28 Feb 2007

Your God is too Small (by J B Phillips)

'Your God is too Small' is a classic book by JB Phillips. It's 50 years old now but in my opinion is still relevant to today's Christian church.

The book is in two parts. The first section outlines several ways in which people misunderstand God, seeing him perhaps as purely a negative authority, or perhaps (at the other extreme) a cuddly refuge. He explains twelve such misconceptions in some detail.

The second half of the book looks at who God really is, and what we can learn from Jesus.

Phillips is sometimes criticised for his theology, but I can't fault this book other than perhaps being a bit short. Then again, it was quite thought-provoking. That meant that I didn't want to read more than about ten pages at a time, so perhaps it's just as well that it was only 126 pages.

Recommended to anyone - Christian or not - who wants to know more about how people see God, contrasted with who we believe he really is.

Longer thoughts about this book are on my Abstractions blog.

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