As I have done in my previous post on March being Trinity month, here are a couple of quotes from McGrath’s book:
“God obstinately refuses to show any signs of rigor mortis.” p12 (emphasis by the author)
“What do we mean when we talk about ‘God’ anyway? There is a tendency on the part of many—especially those of a more philosophical inclination—to talk about God as if he was some sort of concept. But it is much more accurate to think of God as someone we experience or encounter. God isn’t an idea we can kick about in seminar rooms—he is a living reality who enters into our experience and transforms it. Our experience of God is something which we talk about with others, and our encounter with him is something which we can try to put into words, but behind our ideas and words lies the greater reality of God himself.” p13 (emphasis by the author)
“Atheism is, in fact, nor more ‘scientific’ than Christian faith, despite the attempts of atheists to convince us otherwise. Both atheism and Christianity are, then, matters of faith—whereas agnosticism is just a matter of indifference.” p19
“The suggestion that ‘God exists because Christians want him to’ is just as logically plausible as the suggestion ‘God doesn’t exist because atheists don’t want him to’. This no proof that God doesn’t exist, it is simply an assertion that he doesn’t.” p21 (emphasis by the author)
“The great reformer John Calvin is often thought of as being a rather stern theologian, but he has his tender moments as well. One of those moments lies in his famous assertion that ‘God accommodates himself to our weakness’—in other words, God knows the limitations of our intellects and deliberately reveals himself in such a way that we can cope with him.” p47UPDATE:
See my short review on "Understanding the Trinity" here.
