Notes on the Holiness of God

I found a review of this book on the internet, read that review which jumped around the book and am now reading Willis' book. A "sensible" somehow down to earth yet "Holy, Holy, Holy" overview of the subject

David Willis has done it all as a theologian. Top education at Harvard, Princeton Seminary, and Europe. Worked with the greatest mainline theological minds of his day. Pastor of Presbyterian churches. Participant in ecumenical dialogues at the highest level, between his own PCUSA and Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catjolics. Many years as Charles Hodge chair of systematics at Princeton Seminary, without question the premier theological school in the English-speaking world. After four college and graduate degrees, Dr. Willis (even more than Ralph Wood and Paul Tripp) remains about the best teacher I have ever had, though I differ somewhat with his theology. And yet he was never quite a household name beyond the academy, Princeton, and a handful of Calvin specialists. This is because he published relatively little before his retirement a few years ago -- yes, many scholarly articles but in obscure specialized journals, and not enough books. He is making up for lost time with two major books in teh past four years. I hope he will begin to reach more of the general church audience who need him -- learned pastors. This book reads exactly like Willis taught. I first met him 15 years ago as professor of my theo. inyro. class and leader of my small group precept every Friday. I was already committed to a broad and shallow Reformed theology, but it was Dr. Willis who caused me to fall in love with Calvin. In this class, which used the Institutes as the basic text, and his Theology of Calvin elective I took, he always provded a pretty well-thought out, sophisticated outline. Five minutes into the lecture the outline was completely abandoned and he was off on brilliant tangents. I never wanted him to stop, not only because of the content but because of his whole ethos. Passionate, wild-eyed, joyful exposition. Intellectually challenging, yet always practically oriented. Critical of all theological shallowness and foolishness, yet always respectful. Eclectic and ecumenical, while clearly and consistently Reformed in a conservative Barthian way. After spending a lifetime inhabiting Calvin, he had never every word memorized. In fact, he usually knew every change Calvin made in each of his five editions of the Institutes! What Bruce Metzger was to Biblical scholarship, Willis has been to Calvin scholarship. I say all this because this book gave me a strong sense of deja vu. It reads like a well-organized set of his course notes. Some nuggets: "The mistake is the tendency to treat transcendance and immanence as opposites )or worse, to speak of the transcendent God and the immanent God)....The Holy One is present with but not bounded by the conditions of being present." pp.1-2 "The separateness implied in teh root meanings of 'holy' refers primarily to uniqueness, not distance from." p. 2. "Aesthetics is not an appendage to other, supposedly, 'more serious' modes of the tehological task...... Barth and von Balthasar,,,seriously and j