Philosophers have always acknowledged that to embark on a philosophical discussion of the nature of God is to push philosophy to its limits, if not to transgress those limits entirely. Even those who were most confident that philosophy could and should throw light on the nature of God have usually been comparatively modest about how bright we should expect the light to be. In the "The Nature of God Gerard Hughes breaches the philosophical construction of God and metaphysics by examining the argumentative validity that has historically and philosophically legitimized God as both essential and existent. Surveying the themes of non-contradiction, necessity, and cause, Hughes tests the philosophical terms and presuppositions which underlie arguments alleging the existence and essence of God. He looks at the work of Aquinas, Ockham, Hume, and Kant, by interrogating the "characteristics" of God which have been philosophically central: existence, simplicity, omniscience, omnipotence, and goodness. "The Nature of God is compelling, sophisticated, and clear--an altogether convincing critique of the subject of God and the project which constructs God as existential and essential.