Author: Albert C. Knudson
[p. 15]
THIS is the first of two independent volumes that together will cover the field of Christian theology. The second volume will be entitled The Doctrine of Redemption, and will deal with the world, man, sin, and salvation through Christ. The present volume, as the title states, has to do with the doctrine of God, but it also deals in an introductory way and at considerable length with the nature of theology in general and its place in modern thought.
The current prejudice against theology, insofar as it has a rational basis, is due to the modern revolt against authoritarianism and metaphysics. These twin evils are supposed to attach to theology, and as far as the second is concerned I see no way of escaping the charge. Authoritarianism belongs to the past. Progressive Protestant theology has set it aside. But metaphysics has to do with ultimate reality; it has to do with what “God” stands for in religion. Theology, therefore, could not renounce it without ceasing to be theology. One might, it is true, expound the biblical doctrine of God without relating it to one’s total world-view arid without seeking to ground it philosophically. But this would be a superficial mode of procedure. Such a theology would be metaphysical in content without being metaphysical in method. Metaphysics, as William James said, is only an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly and [p. 16] consistently, “and this kind of obstinacy can hardly be avoided in a theology worthy of the name. Most of the crudities and vagaries of current popular and so-called “scientific” theology are due to a lack of metaphysical insight. To eschew metaphysics in the field of theology is to fall back into a shallow ecclesiastical or sense dogmatism. In the following pages, consequently, no effort has been made to avoid the broader and profounder problems connected with the Christian doctrine of God. A clear understanding of these problems will do much to save religious thought from the confusion in which it at present finds itself.
My friends and colleagues, Dr. Edgar S. Brightman and Dr. Earl Marlatt, who kindly read the manuscripts of my last two books, have also rendered me a similar service in this instance, for which I am again deeply grateful to them. I wish also to express my gratitude to President Daniel L. Marsh for the generous encouragement he has given me in my scholastic and literary work.