Today I released the first part of a review of Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It can be found on InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Blog by clicking here. Here's an excerpt from my review:
Knowing God is the set of labels on a rough topographical map of the rugged country that is the study of God and the Christian life. But the book directs its readers toward more than a refined understanding of the Divine. Although Packer is certainly interested in introducing theology as a contemplative science, he is also, and more so, interested in pointing out the reason for that contemplation. The danger of theology for its own sake is that “it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it . . .” (21). I’m sure that if you haven’t been on the dealing end of this pride, you’ve been the one who’s felt weight bearing down on you from a conceited theologian. So what can we do? The rule, says Packer, for turning our knowledge about God into knowledge of God, “... is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.”Click here to see the full review.
No comments:
Post a Comment