{"id":6897,"date":"2026-03-02T07:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T08:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:38:07","slug":"a-systematic-theology-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/a-systematic-theology-of-love","title":{"rendered":"A Systematic Theology of Love!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m thrilled to announce the publication of my newest writing. This is the first book ever written with the title, A Systematic Theology of Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say this after scouring libraries and databases looking for books with this title. I found none. Perhaps a book with this title was written long ago or went unpublished. But to my knowledge, this is the first book called A Systematic Theology of Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One might think those who believe God is supremely loving and who also value conceptual consistency would have written many <\/em>books with this title. The bald claim, “God is love,” is found in Christian scriptures, after all, and both Hebrew-language and Greek-language portions of scripture champion divine love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theists in Islam, Judaism, and other religious traditions also champion love and say God loves creation. And yet, to my knowledge, no one in those traditions has written a book called A Systematic Theology of Love<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first chapter of this book, I address this “Why?” question. I also define love and explain the open and relational theology undergirding this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unusual Theology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is the first of a three-volume systematic theology. As the subtitle indicates, I address in this book the doctrine of God proper, including the usual issues theologians ponder. But the responses I give to those issues differ from traditional fare. In some cases, those differences are radical!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of this book addresses the details of what it might mean to believe in a loving, universal Spirit whom most of us call “God.” I address issues like God’s nature, what it means to be a spirit, divine knowledge, God’s relation to time, divine incorporeality, what it means to say God loves, whether God is personal, divine becoming, God’s relationality, and so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An entire chapter is devoted to explaining why theists should stop saying God is omnipotent. But another chapter is devoted to a replacement view of divine power: amipotence. These chapters are my most developed writings on God\u2019s power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God and Creation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the second part of this book, I address God as creator. I reject the creation from nothing theory and offer an alternative that I think better fits scripture, reason, science, and experience. That alternative says God is “the Ever Creator.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also wade through a host of issues pertaining to providence. Those issues include miracles, creaturely free will, the problem of good, emergence, agency among smaller entities, divine-creaturely collaboration, material-mental monism, and God’s will. In one chapter, I explore the problem of evil and solve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formats<\/h3>\n\n\n
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This book is now available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook. The audiobook is so long I divided it, calling the second audiobook, “The Ever Creator and Amipotent Providence.” That second audiobook covers chapters 11-15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, I’m working with a host of online book distributors. In addition to Amazon, look for the book at your favorite outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m excited to offer this new book, A Systematic Theology of Love<\/em>! And I look forward to hearing responses from readers. For the Amazon link to the book, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m thrilled to announce the publication of my newest writing. This is the first book ever written with the title, A Systematic Theology of Love. I say this after scouring libraries and databases looking for books with this title. I found none. Perhaps a book with this title was written long ago or went unpublished. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[6117,15,7508],"yst_prominent_words":[1244,1377,1457,1482,1969,2139,2572,2892,3931,5329,5330,5388],"class_list":["post-6897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love_and_altruism","category-open_and_relational_theology","tag-systematic-theology","tag-thomasjayoord","tag-a-systematic-theology-of-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6897"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}