A Quick Review of Katherine Sonderegger's Systematic Theology, Vol. 1

Katherine Sonderegger’s Systematic Theology, Volume 1 is a rich, poetic, and often perplexing meditation on the doctrine of God. I found myself regularly thinking, “Yes… and no,” which may, in fact, be precisely the kind of theological space Sonderegger invites her readers to inhabit—a space where affirmation and resistance are not mutually exclusive but spiritually productive.

In this opening volume, Sonderegger begins with the Oneness of God, a deliberate departure from the more typical modern starting point of Trinity. This is not an anti-Trinitarian move, but an insistence that the unity of God is not a theological stepping stone but a profound, generative truth in itself. God, for Sonderegger, is utterly One, and yet always more. There is a reverent retrieval of the divine perfections—omniscience, omnipotence, and even impassibility. While I find impassibility the most difficult to affirm, Sonderegger's articulation of what might be called passible impassibility is both disarming and thought-provoking.

What makes this volume especially compelling is the way Sonderegger engages the resources of classical theism without dismissing the insights of theology from below. She is attentive to God’s subjectivity, to God’s humility, to the ways in which God comes to us—not merely from the heights but from within the depths of human history and experience. God is holy humility—sovereign and self-giving, infinite and intimate. 

Sonderegger consistently uses masculine and capitalized pronouns for God, which will be uncomfortable or even alienating for many readers shaped by feminist and progressive theology. She addresses this concern directly, though her approach will not satisfy everyone. Still, her theological project demands a hearing—not despite these tensions but, perhaps, because of them.

This is a thorough and important work that does not yield easily to summary or system. For me, it is devotional as much as doctrinal, and it resists the tendency toward neatness that often characterizes modern theology. It is doxological, through and through. I’m grateful for it, challenged by it, and eager to continue with the volumes that follow. 

Katherine Sonderegger is the William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary. An Episcopal priest and renowned theologian, she is known for her deep engagement with classical Christian doctrine and her distinctive theological voice, marked by clarity, reverence, and poetic depth. Before joining the faculty at VTS, she taught at Middlebury College and earned degrees from Yale University, Oxford University, and Brown University. Systematic Theology, Volume 1: The Doctrine of God is the first in her multi-volume theological project.