Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God
Far from being the immutable Rock of Ages He is often assumed to be, the God of Christian history and tradition has had many different and often conflicting faces. 'Rock of Ages?' opens with the emergence of the Biblical God from the pantheon of deities in bronze age Canaan, and culminates in the radical images of God that were appearing at the end of the twentieth-century, providing a historical overview of the different and sometimes conflicting ways in which He has been understood. By examining the ideas of key writers down the ages, whose ecclesiastical or intellectual power has allowed their insights to become embedded in the mainstream traditions of the Christian churches, Butler seeks to answer one central question: Why is it that people across the ages have claimed to have seen so many different and sometimes contradictory faces of the Christian God? Or more specifically: If there is one true God, and if He is known to those who believe in him through the revelation of Himself in history, why hasn't a consistent and unified understanding of Him emerged in the witness and testimony of those who claim to have seen his face? In the best of scholarly traditions, Butler presents his work as a clear account of his own quest for an answer; but although suggesting possibilities, he leaves others to come to their own judgements using the evidence available. Written in a clear and attractive style, this is a book for anyone without any prior knowledge of history, theology or philosophy, be they atheists, Christians looking to explore their faith, students or simply anyone interested in the history of religion.
1114086601
Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God
Far from being the immutable Rock of Ages He is often assumed to be, the God of Christian history and tradition has had many different and often conflicting faces. 'Rock of Ages?' opens with the emergence of the Biblical God from the pantheon of deities in bronze age Canaan, and culminates in the radical images of God that were appearing at the end of the twentieth-century, providing a historical overview of the different and sometimes conflicting ways in which He has been understood. By examining the ideas of key writers down the ages, whose ecclesiastical or intellectual power has allowed their insights to become embedded in the mainstream traditions of the Christian churches, Butler seeks to answer one central question: Why is it that people across the ages have claimed to have seen so many different and sometimes contradictory faces of the Christian God? Or more specifically: If there is one true God, and if He is known to those who believe in him through the revelation of Himself in history, why hasn't a consistent and unified understanding of Him emerged in the witness and testimony of those who claim to have seen his face? In the best of scholarly traditions, Butler presents his work as a clear account of his own quest for an answer; but although suggesting possibilities, he leaves others to come to their own judgements using the evidence available. Written in a clear and attractive style, this is a book for anyone without any prior knowledge of history, theology or philosophy, be they atheists, Christians looking to explore their faith, students or simply anyone interested in the history of religion.
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Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God

Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God

by John Butler
Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God

Rock of Ages: The changing faces of the Christian God

by John Butler

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Overview

Far from being the immutable Rock of Ages He is often assumed to be, the God of Christian history and tradition has had many different and often conflicting faces. 'Rock of Ages?' opens with the emergence of the Biblical God from the pantheon of deities in bronze age Canaan, and culminates in the radical images of God that were appearing at the end of the twentieth-century, providing a historical overview of the different and sometimes conflicting ways in which He has been understood. By examining the ideas of key writers down the ages, whose ecclesiastical or intellectual power has allowed their insights to become embedded in the mainstream traditions of the Christian churches, Butler seeks to answer one central question: Why is it that people across the ages have claimed to have seen so many different and sometimes contradictory faces of the Christian God? Or more specifically: If there is one true God, and if He is known to those who believe in him through the revelation of Himself in history, why hasn't a consistent and unified understanding of Him emerged in the witness and testimony of those who claim to have seen his face? In the best of scholarly traditions, Butler presents his work as a clear account of his own quest for an answer; but although suggesting possibilities, he leaves others to come to their own judgements using the evidence available. Written in a clear and attractive style, this is a book for anyone without any prior knowledge of history, theology or philosophy, be they atheists, Christians looking to explore their faith, students or simply anyone interested in the history of religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780718892968
Publisher: The Lutterworth Press
Publication date: 06/27/2013
Pages: 236
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.17(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Butler is now retired, having worked as an academic at the Universities of Nottingham, Manchester, and Kent. He has the title of Emeritus Professor of Health Services Studies at the University of Kent. He is a life Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a guide at Canterbury Cathedral.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. The origins of the gods
2. The God of Israel
3. The God of Laws and Psalms
4. The Jewish Messiah
5. The God of the Damascus Road
6. The Word made flesh
7. The God of dogma and heresy
8. The God of creeds
9. The God of selective grace
10. The God of the medieval scholastics
11. The God of reason and revelation
12. The God of the reformers
13. The God of predestination
14. The God of prevenient grace
15. The God of the gaps
16. The God for enlightened times
17. The God who warms the heart
18. The God who was no longer there
19. The God for the liberals
20. The God for the fundamentalists
21. The God of neo-orthodoxy
22. The God of silence and suffering
23. The God for the twentieth century
24. The God of the past and the God of the future
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