Cremer's short, energetic treatise on the divine attributes was admired by both Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg. Cremer chastises the speculative flights of traditional doctrines of the divine attributes and issues a resounding summons to a more exegetically, economically, and christologically grounded account. Known primarily as a biblical scholar for his Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, precursor to the monumental TDNT, Cremer shows himself here also an able systematician, with a pastor's eye for the role played by doctrine in the life of congregational and individual faith.

This book offers a clear and constructive account of the nature and attributes of God. It addresses the doctrine of God from exegetical, historical, and constructive-theological perspectives, bringing the biblical portrayal of God in relationship to the world into dialogue with prominent philosophical and theological questions. The book engages questions such as: Does God change? Does God have emotions? Does God know the future? Is God entirely good and loving? How can God be one and three? Chapters correspond to the major metaphysical and moral attributes of God.

The doctrine of divine simplicity has long played a crucial role in Western Christianity's understanding of God. It claimed that by denying that God is composed of parts Christians are able to account for his absolute self-sufficiency and his ultimate sufficiency as the absolute Creator of the world. If God were a composite being then something other than the Godhead itself would be required to explain or account for God. If this were the case then God would not be most absolute and would not be able to adequately know or account for himself without reference to something other than himself. This book develops these arguments by examining the implications of divine simplicity for God's existence, attributes, knowledge, and will. Along the way there is extensive interaction with older writers, such as Thomas Aquinas and the Reformed scholastics, as well as more recent philosophers and theologians. An attempt is made to answer some of the currently popular criticisms of divine simplicity and to reassert the vital importance of continuing to confess that God is without parts, even in the modern philosophical-theological milieu.

Cremer's short, energetic treatise on the divine attributes was admired by both Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg. Cremer chastises the speculative flights of traditional doctrines of the divine attributes and issues a resounding summons to a more exegetically, economically, and christologically grounded account. Known primarily as a biblical scholar for his Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, precursor to the monumental TDNT, Cremer shows himself here also an able systematician, with a pastor's eye for the role played by doctrine in the life of congregational and individual faith.

Original Scholarly Monograph

The problem identified by the prophet Hosea in his day is still with us today - 'There is no...knowledge of God in the land' (Hos. 4:1). We were made to know God. We were saved to know God. Jesus said, 'This is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent' (John 17:3). Our chief end and purpose is to know God and thereby to honour and enjoy him. These pages explore God's identity. The God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is also Creator, Governor, and Redeemer. This one true God is infinitely and unchangingly holy, just, good, and loving. This work is offered with the hope that it might promote the true knowledge of the true God. As Matthew Henry said, 'To know the perfections of the divine nature, the unsearchable riches of divine grace, to be led into the mystery of our redemption and reconciliation by Christ, this is food; such knowledge as this is a feast to the soul.'