Notes On The Holiness Of God

According to Willis, confusion about God's holiness is due to the mistake of treating transcendence and immanence as opposites and subsuming holiness almost exclusively under God's transcendence. To correct this view, Willis begins with the cross and resurrection, where the transcending One is freely immanent to fulfill God's covenanting purposes. God, says Willis, is not so much "the wholly other" as "the Holy Other" who confronts us as purifying love. Willis looks in detail at several facets of holiness--love, simplicity, communion, beauty. He shows that when we recognize beauty to be an essential aspect of holiness, we can better reconsider frequently given definitions of the glory and the sovereignty of God and can better understand something of the awe-filled love that this beauty inspires. Finally, Willis explores how the holiness of God provides the basis for the life of Christian faith and hope in today's world. --From publisher's description.