God Is Not . . . takes on today's prevailing misconceptions about who God is by boldly stating who God is not. Rodney Clapp critiques pop culture's anthem to a slobby, ineffective "God like us," while D. Stephen Long, in "God Is Not Nice," questions our therapy-fed longing for a useful, nonthreatening deity. If God is not an American or a capitalist or "religious," as contributors Michael Baxter, Mike Budde, and William T. Cavanaugh go on to argue, then who is God? Laytham concludes with a stirring essay on who God is, calling the church to visibly demonstrate where its primary allegiance lies.

Audacious without being rude, God Is Not . . . is a lively, necessary, and intelligently reverent read.