The Concept of God: An Exploration of Contemporary Difficulties with the Attributes of God

By Ronald H. Nash

Book Overview

"The Concept of God is an excellent treatment of an increasingly critical issue in philosophical theology. With characteristic clarity and forthrightness, Dr. Nash judiciously evaluates competing conceptions of deity, and in the end recommends an understanding of God that is both theologically sound and philosophically acceptable." -Michael L. Peterson, Ph. D. "Nash's book brings together for the general reader the intense and wide-ranging discussions now taking place among philosophers on the attributes of God. Without being simplistic, he admirably succeeds in making these discussions accessible to those who are not specialists in philosophy. It's a book that needed to be written, a fine contribution." -Nicholas Wolterstorff "The strength of The Concept of God is in its excellent balance of technical issues and lucid explanation. It makes for illuminating reading both for the beginning student and for the professional philosopher...Because of its clear explanations, numerous examples, brevity and breadth, the book will make an excellent component of introductory courses in philosophy." -V. James Mannoia, Jr. "This book is relevant, interesting, and fresh in its treatment...It will be an important supplemental text to theology classes and philosophy of religion classes." -Alan Johnson "The suitability of Nash's book as a text for philosophy of religion is obvious. It is also useful for apologetics because of its concern to vindicate and validate the Christian doctrine of God against attacks on its coherence. In addition, it will be a most welcome text for the section of theology proper that deals with God's attributes." -Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310451418
• ISBN13: 9780310451419
• Release Date: September 1983
• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

Brief Thinking on God's Attributes

Neat little book about the attributes of God, i.e. the omni-s: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc. He begins with some prediscussion about the current state of thinking about God, and its two major conceptual schemes: theism or panentheism and all modern tangents and offshoots.Right off the bat, Nash strikes chords about who's running the verbs here. Discussing Omnipotence he challenges the normal straitjacket of God can do anything, by saying that it should be understood withing limitations. Better to speak of it as God's will, that He does what He wills, when He wills, how He wills. As an example, here Nash cites that God cannot lie. Descartes and others found this illogical. The problem we see is that Descartes and others want to set the boundaries, while God defines His own boundaries. God's own nature is not lying.Also, what gets one in trouble talking about God's attributes is to individually separate them, compare them, contrast them, etc. God is one, he is not more omnipotent than omniscient than loving than holy than truth. He is all these things at once, in totality, in harmony. This is a lively look at thinking at the time of this writing and a quick reaction thereto. Helpful little book to engage thinkers of all levels and classes. Engaging.

A Guide to Thinking About God

This clearly written book will introduce you to many of the more important questions about the nature of God. It will also provide you with answers to those questions, such as what does it mean to say that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Can God do absolutely everything, such as create a stone too heavy for God to lift? Incidentally, this book is not out of print. It is readily available from the publisher.