Book excerpt: The present volume is the second in a five-volume study of church doctrine. The multivolume set will cover the major parts of church doctrine: Canon, God, Creation, Reconciliation, and Redemption. The first volume (now in print) begins with an introduction to the entire project on why doctrine matters, which stresses the ecumenical, global, and above all biblical horizons of church doctrine as a primary expression of Christian witness. The purpose of this second volume can be simply stated: to let God be God. In a world in which the God of the Christian witness is often confused with the tribal god of religion--a god who sets "us" against "them," who divides humanity into nations, peoples, regions, races--the gospel proclaims the living God of the Bible who fashions a new humanity on the earth. This God in the freedom of his love elects to be for humanity, and calls all humanity to live for him. Church doctrine is not a luxury, but a necessity for the living community of faith, by which its witness in word and deed is tested against the one true measure of Christ the risen Lord.