Hasker’s Book Among Year’s Best

HUNTINGTON, IN -- "The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God," co-authored Huntington College professor William Hasker, has been named one of the most important books of 1995 by Christianity Today magazine. The book ranked eighth among 26 chosen for the distinction.

Hasker serves as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Huntington College . Other contributors included Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, and David Basinger. The Openness of God is published by InterVarsity and is available in the Huntington College bookstore.

The authors argue that the God known through Christ desires a "responsive relationship" with his creatures. While it rejects process theology, the book asserts that such classic doctrines as God's immutability, impassability, and foreknowledge demand reconsideration.

Roger Olson, professor of theology at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, reviewed the book in the January 9, 1995 issue of Christianity Today. Olson summarized a central concept of the work by explaining that, according to the authors, God "could control his creatures if he wished to do so, but he choose not to control by coercion or force, instead influencing by persuasion."

Olson went on to say that Hasker's chapter may prove challenging for many readers, "but for those who persevere, it makes a strong case for the rational superiority of the theology of divine openness over competing ways of understanding God and his works."

The April 24, 1995 issue of Christianity Today explained the annual book award process: "Each year, Christianity Today honors outstanding books of special interest to the Christian community. More than 200 books were nominated by publishers for the 1995 Book Awards; additional titles were nominated by the magazine's editors. Ballots were then sent to 250 evangelical scholars, pastors, writers and other church leaders."

The complete list of 26 titles chosen for the award appears in the April 24, 1995 issue of the magazine.