Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
This forty-year-old Christian classic and bestseller is a study group favorite; this book challenges readers' conventional views about God and encourages them to search for a meaningful redefinition of a higher power that is relevant to contemporary existence. Your God is Too Small is a groundbreaking work of faith, which challenges the constraints of traditional religion. In his discussion of God, author J.B. Phillips encourages Christians to redefine their understanding of a creator without labels or earthly constraints and instead search for a meaningful concept of God. Phillips explains that the trouble facing many of us today is that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In a world where our experience of life has grown in myriad directions and our mental horizons have been expanded to the point of bewilderment by world events and scientific discoveries, our ideas of God have remained largely static. This inspirational work tackles tough topics and inspires readers to reevaluate and connect more deeply with a God that is relevant to current experience and big enough to command respect and admiration.… (more)
User reviews
Phillips gives a presentation of various images he sees men suffering from,
These things we have all at least considered as individuals, and in some particular ways they have shaped our---and every other--branch of this tree called Christianity. A very readable introduction to the "study of the nature of God" would be this book. Then, maybe challenge yourself to go deeper. Sept 2003 Goodnewslette
I first read Your God Is Too Small in 2010. I didn't love it then. I gave it the rare
This one has TWO sections. It first deconstructs the small "gods" from society. (Or at least society circa 1950s). Each "small" god or "false" god is given a few pages. It is deconstructed or proved false. That is Phillips argues that that version of god, that concept of god is NOT the actual God. The second constructs (briefly--oh so briefly) the "bigger" God. Namely, Phillips is saying if you want to meet the actual God, you need to meet him in JESUS CHRIST.
The premise of this one is solid enough. Phillips makes some good points in his sections. There's nothing in them that feels particularly off or wrong. I think my biggest complaint is that while it makes a few initial good statements as to who God isn't and who God is, it doesn't go far enough, deep enough. I wanted MORE, not barely enough.
Yes, there are hundreds if not thousands of books about who God is, about his attributes, about his works, about all the essential doctrines of the faith. But I wanted this one to go there at least a little bit. He says more about who God is not then who God is. The second half covers the bare basics of Jesus. But it doesn't seem enough. I'm not saying that it couldn't be enough. The Holy Spirit doesn't only work through long-winded sorts. (After all, there is something to being concise and straightforward). But I wanted the section on Jesus to be more engaging, more soaked/saturated in the Word.
This one I believe was written for a certain audience (at a certain time in history). I think the intellectual (dryer) tactic might have appealed to agnostics, in-name-only-"Christians", skeptics, theists, deists, etc. I definitely think that was Phillips intended reader. I don't necessarily see this one as being written FOR those already in the faith that have a relationship with Jesus. And that's okay. Again, I think the Holy Spirit can use this one to reach the lost or the deconstructed.
Would I still rate it two stars? Probably two-and-half or three stars.