God Is Not Nice
Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For
by Ulrich L. Lehner
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Pub Date Oct 20 2017 | Archive Date Nov 30 2017
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Description
With his iconoclastic new book God Is Not Nice, Lehner, one of the most promising young Catholic theologians in America, challenges the God of popular culture and many of our churches and reintroduces the God of the Bible and traditional Christianity. As Lehner writes in the book’s introduction, "We all need the vaccine of the true transforming and mysterious character of God: The God who shows up in burning bushes, speaks through donkeys, drives demons into pigs, throws Saul from his horse, and appears to St. Francis. It’s only this God who has the power to challenge us, change us, and make our lives dangerous. He sweeps us into a great adventure that will make us into different people."
This book is not safe. It may startle and annoy many people—including those who purport to teach and preach the Gospel, but are missing it, according to Lehner. God Is Not Nice intends to overthrow all of our popular misconceptions about God, inviting us to ask deeper questions about the nature of our lives and our relationship with him.
When you're finished with God Is Not Nice, you may find the idols you constructed in God’s name smashed, replaced with a God who will ask you to live an entirely different life full of hope and transformation.
God Is Not Nice has been translated into several foreign languages.
A Note From the Publisher
He is a native of Bavaria/Germany and has earned doctorates in history and theology. Among his numerous honors are grants and fellowships from the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study, and the Humboldt Foundation.
The author and editor of more than twenty books, Lehner received the John G. Shea Award for the best book on Catholic history in 2011 by the American Catholic Historical Association for Enlightened Monks. Since 2014, he is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Lehner lives in the Milwaukee area with his wife, Angela, and their five children.
Advance Praise
“The pages of this book are the work of a true theologian.”
From the foreword by Scott Hahn
Catholic theologian, author, and speaker
Founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
“This book is a bombshell in the playground of the contemporary sentimentalism and therapeutic deism that often masquerades as Christianity—one of those rare works that brilliantly diagnoses the errors of our time and responds to them with clarity and charity. In our age of ‘safe spaces,’ it should be required reading for college and university students who likely haven't yet met the God of the Bible—a God who is good, but by no means safe.”
Brant Pitre
Catholic theologian, apologist, and author of The Case for Jesus
“A bracing antidote to the vapidness of American megachurch religiosity, a challenge to all Christians to reencounter the God of the Bible in full, and, for Catholics, a primer on an important aspect of the New Evangelization.”
George Weigel
Catholic author and distinguished senior fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781594717482 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 192 |
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 409364
Lehner is a great writer and makes it very easy to understand his train of thought. He is also wonderfully scholarly and his tone in this book is fantastic. It makes for a quiet, engaging read. While I think I have tired myself out on the wildness and recklessness of God sub-genre, I do appreciate Lehner's effort. I don't think I would too quickly recommend this book, but I do think it beneficial to read our brothers and sisters who differ from us in fundamental ways.
Janet P, Reviewer
This book addressed beautifully the image all too many f us, especially younger people, have of God being somewhat undefined and benevolent -- in other words, nice.
Lehner does a wonderful job of showing both philosophically and theologically why that image is limiting and false. He writes a strong argument and one that is thoroughly modern for viewing and accepting God in all His Wildness and not-niceness.
It's so easy to read that the reader can be tempted to gloss over his words. Don't, there's lots of great insights to unpack here.
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