THE DOCTRINE OF GOD by John M. Frame is the second volume in his Theology of Lordship series, and it is a thick volume exploring theology of God, his character, and his attributes as revealed in the Bible. Frame seeks to fill a void left by the Reformers by outlining a clear doctrine of God. The core of this book is the concept of God as Lord, and specifically as Covenant Head of those who submit their lives to him. The book looks at the actions of God as recorded in the Bible as revelations of God's Covenant Headship.
A big chunk of the book is about God's creation of the world and how human freedom and responsibility fall within God's creation. Frame takes a deterministic view of God's sovereignty, arguing that God's foreknowledge of all events is based upon his foreordination of those events. He rejects libertarian freedom and gives some strong arguments against it. An interesting discussion he delves into is the concept of middle knowledge to reconcile human freedom and God's sovereignty, but ultimately he rejects the concept as Molinists such as Willaim Lane Craig propose it.
Overall, I think readers will benefit from much that Frame outlines in the area of Theology Proper. However, I'm a believer in libertarian freedom, so I think Frame's foreknowledge-based-on-foreordination reduces God to the ultimate Creator of evil. I don't find his arguments against libertarian freedom unconvincing, though I do think his criticism of middle knowledge is one that proponents of that view have to honestly face. Outside of those criticisms, I appreciate the work Frame has put into exploring what the Scriptures reveal about God and his action in the world.
Review copy provided by P&R Publishing
Photo Credit: P&R Publishing
No comments:
Post a Comment