussion alone makes it worth reading if interested in this subject. They debate at a high level without compromising either their position or the charity Christians are to have.

A Future for Openness...

"In essence, in our letters we have tried to embody in our dialogue the prophet Micah's admonition that the Lord requires us to treat each other justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly wt ur God (6:8)." (p. 200)This is exactly what one finds in this book. Two scholars, Chris Hall (Eastern University) and John Sanders (Huntington College) discuss issues surrounding the nature of God and his relationship with human affairs. Presented in back-and-forth dialogue exchanged via email, this book presents its intentional discussion based upon Christian love and thoughtful understanding rather than reducing theological debate to useless rhetoric and characturization that is often seen in theological disagreements.This book is a great read for those who are well versed in the issues Openness raises as well as those who are relatively unfamiliar with theological topics of this nature. Both of the authors do a fantastic job of bringing together solid academic with a meaningful, real world, lay understanding. It is obvious that both of these gentlemen have a strong passion for the Church.Many different topics are engaged in this book - I will not try to recount them here. Know that these authors cut quickly and meaningfully to the heart of the issues, challenging each other to present a solid position. (For those who might not understand, the title derrives from the issue of divine timelessness and impassibility. In other words, does God experience emotion or time...hence, does God have (experience) a future?)This book will be noted as how theological dialogue ought to be handled. There is pointed argumentation, humorous asides, personal examples, facetious rhetoric, and above all...Christian humility and love. Both of these theologians admit that they do not have all of the answers, but that they are constantly looking. "Faith seeking understanding."(Anselm)