God’s Wider Presence: Reconsidering General Revelation

by Robert K. Johnston

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2014

Overview

What are we to make of those occasional yet illuminating experiences of God’s presence that occur outside both church and Scripture? We may encounter God’s revelatory presence as we experience a beautiful sunset, the birth of a child, or a work of art, music, or literature. While theologians have tended to describe such experiences abstractly as mere traces or echoes, those involved often recognize such moments of transcendence as transformative. Here senior theologian Robert Johnston explores how Christians should think theologically about God’s wider revelatory presence that is mediated outside the church through creation, conscience, and culture. The book offers a robust, constructive biblical theology of general revelation, rooting its insights in the broader trinitarian work of the Spirit. Drawing in part from the author’s theological engagement with film and the arts, the book helps Christians understand personal moments of experiencing God’s transcendence and accounts for revelatory experiences of those outside the believing community. It also shows how God’s revelatory presence can impact our interaction with nonbelievers and those of other faiths.

Product Details

• Title: God’s Wider Presence: Reconsidering General Revelation
• Author: Robert K. Johnston
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Revelation › Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781441221407, 9780801049453, 1441221409, 0801049458
• Resource ID: LLS:GDSWDRPRSNC
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:13:49Z

About Robert K. Johnston

Robert Johnston joined the faculty of Fuller in 1993, serving as provost until 1995 and now serving as professor of theology and culture. He brought with him 20 years of teaching, ecclesial, and academic administrative experience, including 11 years as dean and provost at North Park College and Theological Seminary. Johnston has published in a variety of fields, including selected Old Testament topics, evangelical theology, and, most recently, theology and film. His recent books include Useless Beauty, Finding God in the Movies (cowritten with Catherine Barsotti), Life Is Not Work/Work Is Not Life (cowritten with J. Walker Smith), and Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, 2nd edition. A past president of the American Theological Society and the recipient of two major research grants from the Luce Foundation, Johnston is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church.