Exploring Mormon Thought: Volume 3, Of God and Gods

Exploring Mormon Thought: Volume 3, Of God and Godsby Blake T. Ostler These books are the most important works on Mormon theology ever written. FARMS Review, Neal A. Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University This may be the most exciting volume to come out on Mormon theology ever. Association for Mormon Letters Anyone who thinks seriously about the meaning of LDS doctrine should read it. It is a book that will take some time to unpack and some time for its influence to be felt. BYU Studies Available

by Blake T. Ostler

• “These books are the most important works on Mormon theology ever written.” — FARMS Review, Neal A. Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University
  
• “This may be the most exciting volume to come out on Mormon theology ever.” — Association for Mormon Letters
  
• “Anyone who thinks seriously about the meaning of LDS doctrine should read it. It is a book that will take some time to unpack and some time for its influence to be felt.” — BYU Studies

  
Available in ebook Kindle, Nook, Apple, Google Play, and Kobo.

Book Description:

In his long-anticipated third volume, Of God and Gods, Blake Ostler steps through the common complaint that Mormons aren’t Christians because they believe in three separate individuals in the Godhead as well as the deification of human beings. He demonstrates the clear biblical understanding, both in the precursors of the Old Testament and the New, that Jesus and God the Father were not one in some incomprehensible “substance” while separate in person, but were actually distinct individuals. What made them one was their indwelling love. It is that loving unity into which they invite human beings.
     In language and thought accessible to the lay reader but simultaneously rigorous and scholarly, Ostler analyzes and responds to the arguments of contemporary international theologians, reconstructs and interprets Joseph Smith’s important King Follett Discourse and Sermon in the Grove just before the Mormon prophet’s death, and argues persuasively for the Mormon doctrine of “robust deification.”

Comprehensive Table of Contents:

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Praise for the Exploring Mormon Thought series:

“These books are the most important works on Mormon theology ever written. There is nothing currently available that is even close to the rigor and sophistication of these volumes. B. H. Roberts and John A. Widtsoe may have had interesting insights in the early part of the twentieth century, but they had neither the temperament nor the training to give a rigorous defense of their views in dialogue with a wider stream of Christian theology. Sterling McMurrin and Truman Madsen had the capacity to engage Mormon theology at this level, but neither one did.” — FARMS Review, Neal A. Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University

“This may be the most exciting volume to come out on Mormon theology ever. I eagerly await it as I think it will demonstrate a maturity of Mormon theology in that it will take ‘as given’ a presentation of the basics of Mormon thought. One hopes that other authors will present engagements with other major thinkers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, or others. However clearly before one can move on to this more ‘mature’ level of discourse, the beginnings have to be established. While I'm sure other writers may take exception to some of Blake's positions in this first volume, he clearly is blazing the trail in an exciting way. Further it opens up to non-Mormons a clear and lucid presentation of Mormon theology that one can't get from most other writings.” — Clark Goble, Association for Mormon Letters

“Blake T. Ostler's monumental systematic work, Exploring Mormon Thought, continues to be a major event in the development of Mormon philosophical theology.... this book says a lot that is important and will be a welcome challenge to any interested in Mormon theology.” — James McLachlan, BYU Studies Quarterly

Other Volumes in this Series:

Volume 1, The Attributes of God
Volume 2, The Problems of Theism and the Love of God

About the Author:

Blake T. Ostler is a practicing attorney specializing in educational law, employment law and intellectual property. His books include the EXPLORING MORMON THOUGHT series and Fire on the Horizon: Meditations on the Endowment and Love of Atonement. He has published widely on Mormon philosophy in journals such as Religious Studies, International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Dialogue: Journal of Mormon Thought, BYU Studies, Element, and FARMS Review of Books.

More Information:

Pages: 483
ISBN: 978-1-58958-107-4 (Hardcover)
Published April 2008