From the Author
This book, an exploration in theological ethics, is motivated by two central questions. First: How can we think and speak with integrity about God as One who is active in human affairs and the world? How can God make a difference in our world and in our lives? Second, and no less important: What is the character of God's activity in the world, and how are we to relate and respond to this activity? How does God make a difference in our world and our lives, and what are some of the implications for our own actions?

These are not questions for which I believe that are definitive answers. All theological work is provisional. The same, of course, must be said about all other work, all knowledge, all other conceptual schemes. Nonetheless, our lives do literally depend on the sorts of answers we find in our pursuit of those questions that touch on the ultimate realities of our existence. Throughout this book I seek to address questions about God, the world, and the relation of human beings to both God and world, in a way that takes seriously our current state of knowledge and understanding, and the limits of our human condition.

One of my over-arching concerns, addressed particularly in the final chapter of the book, is also to provide a language of faith that possesses both integrity and vitality suitable for Christian worship and the formation of Christian identity in keeping with the theocentric theological perspective presented.