Coming Next Week! The Lord Is One: Reclaiming Divine Simplicity

Just in time for the holidays, I am extremely excited to announce that The Lord Is One: Reclaiming Divine Simplicity will be out this coming Tuesday, December 10th! Head over to the Davenant Institute website to pick up a copy (it will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major book stores I believe at the end of the month).

I was thrilled to have the privilege of contributing two essays to this volume (see the table of contents just below). The volume overall seeks to do just what the subtitle claims: reclaim and clarify the somewhat notorious notion of Divine Simplicity. My two essay contributions in particular focus upon why simplicity appears to be so misunderstood starting in the modern period ("The Parting of God" essay). While my second essay is a thoroughly updated, essay-length version of my Master's thesis looking at some of the historical mistakes that appear to be reoccurring features of a lot of contemporary Trinitarianism.

I am also thrilled about the wonderful reviews this volume is receiving--many written by theologians and historians that I have learned a great deal from over the years:

“This book strikes an extraordinary balance, bringing just enough heat and just enough light to provide a warm and illuminating exploration of divine simplicity. Few discussions of the topic in recent years have managed this, but the essays gathered here combine fervent spiritual commitment to classic doctrine with the clarity of historical and conceptual analysis. Several of these chapters have appeared elsewhere in a variety of formats, and it is so good to have them gathered in one place. This is a substantial resource on one of the most important aspects of the doctrine of God.” 

—Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University 

“Over the last few centuries, the concept of divine simplicity has been marginalized, revised, and even rejected—yet it was, and is, foundational to the Christian doctrine of God.  It is, therefore, a cause for rejoicing that a collection such as this is a sign of our own times, when orthodoxy with regard to God’s being is once again coming to the fore. These essays variously address the biblical testimony to divine simplicity, the systematic implications of such, and the history by which the doctrine was lost and is now being rediscovered.  Simplicity is, without doubt, a complicated issue but the editors have broken it down into key aspects, themes, and problems, such that the careful reader will by the end understand why this matter is so important to the well-being of the church.” 

—Carl Trueman, Professor of Biblical & Religious Studies, Grove City College

“The doctrine that God is not composed of separable parts or properties is not a speculative abstraction but a soil sample that reveals much about what is going on in the whole field of theology. These essays provide an excellent overview of the biblical warrants, historical formulations, and philosophical issues involved in staking the controversial, yet all-important claim theological claim that ‘the Lord is one, an undivided whole.’” 

—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Also, I just realized I never announced here the other volume from Davenant, out last year, to which I also had the opportunity to contribute an essay entitled "Scribbling in God's Two Books: Some Historical and Normative Reflections on Scripture, Theology, Natural Philosophy, and Science." Philosophy and the Christian is truly a momentous volume with some top notch contributions (and not a bad price point to boot). Head over to Amazon and pick up a copy!