Discovering, and slowly working through, John Webster’s oeuvre remains one of the great joys of the last year. God and the Works of God is a lovely collection of papers and essays¹ on theology proper — first of all, meditations on the divine being: in God’s own eternal splendor and self-sufficient joy; and secondarily, on God’s overflowing and gracious works: of creation, redemption, and restoration.

I’ve read enough Webster at this point to know his recurring motifs, but I haven’t tired of them. They are very good motifs! At this point I’m enjoying seeing (and sometimes differing with!) his changing trajectory over time: in the beginning of his career, he was more Barthian; in the end of his career, much more a Reformed Scholastic, including a lot of ressourcement from the Fathers and Thomas Aquinas. Indeed, there are a few essays in here where he was clearly going through a phase of infatuation with Thomas — dropping references to the Summa Theologiae as if it were holy writ.

As academically-oriented and intellectually-dense as these essays are, this is not the kind of book I’d hand to… anyone I know outside the Mere O crowd except maybe one guy I know at church who’s a former PCA pastor. 😂 But the essays are beautiful and good, and they were good for my soul. I expect I will return to them regularly in the decades ahead.