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A Thought in the Mind of God
“Everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God, sustained by His will, authored by His purpose, and held together by personal covenants of love.”Read Now
The following works were referenced, cited, or influential in the development of this book. This is not an exhaustive academic bibliography. It is a record of the voices that shaped the framework, whether by agreement or by contrast.
The King James Version (KJV). All Scripture quotations in this book are from the Authorized Version of 1611.
Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. London: Penguin Books, 1997.
Wise, Michael, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.
Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. Book XIII, Chapter V, Section 9.
Clark, Gordon H. Religion, Reason, and Revelation. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1961.
Edwards, Jonathan. The End for Which God Created the World. 1765. Edwards’ idealist ontology, largely ignored by his theological heirs, is the closest historical predecessor to operational idealism. See Appendix J.
Edwards, Jonathan. Notes on the Mind. Unpublished during Edwards’ lifetime. Contains his most explicit idealist commitments.
Fortner, Don. The Attributes of God. Grace Baptist Church of Danville. Fortner’s articulation of preventing-prevenient mercy. Quoted in Appendix A3’s section on prevenient grace.
Fortner, Don. Basic Bible Doctrine. Grace Baptist Church of Danville. Sovereign grace systematic with irresistible-effectual-call emphasis. Referenced in Appendix A3.
Fortner, Don. Discovering Christ Day by Day. Grace Baptist Church of Danville. Contains Fortner’s explicit two-part formulation of prevenient grace (providential grace and preparatory grace). Quoted in Appendix A3.
Gill, John. A Body of Doctrinal Divinity. London, 1769.
Luther, Martin. The Bondage of the Will. 1525.
Poythress, Vern S. In the Beginning Was the Word: Language — A God-Centered Approach. Wheaton: Crossway, 2009. The closest contemporary Reformed thinker to operational idealism, though Poythress never commits to the idealist position. See Appendix J.
Toplady, Augustus. The Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England. London, 1774.
Van Til, Cornelius. The Defense of the Faith. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1955. Van Til’s insistence that “there are no brute facts” leans idealist, but he explicitly rejected idealism by name due to its association with Hegel.
Higby, Bob. “Dead Sea Scroll Evidence.” pristinegrace.org.
Higby, Bob. Various articles on sovereign grace theology. pristinegrace.org.
Erkel, Darryl. Various articles on participatory ecclesiology. pristinegrace.org. Erkel’s work shaped the ecclesiology of Chapter 23 and has been the author’s held position for twenty-six years.
Zens, Jon, ed. Searching Together. Periodical (formerly Baptist Reformation Review). Zens’s decades of work on the participatory ekklesia and the New Testament church walked alongside Erkel’s in shaping the ecclesiology of Chapter 23.
Reisinger, John G. Sound of Grace. Periodical. New Covenant Media. Reisinger’s work on old-covenant-to-new-covenant discontinuity was the bridge the author walked from Dispensationalism into New Covenant Theology and eventually into Bob Higby’s Modified Covenant Theology. The covenantal architecture this book renders passed through Reisinger on its way to MCT.
Kraft, Brandan. “Grace Gems from the Dead Sea Scrolls.” pristinegrace.org.
Kraft, Brandan. “Modified Covenant Theology.” pristinegrace.org.
Kraft, Brandan. Various articles on sovereign grace theology, 2005-2026. pristinegrace.org.
Berkeley, George. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. 1710. Berkeley’s subjective idealism (esse est percipi) is distinguished from operational idealism in Appendix J. Perception is passive. Authorship is intentional.
Bostrom, Nick. “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 211, 2003. The secular simulation hypothesis is engaged in Appendix G and contrasted with operational idealism in Appendix J.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Phenomenology of Spirit. 1807. Hegel’s absolute idealism became the foundation of liberal Protestant theology and the reason the Reformed world rejected idealism entirely. See Appendix J.
Horton, Michael S. “Panentheism and Jonathan Edwards.” Modern Reformation, April 30, 2016. https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/panentheism-and-jonathan-edwards. Horton charges Edwards’ idealism with panentheism and cites Hodge’s warning. The framework responds in Appendix J.
Johnson, Phil. Correspondence regarding pristinegrace.org and the charge of “hyper-Calvinism.” See Appendix K.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 1667. Referenced in Chapter 13 regarding the literary tradition of Satan’s “fall.”
Plato. Republic. Circa 380 BC. The “law of Plato,” that the deity must never be proposed as the author of evil, is critiqued throughout this book.
Copyright © 2026 by Brandan Kraft. All rights reserved.
Published by Pristine Grace Publishing · pristinegrace.org
ISBN: 979-8-234-05049-6 · First Edition, 2026
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Everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God.
I spent the majority of my adult life building something I didn't know had a name. It started with the Scriptures and a lot of late nights. It ended with one sentence that generates every theological position I hold, from the nature of God to the nature of heaven and hell, without contradiction. One sentence. Thirty chapters. Sixteen appendices. And if you accept the sentence, everything else follows.
Most systematic theologies start with a list of doctrines and work through them one by one. This book starts with an ontological claim - that everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God - and derives everything from that single proposition. This is not a rearrangement of existing theology. This is a paradigm shift. Since Augustine imported Plato's metaphysics into the church in the fourth century, every major system of Christian theology has been built on a foundation the Scriptures never laid. This book identifies that foundation, names it, traces its influence across sixteen centuries, and replaces it with an ontology derived from Scripture alone. If the claim holds, this is the most significant shift in the theological starting point since Augustine. And I believe it holds.
This is not a devotional. This is not a commentary. This is a systematic theology built from the ground up by a computer programmer with no seminary degree, no denominational backing, and no one's permission. It uses the vocabulary of information theory, computer science, and quantum physics to describe realities that traditional theological language has never been able to reach. If you are a scientist who suspects that information is fundamental to reality but can't bring yourself to call it God, this book speaks your language. If you are a sovereign grace believer looking for a system that follows the logic all the way, this book does that. And if you have been told that the sharpest doctrine produces the coldest heart, this book ends with the widest arms you have ever seen in a Reformed theology.
The digital edition is free. The truth doesn't come with a price tag. - Brandan Kraft
“Everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God, sustained by His will, authored by His purpose, and held together by personal covenants of love.”Read Now
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