{"product_id":"9781605019147","title":"God the Invisible King","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious   belief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Christianity; it is not,   indeed, Christianity at all; its core nevertheless is a profound belief in a   personal and intimate God. There is nothing in its statements that need shock or   offend anyone who is prepared for the expression of a faith different from and   perhaps in several particulars opposed to his own. The writer will be found to   be sympathetic with all sincere religious feeling. Nevertheless it is well to   prepare the prospective reader for statements that may jar harshly against   deeply rooted mental habits. It is well to warn him at the outset that the   departure from accepted beliefs is here no vague scepticism, but a quite sharply   defined objection to dogmas very widely revered. Let the writer state the most   probable occasion of trouble forthwith. An issue upon which this book will be   found particularly uncompromising is the dogma of the Trinity. The writer is of   opinion that the Council of Nicaea, which forcibly crystallised the   controversies of two centuries and formulated the creed upon which all the   existing Christian churches are based, was one of the most disastrous and one of   the least venerable of all religious gatherings, and he holds that the   Alexandrine speculations which were then conclusively imposed upon Christianity   merit only disrespectful attention at the present time. There you have a chief   possibility of offence. He is quite unable to pretend any awe for what he   considers the spiritual monstrosities established by that undignified gathering.   He makes no attempt to be obscure or propitiatory in this connection. He   criticises the creeds explicitly and frankly, because he believes it is   particularly necessary to clear them out of the way of those who are seeking   religious consolation at this present time of exceptional religious need. He   does little to conceal his indignation at the role played by these dogmas in   obscuring, perverting, and preventing the religious life of mankind. After this   warning such readers from among the various Christian churches and sects as are   accessible to storms of theological fear or passion to whom the Trinity is an   ineffable mystery and the name of God almost unspeakably awful, read on at their   own risk. This is a religious book written by a believer, but so far as their   beliefs and religion go it may seem to them more sceptical and more antagonistic   than blank atheism. That the writer cannot tell. He is not simply denying their   God. He is declaring that there is a living God, different altogether from that   Triune God and nearer to the heart of man. The spirit of this book is like that   of a missionary who would only too gladly overthrow and smash some Polynesian   divinity of shark's teeth and painted wood and mother-of-pearl. To the writer   such elaborations as \"begotten of the Father before all worlds\" are no better   than intellectual shark's teeth and oyster shells. His purpose, like the purpose   of that missionary, is not primarily to shock and insult; but he is zealous to   liberate, and he is impatient with a reverence that stands between man and God.   He gives this fair warning and proceeds with his matter.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e- Excerpted from \"God The Invisible King\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MobileReference","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47157160542448,"sku":"9781605019147","price":0.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781605019147_p0.jpg?v=1763833999","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781605019147","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}