Unbaptized God

Robert Jenson's "Unbaptized God" emerged from his decades of involvement in Lutheran-Orthodox dialogue and broader ecumenical conversations, particularly his frustration with the theological impasses that repeatedly surfaced despite genuine goodwill among participants. Writing as a Lutheran systematic theologian deeply versed in patristic thought, Jenson diagnosed what he saw as a fundamental problem preventing genuine theological convergence among the churches: the persistence of a philosophical concept of God that remains essentially unchanged by the gospel.

Jenson argues that much ecumenical theology operates with an "unbaptized" understanding of God—one that begins with abstract philosophical assumptions about divine immutability, impassibility, and timelessness inherited from Greek metaphysics, then attempts to accommodate the biblical narrative of God's involvement in history as a secondary consideration. This approach, he contends, inevitably distorts Christian doctrine because it makes the Trinity, incarnation, and salvation merely divine accommodations to human limitation rather than revelations of who God actually is. Instead, Jenson proposes that authentic Christian theology must begin with the God revealed in Jesus Christ and narrated in Scripture, allowing this concrete divine identity to reshape all theological categories. He demonstrates how this methodological shift would transform discussions of everything from biblical authority to sacramental theology to ecclesiology.

The book has remained influential among theologians grappling with the relationship between classical theism and biblical narrative, particularly those working in postliberal and narrative theology. Jenson's critique anticipated and helped shape ongoing debates about divine immutability and the theological significance of Israel's story that continue to animate systematic theology. Who should read this: theologians engaged in ecumenical dialogue, students of systematic theology interested in Trinitarian doctrine and theological method, and church leaders seeking to understand why ecumenical conversations often stall despite apparent agreement on major issues. This is not an introductory work and assumes familiarity with both classical theological categories and contemporary ecumenical discussions.