God Without Measure: Working Papers in Christian Theology: Volume 1: God and the Works of God

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In this two volume collection of essays, which forms a companion to The Domain of the Word, John Webster brings together studies of a range of topics in dogmatic and moral theology. This first volume, God and the Works of God, treats the themes of God's inner being and God's outer acts. After an overall account of the relation between God in himself and the economy of God's external works, there are studies of the divine aseity and of the theology of the eternal Son. These are followed by a set of essays on creation out of nothing; the relation between God and God's creatures; the nature of providence; the relation of soteriology and the doctrine of God; and the place of teaching about justification in Christian theology. Each of the essays explores the relation of theology proper to economy, and together they pose an understanding of Christian doctrine in which all theological teaching flows from the doctrine of the immanent Trinity.

Reviews

These essays are essential reading for anyone wishing to think through moral theology on their way to pressing practical considerations. * Currents in Theology and Mission *
Websters commitment to comment on the nature of theology, the place of each doctrine as well as its content, and to wrestle with people who disagree on both topics, makes for a read which is, in a particular sense of the word, entertaining. [God Without Measure, Vol. 1] offers an appeal to most every theologically minded reader regarding where theology has been and where it is going. * Princeton Theological Review *
The late John Webster had an impressive grasp of the scope of theological science. He believed that theology involved the contemplation of God and of all things in relation to him. In his own words, Theology is about everythingit is the science of all things(Virtue). [God without Measure] is perhaps his single most comprehensive illustration of this claim. * Anglican Theological Review *
Websters untimely death prevented him from completing his larger systematic project, and these two volumes can only whet the appetite of those who looked forward to that project. Yet, they may also stir up a thirst for something much greater than his dogmatics or any work of pilgrim theology for that matter. They may stir up a thirst for the living waters, and in so doing encourage pilgrims on their journey toward the visio Dei. * Theology and History *
God Without Measure is a mature work of theological revival. Many of these essays are jewels in their own right, yet when read together they reveal the working of a first-class theological mind in its prime developing a consistent conception of the task of systematics and directed at matters of first theology: God's life in itself and then towards the world. * Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA *
These "working papers", though originally composed for a variety of purposes, exhibit an extraordinary consistency and coherence. Christian theology has a distinct shape, order and proportion. It is concerned with "God and all things in relation to God", and the order implied in this phrase - God first, all things in relation to God second - is key. Webster returns again and again to these simple convictions about the nature of theology, and shows in a patient and quiet but rather powerful way the consequences they have across a whole range of theological loci, and the resistance they suggest to some of the most prominent stances in contemporary Protestant theology. * Karen Kilby, Durham University, UK *
Despite the diversity of the topics covered there is a very clear and distinctive unity of argument that is exhibited here. * Reviews in Religion and Theology *
These articles are indeed those of a genuine Christian theologian at his prime. * Regent's Reviews *

Author Bio

John Webster is Professor of Systematic Theology, University of St Andrews, UK.