Monday, September 24, 2007

Does God Ordain Evil?


By Rick Pearcey

Udo Middelmann's new book The Innocence of God: Does God Ordain Evil? is due to go on sale Oct. 10, 2007, at Amazon.com.

Having read through most of an uncorrected proof of the manuscript, I would highly recommend this book as a creative and thoughtful engagement of issues such as the sovereignty of God, the significance of man, and resistance to evil, with special attention to the kinds of determinism that emerge from secularism, paganism, Islam, and hyper-Calvinism.

Amazon lists the publisher as Paternoster, which is a division of STL (Send the Light). What follows is from the publisher's website:

*About the Book: "The Bible teaches us that God is sovereign over all. Does that mean in his sovereignty and foreknowledge, all events are determined? What about evil and the choices of man to disobey God or not to believe in him at all?

"What a choice! Between a good but weak, or bad but strong, God. The sovereignty of God, the existence of evil, the responsibility of man: How do these work together to explain human history and the reality of the world around us?

"Belief in the sovereignty of God has led to extreme forms of determinism, while a rejection of God's sovereignty has resulted in an openness view of history, which assumes the idea of a God with limited power and knowledge.

"In The Innocence of God Udo Middelmann critiques both positions and demonstrates the continuing battle of a good and powerful God for his creation. God admonishes us to seek justice, goodness, and mercy in the continuing struggle against evil. The truth of God's patient, yet powerful battle for redemption is absent when everything has already been determined."

* About the Author: "Udo Middelmann was born in Germany and has lived in Switzerland for over thirty years. He is a university lecturer by special invitation in various countries, a consultant, and principal speaker on 'Ethics for a Civil Society' for the Russian Ministry of Education, and is currently president of the Francis Schaeffer Foundation in New York and Switzerland."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).