God's Greater Glory

Bruce Ware's "God's Greater Glory" presents a vigorous theological defense of divine meticulous providence against open theism, contributing to one of contemporary evangelicalism's most significant debates about God's nature and relationship to the world. The work systematically argues that God possesses exhaustive definite foreknowledge of all future events, including free human actions, and exercises comprehensive sovereign control over creation while maintaining genuine human responsibility.

Ware structures his argument by first exposing what he perceives as fundamental flaws in open theism, the view that God does not know future free actions with certainty and that the future remains genuinely open. He contends that open theists, including scholars like Gregory Boyd, Clark Pinnock, and John Sanders, diminish God's glory by limiting divine knowledge and control. The monograph then constructs a positive case for classical theism's understanding of providence through extensive biblical exegesis, examining key passages that allegedly demonstrate God's foreknowledge of future contingencies and sovereign orchestration of events.

The work's methodological approach combines systematic theology with pastoral concern, arguing that open theism not only misinterprets scripture but also undermines Christian confidence in prayer, divine guidance, and God's ability to fulfill promises. Ware particularly emphasizes how biblical prophecy requires exhaustive divine foreknowledge, and how scripture presents God as working all things according to his purposeful will. He addresses the perennial philosophical challenge of reconciling divine sovereignty with human freedom by defending a compatibilist framework, wherein genuine human choice coexists with divine determination.

Significantly, Ware engages the problem of evil that motivates much open theist reflection, arguing that limiting God's knowledge or control fails to solve the theodicy problem while creating new theological difficulties. He maintains that God's meticulous providence, properly understood, provides superior resources for addressing suffering while preserving divine perfection.

The monograph represents a crucial contribution to debates about divine attributes within evangelical theology, offering one of the most comprehensive responses to open theism from a traditional Calvinist perspective. Ware's work exemplifies how contemporary evangelical scholars deploy biblical exegesis, historical theology, and philosophical argumentation to defend classical conceptions of God against revisionist proposals. His arguments have influenced subsequent evangelical discussions about providence, prayer, and the nature of God's relationship to time and human freedom.