Thomas Jay Oord, The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015), $22.00.
A true multidisciplinary thinker, having authored or edited more than 20 titles in the last 15 years, Thomas Jay Oord is well known to those of philosophically inflected theology circles. The Uncontrolling Love of God is a rather novel book in its entirety, but one can also imagine it as the culmination of tinier pieces of work that Oord has been working on for the last decade or more. Indeed, one finds herein footprints of Relational Holiness (2005), undertones of Creation Made Free (2009), traces of Defining Love (2010), and whispers of The Nature of Love: A Theology (2010). In the present volume, we find the pinnacle of Oord’s work thus far in an expanded upon notion of what he calls “essential kenosis.”
This being said, “essential kenosis” makes numerous asseverations that are constructive for today’s late-modern environ: firstly, God’s uncontrolling love is preeminent, and it logically precedes any other divine attribute; second, existence teems with randomness interlaced with order; third, the most helpful definition of kenosis may be “self-giving;” fourth, God necessarily loves the “other,” but at the same time, freely chooses how to express that love in each moment; fifth, God’s love is full-orbed – expressing agape, philia, and eros. Moreover, because God’s nature is self-giving love, God cannot prevent genuine (read random) evil. Although I find Oord’s position of “essential kenosis” rich, I do not think this will be the last formulation of kenotic theology. However, I urge readers to get a copy of this key text that attempts to balance good and evil, randomness and order, along with love.