Recommended Reading On the Doctrine of God

To offer in effect a bibliography on God might seem to be a wild and reckless attempt. There is no greater subject in the universe (or outside of it) and there are millions of books written about God. But here of course I am being much more circumspect and am simply offering some good titles on the doctrine of God.

And the God of the Bible is my focus, with the titles here generally reflecting the more or less conservative or evangelical or Reformed position. Thus there are no books here on Allah or Shiva, and the authors here are mainly Protestants.

And I limit things even further, with mainly theological, academic or scholarly works here, as opposed to popular level volumes – although some of those appear here as well. And I break it up into four sections: general volumes about God, his nature, his character and his attributes; books on the doctrine of the Trinity, volumes addressing the issue of God and his relationship to time; and philosophy of religion type volumes. Thus the last two sections are a bit more philosophical or apologetical in nature, for those so inclined.

Many more volumes could have been included here, and undoubtedly you will have your own favourites to add. But these 65 or so volumes should be a good place to begin if you want to learn more about the God we follow. And that you should, since theology is simply the study of God, something which all believers need to be involved in.

General works
Bavink, Herman, The Doctrine of God. Baker, 1951, 1977.
Berkouwer, G.C., The Providence of God. Eerdmans, 1952.
Bloesch, Donald, God the Almighty. IVP, 1995.
Bray, Gerald, The Doctrine of God. IVP, 1993.
Charnock, Stephen, The Existence and Attributes of God. Baker, 1996 (1655-1680).
Coppedge, Allan, The Portrait of God: A Biblical Theology of Holiness. IVP, 2001.
Erickson, Millard, God the Father Almighty. Baker, 1998.
Feinberg, John, No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God. Crossway Books, 2001.
Frame, John, The Doctrine of God. Presbyterian and Reformed, 2002.
Helm, Paul, The Providence of God. IVP, 1993.
Kaiser, Christopher, The Doctrine of God. Crossway Books, 1982.
Karkkainen, Veli-Matti, The Doctrine of God. Baker, 2004.
Lewis, Peter, The Message of the Living God. IVP, 2000.
Macleod, Donald, Behold Your God. Christian Focus Publications, 1990, 1995.
McCormack, Bruce, ed., Engaging the Doctrine of God. Baker, 2008.
Packer, J.I., Knowing God. IVP, 1973.
Pink, Arthur, The Attributes of God. Baker, 1991, (nd).
Reymond, Robert, What is God? Mentor, 2007.
Shults, F. LeRon, Reforming the Doctrine of God. Eerdmans, 2005.
Ware, Bruce, ed., Perspectives on the Doctrine of God: 4 Views. B&H, 2008.

The Trinity
Beisner, Calvin, God in Three Persons. Tyndale Press, 1984.
Coppedge, Allan, The God Who Is Triune. IVP, 2007.
Edgar, Brian, The Message of the Trinity. IVP, 2004.
Erickson, Millard, God in Three Persons. Baker, 1995.
Erickson, Millard, Making Sense of the Trinity. Baker, 2000.
Erickson, Millard, Who’s Tampering with the Trinity? Kregel, 2009.
Grenz, Stanley, Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Theology. Fortress Press, 2004.
George, Timothy, ed., God the Holy Trinity. Baker, 2006.
Karkkainen, Veli-Matti, Trinity and Religious Pluralism: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology of Religions. Ashgate, 2004.
Karkkainen, Veli-Matti, The Trinity: Global Perspectives. Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.
Letham, Robert, The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology And Worship. Presbyterian and Reformed, 2004.
McGrath, Alister, Understanding the Trinity. Zondervan, 1987.
Morey, Robert, The Trinity: Evidence and Issues. World Publishing, 1999.
Olson, Roger and Christopher Hall, The Trinity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Sanders, Fred, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. Crossway Books, 2010.
Toon, Peter and James Spiceland, eds., One God in Trinity. Cornerstone, 1980.
Torrance, Thomas, The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being in Three Persons. T&T Clark, 1996.
Trier, Daniel and David Lauber, eds., Trinitarian Theology for the Church. IVP, 2009.
Ware, Bruce, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, & Relevance. Crossway, 2005.
White, James, The Forgotten Trinity. Bethany House, 1998.

In addition, consult the relevant sections in the various systematic theologies.

God and time
Beilby, James, ed., Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views. IVP, 2001.
Craig, William Lane, Time and Eternity. Crossway Books, 2001.
Cullman, Oscar, Christ and Time. SCM, 1962.
Deweese, Garrett, God and the Nature of Time. Ashgate Publishing, 2004.
Ganssle, Gregory, ed., God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Ganssle, Gregory, ed., God and Time: Four Views. IVP,  2001.
Hasker, William, God, Time and Knowledge. Cornell University Press, 1989.
Helm, Paul, Eternal God. Clarendon Press, 1988.
Padgett, Alan, God, Eternity and the Nature of Time. Palgrave Macmillan: 1992.
Pike, Nelson, God and Timelessness. Schocken Books, 1970.
Tapp, Christian and Edmund Runggaldier, eds., God, Eternity, and Time. Ashgate, 2011.

God – Philosophical discussions
Davis, Stephen, God, Reason and Theistic Proofs. Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
Davis, Stephen, Logic and the Nature of God. Eerdmans, 1983.
Huffman, Douglas and Eric Johnson, eds., God Under Fire. Zondervan, 2002.
Kenny, Anthony, The God of the Philosophers. Oxford University Press, 1979.
Morris, Thomas, The Concept of God. Oxford University Press, 1987.
Morris, Thomas, The Logic of God Incarnate. Cornell University Press, 1986.
Morris, Thomas, Our Idea of God. IVP, 1991.
Nash, Ronald, The Concept of God. Academie Books, 1983.
Plantinga, Alvin, God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God. Cornell University Press, 1990.
Richards, Jay Wesley, The Untamed God: A Philosophical Exploration of Divine Perfection, Simplicity and Immutability. IVP, 2003.
Swinburne, Richard, The Coherence of Theism. Oxford University Press, 1977.
Vardy, Peter, The Puzzle of God. Fount, 1990, 1999.
Wierenga, Edward, The Nature of God (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion). Cornell University Press, 1989.

Happy reading and a word of advice from C.S. Lewis: “If you do not listen to theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you will have a lot of wrong ones.”

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