Author: J. I. Packer

In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title to be one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals!

Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two important facets of the Christian faith— knowing about God and also knowing God through the context of a close relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to transform and enrich the Christian understanding of God.

Explaining both who God is and how we can relate to him, Packer divides his book into three sections: The first directs our attention to how and why we know God, the second to the attributes of God and the third to the benefits enjoyed by a those who know him intimately. This guide leads readers into a greater understanding of God while providing advice to gaining a closer relationship with him as a result.

Contents:

Foreword by Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Preface (1993)
Preface (1973)

Part One: Know the Lord
1. The Study of God
2. The People Who Know Their God
3. Knowing and Being Known
4. The Only True God
5. God Incarnate
6. He Shall Testify

Part Two: Behold Your God!
7. God Unchanging
8. The Majesty of God
9. God Only Wise
10. God's Wisdom and Ours
11. Thy Word Is Truth
12. The Love of God
13. The Grace of God
14. God the Judge
15. The Wrath of God
16. Goodness and Severity
17. The Jealous God

Part Three: If God Be For Us . . .
18. The Heart of the Gospel
19. Sons of God
20. Thou Our Guide
21. These Inward Trials
22. The Adequacy of God

Appendix: Preface to the Study Guide (1975)
Notes
Scripture Index

About the author:

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) is regarded as one of the most well-known theologians and influential evangelicals of our time. Once named to Time magazine's list of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, Packer wrote what many consider the definitive classic evangelical book of the twentieth century, Knowing God, which has sold more than one million copies in North America alone. As the author of forty-seven books, as well as untold numbers of journal articles, book reviews, dictionary entries, and forewords, Packer's prolific work has impacted countless pastors, thought leaders, theologians, and authors.

Endorsements:

 "A hundred years from now only a handful of books written today will still be widely read and accepted as Christian classics. Dr. James I. Packer's Knowing God may well prove to be one of them. A gifted theologian and writer, Dr. Packer has the rare ability to deal with profound and basic spiritual truths in a practical and highly readable way. This book will help every reader grasp in a fuller way one of the Bible's greatest truths: that we can know God personally because God wants us to know him."  ~Billy Graham

 "The books and essays Dr. Packer has written could fill shelves, but he is still known best for his fine work in Knowing God. Others may have followed with books about desiring, loving, serving, or seeking God, but Dr. Packer's volume says it simply, says it best."  ~Joni Eareckson Tada

 "Knowing God is must reading for any Christian who is serious about their faith. While it is theology, it is practical, and while it is profound, it is easy reading. I highly recommend it."  ~John Perkins

 "I first read the book in 1977 in what was then the ninth American printing. I was discipled by that book before I knew what discipleship was! As I reread it recently, I was embarrassed by all the ideas I kept coming upon that I thought were mine. Then I realized that through his book Packer had made them mine. It dawned on me that bad books try to tell us what to think, while good books help us to think. But truly good books shape the way we think. That's what this book did for me. There isn't a song I've written that hasn't been impacted by the point of view in this book. Knowing God not only points to the door, it provides the key, helps us open it and prepares us for the One we shall discover waiting for us on the other side. In his book Packer rescues us from the 'private religious hunches' of our theologically fickle age, from the 'gigantic conspiracy of misdirection' that would rob us of the deep, simple joy of knowing God."  ~Michael Card

 "'Those who know God have great contentment in God.' It is no wonder so many are so discontented! They don't know God. Oh if only they would use Knowing God as a devotional study. It would create such a thirst for more of God that they would keep on coming to him in his Word and drinking of him. This book is the classic God used to launch me into a study of the sovereignty of God. I'll never be the same!"  ~Kay Arthur

 "For years I have been asked to list the top twenty Christian books I have read. Knowing God has been on that list since the mid-1970s. This volume is Packer at his very best."  ~Chuck Swindoll

 "Here is a theologian who puts the hay where the sheep can reach it—plainly shows us ordinary folks what it means to know God."  ~Elisabeth Elliot

 "[Packer's] style is succinct, vivid, and epigrammatic. His perspective is mind stretching, as he surveys the whole biblical scene. And the truth he handles fires the heart. At least it fired mine and compelled me to turn aside to worship and to pray."  ~John R. W. Stott

 "Knowing God is a masterpiece by a master theologian. It serves as a wake-up call for those who are asleep to the majesty of God."  ~R. C. Sproul