{"product_id":"2940013415553","title":"GOD THE INVISIBLE KING","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. THE COSMOGONY OF MODERN RELIGION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. HERESIES; OR THE THINGS THAT GOD IS NOT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. THE LIKENESS OF GOD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4. THE RELIGION OF ATHEISTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5. THE INVISIBLE KING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6. MODERN IDEAS OF SIN AND DAMNATION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7. THE IDEA OF A CHURCH\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE ENVOY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious\u003cbr\u003ebelief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Christianity; it is\u003cbr\u003enot, indeed, Christianity at all; its core nevertheless is a profound\u003cbr\u003ebelief in a personal and intimate God. There is nothing in its\u003cbr\u003estatements that need shock or offend anyone who is prepared for the\u003cbr\u003eexpression of a faith different from and perhaps in several particulars\u003cbr\u003eopposed to his own. The writer will be found to be sympathetic with\u003cbr\u003eall sincere religious feeling. Nevertheless it is well to prepare the\u003cbr\u003eprospective reader for statements that may jar harshly against deeply\u003cbr\u003erooted mental habits. It is well to warn him at the outset that the\u003cbr\u003edeparture from accepted beliefs is here no vague scepticism, but a quite\u003cbr\u003esharply defined objection to dogmas very widely revered. Let the writer\u003cbr\u003estate the most probable occasion of trouble forthwith. An issue upon\u003cbr\u003ewhich this book will be found particularly uncompromising is the dogma\u003cbr\u003eof the Trinity. The writer is of opinion that the Council of Nicaea,\u003cbr\u003ewhich forcibly crystallised the controversies of two centuries and\u003cbr\u003eformulated the creed upon which all the existing Christian churches are\u003cbr\u003ebased, was one of the most disastrous and one of the least venerable of\u003cbr\u003eall religious gatherings, and he holds that the Alexandrine speculations\u003cbr\u003ewhich were then conclusively imposed upon Christianity merit only\u003cbr\u003edisrespectful attention at the present time. There you have a chief\u003cbr\u003epossibility of offence. He is quite unable to pretend any awe for what\u003cbr\u003ehe considers the spiritual monstrosities established by that undignified\u003cbr\u003egathering. He makes no attempt to be obscure or propitiatory in this\u003cbr\u003econnection. He criticises the creeds explicitly and frankly, because he\u003cbr\u003ebelieves it is particularly necessary to clear them out of the way of\u003cbr\u003ethose who are seeking religious consolation at this present time of\u003cbr\u003eexceptional religious need. He does little to conceal his indignation at\u003cbr\u003ethe role played by these dogmas in obscuring, perverting, and preventing\u003cbr\u003ethe religious life of mankind. After this warning such readers from\u003cbr\u003eamong the various Christian churches and sects as are accessible\u003cbr\u003eto storms of theological fear or passion to whom the Trinity is an\u003cbr\u003eineffable mystery and the name of God almost unspeakably awful, read on\u003cbr\u003eat their own risk. This is a religious book written by a believer,\u003cbr\u003ebut so far as their beliefs and religion go it may seem to them more\u003cbr\u003esceptical and more antagonistic than blank atheism. That the writer\u003cbr\u003ecannot tell. He is not simply denying their God. He is declaring that\u003cbr\u003ethere is a living God, different altogether from that Triune God and\u003cbr\u003enearer to the heart of man. The spirit of this book is like that of a\u003cbr\u003emissionary who would only too gladly overthrow and smash some Polynesian\u003cbr\u003edivinity of shark's teeth and painted wood and mother-of-pearl. To the\u003cbr\u003ewriter such elaborations as \"begotten of the Father before all worlds\"\u003cbr\u003eare no better than intellectual shark's teeth and oyster shells. His\u003cbr\u003epurpose, like the purpose of that missionary, is not primarily to shock\u003cbr\u003eand insult; but he is zealous to liberate, and he is impatient with a\u003cbr\u003ereverence that stands between man and God. He gives this fair warning\u003cbr\u003eand proceeds with his matter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis matter is modern religion as he sees it. It is only incidentally and\u003cbr\u003ebecause it is unavoidable that he attacks doctrinal Christianity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a previous book, \"First and Last Things\" (Constable and Co.), he has\u003cbr\u003estated his convictions upon certain general ideas of life and thought\u003cbr\u003eas clearly as he could. All of philosophy, all of metaphysics that\u003cbr\u003eis, seems to him to be a discussion of the relations of class and\u003cbr\u003eindividual. The antagonism of the Nominalist and the Realist, the\u003cbr\u003eopposition of the One and the Many, the contrast of the Ideal and the\u003cbr\u003eActual, all these oppositions express a certain structural and essential\u003cbr\u003eduality in the activity of the human mind. From an imperfect recognition\u003cbr\u003eof that duality ensue great masses of misconception. That was the\u003cbr\u003esubstance of \"First and Last Things.\" In this present book there is no\u003cbr\u003efurther attack on philosophical or metaphysical questions. Here we\u003cbr\u003ework at a less fundamental level and deal with religious feeling and\u003cbr\u003ereligious ideas.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082674979056,"sku":"2940013415553","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013415553_p0.jpg?v=1763580609","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013415553","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}