Christopher Fisher

Within Christianity for the last few decades, there has been a debate raging between conservative theologians (and others) who interpret the ancient biblical texts through the lens of Greek philosophy, imposing a Greek philosophical set of characteristics on the god of the Bible (Classical Theism), and other theologians who promote a view commonly called Open Theism.

The Classical Theists argue that the Bible teaches that the Judeo-Christian God has characteristics like omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), omnipresence (everywhere at the same time), and so on. The Open Theists argue that these characterisations of God are not biblical. Specifically, they suggest that the future is partly open to God because God doesn't know what choices will be made by humans who have free will. While the characteristic of omniscience seems to be the focus of Open Theist critique of Classical Theism, all of the "omni" characteristics are implicated.

In God is Open, Fisher examines every section of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to inductively determine what the ancient biblical authors believed about the God they were telling stories about. As it turns out, there is no evidence within the texts that support the Classical Theists' descriptions of God. If Classical theologians, particularly evangelical conservative theologians, were openminded enough to look at the evidence objectively, it would revolutionise their concept of God.

Before Fisher lays out his examination of the biblical texts, he lays out the different theistic approaches then tackles some significant issues related to biblical interpretation (hermeneutics). In particular, he discusses the role that critical thinking, reading comprehension, context, metaphors/analogies, and some other reading and comprehension skills that are needed to correctly interpret the ancient texts (or any text, for that matter). After this, he carefully explores around 40 passages of the Bible and, using the principles he has previously discussed, teases out the perspective of the ancient biblical writers.

The book concludes with a discussion of the differences between Hebrew and Greek thought and the way that Classical theologians have produced numerous systematic theologies that use Greek philosophical presuppositions to skew the reading of the texts. Fisher then finishes with a list of characteristics of God derived from his textual analysis.

The evidence is overwhelming. If Christians were persuaded by Fisher's analysis, it would revolutionise Christian views of the biblical God, and much of the (il)logical nonsense that arises from reading Greek philosophy into the text would disappear. It would radically change believers' relationship to God (whatever that means). I'd suggest that every Christian scholar and believer read this book. It may also be of interest to non-believers who raise issues and objections about the character of God presented by most Christians. Of course, Fisher is writing from a Christian perspective, so assumes the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. If readers are not believers, then one would need to suspend disbelief while reading. But even for non-believers who are interested in Christian theology or biblical studies will benefit from a read. The material on critical thinking and reading comprehension of texts is worth reading on its own.… (meer)

Free on kindle. May be spoilers. This was pretty well-written & it kept me reading. But it was also irritating. The first person narrative by a self-destructive person isn't my favorite book style. You want to yell, stop being a doofus. I think that there were some weaknesses. The wife wasn't all that fully realized and it was hard to understand why she put up with what he was doing. It seemed like she was endangering herself & the kids. The friend was pretty much a deus ex machina. It was nice to have a positive force & it was nice that things got better. But it didn't make a lot of sense. Another thing that isn't my favorite is reading about people drinking & being stupid. OK, so the story about the mill was interesting and mostly it was well written, and I didn't know what would happen. Also, it is hard to know if the author had a good reason for the supernatural aspects or if he stuck them in when he needed to get the book moved along.… (meer)