Ron Highfield, Great Is the Lord: Theology For the Praise of God (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2008), xx + 467 Pps., $30.00.
In keeping with the classic Christian tradition, Great Is the Lord sets out the doctrine of God in a way that illumines the mind, moves the heart, and stirs the soul to praise the triune God. Ron Highfield (Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University, CA) introduces students, ministers, and others to the ‘traditional’ doctrine of God held by the majority of the church from the second to the twentieth century, a theology that posits God is triune, loving, merciful, gracious, patient, wise, one, simple, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, omnipresent, immutable, impassible, and glorious (xviii). In so doing, he challenges open theism and process theology, and attempts to show that the classical doctrine of God actually preserves our confidence in God’s love and his liberating action better than its opponents do. Highfield dialogues with most of the major theologians over this time frame and provides rich bibliographies of current studies regarding their perspectives. In what follows, I shall highlight select portions of this text.
The aims of this book are theological, apologetic, and educational, the author notes (xvi). He highlights that the traditional doctrine grounds our freedom and dignity in the trinitarian life of God. In his argumentation, he rejects the dichotomies between theology and spirituality, between the academic and the religious, and between doctrine and ethics. In the first part of this book, Highfield takes up the theme of revelation, covering both Holy Scripture and Christian tradition. He argues that the Scriptures offer us perennial access to the authentic gospel, and that tradition supports it, insomuch as ‘sola scriptura’ does not mean that Scripture is alone as per se (35). In fact, he complements the sources of revelation and tradition with those of reason and experience, making his theological proposal akin to the so-called Wesleyan Quadrilateral. In covering the concept of the Trinity, he samples texts from the bible that are explicitly Trinitarian, texts that implicate Trinitarian thinking, texts that distinguish the persons of the godhead, and texts that affirm the divine nature.
Part two of this text studies the divine attributes, a task which Highfield sets out upon by examining the church’s teaching by the norms of Scripture, interpreted through the employment of reason and praise. Notably, Highfield follows the Barthian tradition in completely rejecting natural theology (151). He asserts that Scripture addresses God by several names that imply certain attributes, that the bible at times states that God is ‘thus and so’, and that Scripture attests to certain actions from God, from which we may derive his attributes (157). In toto, holiness describes the attributes of God (179). God communicates himself in the Scriptures (196). Unfortunately, in my opinion (but I am an Open theist, note), Highfield defends complete omniscience (328–29), is exceedingly anthropocentric in his descriptions of God’s attributes (cf. 275 and elsewhere), and denies the plausibility of panentheism (289). The text culminates in Part three, wherein Highfield highlights that God’s actions and very being call forth his creatures to praise him incessantly (401–04).
Highfield’s work maintains the highest intellectual standards throughout even as it offers a theology for the praise of God based on Reformed thought. As he comes from the Stone-Campbell movement, the approach of this text is that of a believer, written for believers. Highfield’s text calls for us observe God’s threefold command for us: to acknowledge his greatness by seeking him, following him, and praising him. Fortunately, this text has an extensive bibliography at the end, along with name, subject, and Scripture indices. I could very well see this text used for introductory systematic theology courses, especially if one is aware and ready to explain his Reformed stance toward the issues.
Bradford McCall, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.