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Book Review: On the God of the Christians3 6 5corrects several misconceptions: sin is not identical to pleasure; it does notoffend God (the sinner is the one hurt, not God); nor does it presuppose forgiveness.Rather, to sin is to separate oneself from God, depriving oneself ofthe ability to love and to believe in Him. The only way to be reconciled withGod is to recognize the sin as such. Only God can cancel our debts or restoreus to ourselves. “God does not discharge sin except by restoring the subject tohimself and to his liberty” (153).Brague refers only occasionally to the scriptures themselves in orderto explore the image of the God of the Christians. More often, he cites theauthority of churchmen, the fathers of the church, and theologians. Whilethese references are no doubt greatly informative, it would have been moremeaningful to see sustained treatments of specific passages from the NewTestament supplemented with references to these thinkers. The book ishighly structured, with chapters divided into sections and subsections, butthere does not appear to be a principle of division other than breaking upthe text into manageable parts. Also, while the attributes of God that Braguedescribes are no doubt compelling, Brague does not make clear his principleof selection—why these attributes and not others? Why not speak of God’somnipotence, omniscience, or justice? Moreover, Brague’s focus is unequivocallypositive, or free from problems. In speaking of God’s seeking our good,for example, Brague glosses over the fact that frequently bad things happen(41). In other words, he avoids the problem of theodicy. God’s omnipotenceand omniscience could pose similar problems, regarding, for example,human responsibility. Perhaps Brague’s choice in these matters is guided byhis desire to present an unambiguously good God. If this book is an expressionof his devotion to God, perhaps raising such problems would be out ofplace. My critical remarks here and in the body of this review are not meantto detract from the quality of this book. To the contrary, I have focused on mydisagreements or questions only in order to show the kind of fruitful discussionthat can arise from thinking through the issues Brague raises.This book is devoted to a topic of great and enduring importance, onethat has captured the interest of the West for roughly two thousand years:the character of the God of Christianity. Brague distinguishes the God ofthe Christians from the God or gods of other religions and describes Hisattributes in ways that are both thoughtful and moving. He refers to familiarChristian thinkers and revives neglected ones who merit attention. The bookis the product of profound reflection and soul-searching of a deeply learnedand serious man, one who is also clearly a believer. The presentation itself is