# All That is in God (Dolezal)



## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

Dolezal, James. All That is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2017.

All that is in God is God. That’s the argument of the book. It is short but rhetorically powerful. What Dolezal means is that by God’s simplicity, he is not composed of “parts,” whether physical or material. If what we call God’s attributes weren’t identical to the divine essence, then those attributes would constitute God. That means God would be God by virtue of something which itself isn’t God. That means God would get actuality from something that isn’t God. This is clearly impossible if we view God as the cause of all things. How could something caused by God constitute part of God?

That’s the argument of the book in a nutshell. From that powerful platform, Dolezal examines what he calls “theistic mutualism,” which can be anything from process theology to open theism to otherwise good Calvinists who deny God’s simplicity. Regardless of which variant is under discussion, Dolezal demonstrates that their lack of a robust grammar of divine simplicity ultimately cannot succeed.

Dolezal explores the standard problems with divine simplicity. We’ll look at one. Simplicity says that God is his attributes. By contrast, if I say “James is wise and powerful,” I have stated a subject with two predicates. If I say “God is wise and powerful,” I have not stated two separate things about God. God’s attributes do not add up to be God. He is not the sum of his parts. The difficulty is that if God is identical with his attributes, then each attribute is identical to each other. That seems counterintuitive. However, denying this claim ultimately reduces to the unacceptable conclusion that God is composed of parts (e.g., justice, love, etc). How do we solve this problem? We have to commit ourselves to some view of analogical language. We are discussing a reality that far transcends human categories, but is nonetheless analogical to them.

This book functions as a theological grammar. It is definitely recommended reading not only for the doctrine of God, but also for theological method.

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## kodos (Apr 14, 2021)

I have found this a very helpful book. Thank you for the review, brother.

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## 1689er (Apr 14, 2021)

I'm writing a paper on simplicity for seminary and _All that is in God_ has been invaluable.


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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 14, 2021)

Thanks for reviewing our book, brother. I am glad you found it useful. 

I am pushing for Dolezal to write another book for us. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?


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## Taylor (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> I am pushing for Dolezal to write another book for us. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?


An entire systematic theology.

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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 14, 2021)

Taylor said:


> An entire systematic theology.


That escalated rather quickly.

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## Taylor (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> That escalated rather quickly.


I'm kidding, but only partially. I would spend some deal of money to purchase an ST written by him.


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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 14, 2021)

Taylor said:


> I'm kidding, but only partially. I would spend some deal of money to purchase an ST written by him.


I would read it. 

I will pass it along and see what he says.


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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 14, 2021)

Taylor said:


> I would spend some deal of money to purchase an ST written by him.


Given that we are both in the OPC, we would not agree with his Ecclesiology, Covenant Theology, and views on Baptism.


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## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> Thanks for reviewing our book, brother. I am glad you found it useful.
> 
> I am pushing for Dolezal to write another book for us. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?



Eternal generation? If he wants to be ambitious, then he could do something on the Filioque.

I would like to see him flesh out his stuff on "God as Eternal Creator." That's the only chapter I really had difficulty with.

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## StevieG (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> Thanks for reviewing our book, brother. I am glad you found it useful.
> 
> I am pushing for Dolezal to write another book for us. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?


I want to echo what has already been said. This was a really helpful book with a lot to think about. Very glad I got round to reading it.

For what it is worth, I would like to second the suggestion of Eternal Generation

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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 14, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Eternal generation? If he wants to be ambitious, then he could do something on the Filioque.
> 
> I would like to see him flesh out his stuff on "God as Eternal Creator." That's the only chapter I really had difficulty with.


Eternal Generation was my initial suggestion as well.

I am going to get him to write a blog article. Maybe he can elaborate on it there.

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## TheInquirer (Apr 14, 2021)

I would read anything by Dolezal. I have loved his talks on YouTube and I learn a massive amount from him in a very short time. He is deep, concise, brilliant, and interesting to listen to as a speaker. A very gifted man.


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## py3ak (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?


The relation of Scripture and natural revelation in philosophical theology.

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## bookslover (Apr 14, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> Thanks for reviewing our book, brother. I am glad you found it useful.
> 
> I am pushing for Dolezal to write another book for us. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they would like to see him write about?



Whether pineapple belongs on pizza. . .

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## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

py3ak said:


> The relation of Scripture and natural revelation in philosophical theology.



Good point. Something to anchor Fesko's work. Maybe dealing with principia


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## earl40 (Apr 14, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> How do we solve this problem? We have to commit ourselves to some view of analogical language. We are discussing a reality that far transcends human categories, but is nonetheless analogical to them.
> 
> This book functions as a theological grammar. It is definitely recommended reading not only for the doctrine of God, but also for theological method.



What analogical view does he espouse? In other words, is there more than one analogical view? in my opinion there is only one view which should be understood with the understanding that God is wholly other than man in His divine essence.


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## TheInquirer (Apr 14, 2021)

If any of you want a quick overview of the two subjects of Dolezal's books, here are two talks he gave recently:

Divine Simplicity - 




God Without Passions -

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## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

earl40 said:


> What analogical view does he espouse? In other words, is there more than one analogical view? in my opinion there is only one view which should be understood with the understanding that God is wholly other than man in His divine essence.



Since he isn't a Barthian, you won't hear him say God is wholly other. Analogical reasoning, which is the classical Christian position, says that are concepts can approach God's concepts but are not equivocal with them.

I am not sure what "Wholly Other" in God's essence means. Either something is in God's essence or it isn't. Even those like Aquinas who hold to a chain of being ontology don't say we are "in" God's essence.

Usually when Neo Orthodox say God is wholly other, they mean in our knowledge of him.


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## earl40 (Apr 14, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> I am not sure what "Wholly Other" in God's essence means.



God being "wholly other" than man is of course redundant. If God is not like man He is "other".  It is sad Barth is associated with the words wholly other to explain God because that is orthodox.


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## Pergamum (Apr 14, 2021)

Question: If God is to be viewed as Eternal Creator, does not this obligate God to create, whereas He was free to create or not create?


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## earl40 (Apr 14, 2021)

Pergamum said:


> Question: If God is to be viewed as Eternal Creator, does not this obligate God to create, whereas He was free to create or not create?



I take it this is to me?  Now if you ask this question knowing God is outside of time, then you have your answer.


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## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

earl40 said:


> God being "wholly other" than man is of course redundant. If God is not like man He is "other".  It is sad Barth is associated with the words wholly other to explain God because that is orthodox.



Normally, the phrase is associated with epistemology, not metaphysics. Of course God is other than man. No one denies that. But when you apply "Wholly Other" to epistemology, then problems arise. 

There are three types of knowledge
Equivocal
Analogical
Univocal.

Which do you hold?


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## Pergamum (Apr 14, 2021)

earl40 said:


> I take it this is to me?  Now if you ask this question knowing God is outside of time, then you have your answer.


Anybody.


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## Reformed Covenanter (Apr 14, 2021)

bookslover said:


> Whether pineapple belongs on pizza. . .



Why do people get so worked up about this question? I know that it is  but some folks really get passionate about this subject. I like pizza with or without pineapple.

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## SeanPatrickCornell (Apr 14, 2021)

Pergamum said:


> Anybody.



Could you say that the question can be distilled down to:


"Does God's nature obligate Him to act in certain ways?"


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## RamistThomist (Apr 14, 2021)

SeanPatrickCornell said:


> Could you say that the question can be distilled down to:
> 
> 
> "Does God's nature obligate Him to act in certain ways?"



Short answer: Kind of. Let's rephrase the answer. God's nature doesn't stand outside God obligating God to act in certain ways. It's more along the lines that God will always act consistently with who he is.

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## Edward (Apr 14, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Dolezal, James


Is he any kin to Rachel Dolezal?


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## Pergamum (Apr 14, 2021)

Edward said:


> Is he any kin to Rachel Dolezal?


Rachel is whiter.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Pergamum (Apr 14, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Short answer: Kind of. Let's rephrase the answer. God's nature doesn't stand outside God obligating God to act in certain ways. It's more along the lines that God will always act consistently with who he is.


If God is the Eternal Creator then it appears that He is obligated to create, for how can His nature be that of a Creator if He creates nothing? But God was under no obligation to create.


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## RamistThomist (Apr 15, 2021)

Pergamum said:


> If God is the Eternal Creator then it appears that He is obligated to create, for how can His nature be that of a Creator if He creates nothing? But God was under no obligation to create.



Dolezal does address that. I admit the language of "eternal creator" isn't good.

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## Afterthought (Apr 15, 2021)

We had some discussion of Dolezal's "Eternal Creator" language here: https://www.puritanboard.com/threads/was-god-creator-before-creation.89463/

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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 15, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Good point. Something to anchor Fesko's work. Maybe dealing with principia


Which Fesko work are you referring to?


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## RamistThomist (Apr 15, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> Which Fesko work are you referring to?



Reforming Apologetics. While on the whole I think discussing apologetic method is the theological equivalent to huffing paint thinner, Fesko's work is valuable because he anchors his apologetic method in the Reformed scholastic. I have long said we need more material on using Reformed scholastic methodology for today.

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## 83r17h (Apr 15, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> discussing apologetic method is the theological equivalent to huffing paint thinner



I might have to borrow this line sometime soon.

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## Regi Addictissimus (Apr 27, 2021)

I spoke to James about writing an article for us. He expects to have time around October. 

What topics would be of interest to the board for an article?


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## Taylor (Apr 27, 2021)

Regi Addictissimus said:


> What topics would be of interest to the board for an article?


Since Dr. Grudem has recently revised his _Systematic Theology_, I would love to see an interaction with him on ESS, especially now that Grudem affirms eternal generation, and has sought to clarify his position further.

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## Zach (Apr 27, 2021)

Taylor said:


> Since Grudem has recently revised his _Systematic Theology_, I would love to see an interaction with him on ESS, especially now the Grudem affirms eternal generation, and has sought to clarify his position further.


Yes. I second this. This would make a great article.

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## RamistThomist (Apr 27, 2021)

Taylor said:


> Since Grudem has recently revised his _Systematic Theology_, I would love to see an interaction with him on ESS, especially now the Grudem affirms eternal generation, and has sought to clarify his position further.



The article would be a great refutation of Grudem. Grudem is right to now affirm the traditional Christian teaching of EG. He is wrong to continue to hold to ESS, and the fundamental errors of his theology are still there.









How Then Shall We Theologize? - Credo Magazine


A revised edition of Wayne Grudem’s, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, has recently been released by Zondervan. First published in 1994, this book has sold over 750,000 copies and has been translated into many languages. Its influence within the Evangelical world can...




credomag.com


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## Taylor (Apr 27, 2021)

BayouHuguenot said:


> The article would be a great refutation of Grudem. Grudem is right to now affirm the traditional Christian teaching of EG. He is wrong to continue to hold to ESS, and the fundamental errors of his theology are still there.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, but I want _Dolezal_ to do it. 

(For real, though, thanks for the article. I’ll read it. Dr. Joseph Pipa at Greenville Seminary gave a helpful talk about Grudem to open the Greenville Theology Conference this year. Dolezal spoke at that, too, oddly enough.)

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## 83r17h (Apr 27, 2021)

What about a review of / interaction with _The Mystery of the Trinity_ by Vern Poythress? That might be interesting.


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## TryingToLearn (Apr 27, 2021)

This was honestly one of the most impactful books I've ever read as far as shaping my theology goes.


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