Review
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Title: To Become Like God
Author: Andrew C. Skinner
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Religious commentary
Year Published: 2016
Number of Pages: 164
Binding: hardcover
ISBN10: N/A
ISBN13: 978-1-62972-198-9
Price: $18.99
Reviewed by Elizabeth W. Roach for the Association for Mormon Letters
If I had been asked before I read “To Become Like God” by Andrew C. Skinner, I would have said I understood the doctrine of theosis, or the idea that man’s destiny is to become like God. Eternal Progression, yep, I get it, thank you. However, reading this book was like finding a secret passageway in the house I have lived in all my life. I felt like a door opened in a previously solid wall and let me in to explore rooms I never knew existed that had been a part of my house all along. And not dusty, forgotten storage rooms, either — brilliantly lit, amazing rooms that just make my jaw drop in wonder. On practically every page, I found a new insight or a new way of looking at a subject that I had been familiar with since my very first memories.
The main point of Skinner’s book is to show that the Latter- Day Saint doctrine of mankind becoming more like God through the grace of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is not original to Joseph Smith but was freely taught throughout the early Christian church in the ministries of Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul, John the Revelator, and successive church leaders. It is espoused by other Christian denominations today, and still remains the pivotal answer to man’s quest for purpose in this life.
Skinner, a religious studies and ancient history scholar, brings numerous witnesses out of the dust of historical and religious documents and allows them to witness in their own words. He uses a warm, accessible, conversational tone as he quotes Martin Luther and John Calvin of the Reformation as well as the modern prophets of the Restoration such as Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others. Apostles and prophets contemporary to our day bear their witness to this great truth as well. It does not diminish God to have His children grow to become like Him, but it simply shows the pattern that all creatures can develop to become like their parents. As Boyd K. Packer taught his children, as chicks become chickens, children of God can grow to become like Him.
“To Become Like God” is a slim, concise volume that can be read and reread. Skinner, a skillful lecturer and talented teacher, leads the reader along various questions and evidences until the reader accumulates enough information to form his or her own opinions.
The book is full of great quotes and thoughts. I include just one that rewrote how I look at my world: the Hebrew name Jehovah, which was Christ’s name before His mortal birth, can be translated as The Eternal One, I AM, or The One that is Always There. That last interpretation of His name was new for me. Every good thing in my life is directly due to The One that is Always There. Theosis, or becoming like God, is only made possible through the love, mission, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ or Jehovah, the One that is Always There. He is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh and only with His help can we bridge the gap that lingers between God and ourselves.
Every time I pick up “To Become Like God” again, I will look forward to understanding even more about the great purpose of our lives here on earth, which is to become like the One who gave us life in the first place.