An ambitious biblical challenge to centuries of inherited theology.
Porter mounts an impassioned challenge to conventional Christian theology in this ambitious examination of God’s nature, goodness, and relationship to human suffering. The book begins with a deceptively simple question: Just who is God? From there, Porter questions whether generations of theological interpretation have obscured the God revealed through Scripture and, most clearly, through Jesus Christ. “I believe that the truth about God has been in the shadows for far too long!” she declares. Approaching her subject as an advocate—“I feel like a lawyer defending our God”—Porter constructs her case largely from biblical passages, frequently presenting Scripture in its broader context rather than relying on isolated verses.
At the heart of Porter’s case is the conviction that God’s character is consistent. He is loving, holy, merciful, truthful, and life-giving; therefore, teachings that portray Him as the direct source of sickness, tragedy, destruction, and premature death demand closer examination. “God is not the source of the trouble; He delights in being the deliverer out of it,” Porter writes, neatly encapsulating one of the book’s central arguments.
Porter ranges widely, addressing free will, God’s foreknowledge and omnipotence, Satan’s role in suffering, Pharaoh’s hardened heart, salvation, Christ’s work as mediator and intercessor, and the Holy Spirit. Her discussion of Romans is central to the book, connecting sin, death, law, grace, and redemption to her larger argument that evil and destruction should not automatically be attributed to God.
Jesus provides the theological anchor. Porter sees Christ’s healing, forgiveness, compassion, and opposition to evil as the clearest evidence of the Father’s character. Rather than accepting an image of a wrathful Father counterbalanced by a merciful Son, she argues that Jesus reveals who the Father has always been. Her emphatic assertion that “The church is rendered powerless without the truth of the Word!” captures the urgency behind her scripture-centered approach.
Porter’s expansive scope allows her to engage with a wide range of theological questions, sometimes moving briskly between complex ideas. Certain arguments receive greater emphasis than others, but her passionate commitment gives the work considerable urgency and purpose, particularly when she connects theological questions with deeply human experiences of grief, illness, and unanswered prayer. Ultimately, Porter invites Christians to reopen familiar questions and examine whether inherited theology accurately reflects the God they encounter in Christ. Fans of A More Christlike God by Brad Jersak and Cross Vision by Greg Boyd will want to take a look.
A thoughtful, uncompromising exploration of divine goodness and the theology built around it.
***
Trilogy Christian Publishing
Pub date October 29, 2024
ISBN 979-8893335873
Price $12.99 Kindle edition, $26.85 Paperback