Great Is the Lord: Theology for the Praise of God

In imitation of classic tradition, Great is the Lord sets out the Christian doctrine of God in a way designed to illumine the mind, move the heart, and stir the soul to praise the triune God. Here, Ronald Highfield introduces students, ministers, and others to the doctrine of God held by the majority of the church from the second to the twentieth century. This traditional opinion reveals God to be triune, loving, merciful, gracious, patient, wise, one, simple, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, omnipresent, immutable, impassible, and glorious. Highfield draws on scripture, tradition, and widely esteemed theologians to correct common misunderstandings and superficial criticisms. He examines the modern practice, even among evangelical or conservatives, of first rehearsing the shortcomings of traditional theological teaching and then claiming that classical doctrines paint God as uncaring, uninvolved, and a threat to human freedom. Great is the Lord revisits this classic doctrine so accused to discover that, far from being the creator of such an unpleasant god, it actually preserves our confidence in God's love and his liberating action better than its opponents do. That traditional doctrine, Highfield argues, grounds our dignity and freedom in the center of reality, the Trinitarian life of God. Highfield's work here maintains the highest intellectual standards, while offering a true theology for the praise of God.