Princeton Theological Monograph Series Research Articles

Christosis: Engaging Paul's Soteriology with His Patristic Interpreters by Ben C. Blackwell

Reviewed by: Christosis: Engaging Paul's Soteriology with His Patristic Interpreters by Ben C. Blackwell L. Ann Jervis ben c. blackwell, Christosis: Engaging Paul's Soteriology with His Patristic Interpreters (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). Pp. xxxi + 312. Paper $40. This clear and elegant study (first published as Christosis: Pauline Soteriology in Light of Deification in Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria [WUNT 2/314; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011]) advances the current discussion of theōsis in Paul (Stephen Finlan, "Second Peter's Notion of Divine Participation," in Theōsis: Deification in Christian Theology [ed. [End Page 326] Stephen Finlan and Vladimir Kharlamov; Princeton Theological Monograph Series 156; Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2006] 32-50; idem, "Can We Speak of Theōsis in Paul?," in Partakers of the Divine Nature: The History and Development of Deification in the Christian Traditions [ed. Michael J. Christensen and Jeffry A. Wittung; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008] 68-80; M. David Litwa, "2 Corinthians 3:18 and Its Implications for Theōsis," Journal of Theological Interpretation 2 [2008] 117-33; idem, We Are Being Transformed: Deification in Paul's Soteriology [BZNW 187; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012]; Michael J. Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul's Narrative Spirituality of the Cross [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001]; idem, Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul's Narrative Soteriology [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009]). Blackwell's specific interest is theōsis in Paul's soteriology/eschatology, in particular what the author calls "the anthropological experience of salvation" (p. 251). B. chooses to look at the matter from the vantage point of Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria, both of whose views on soteriology he determines can be characterized as "deification." B.'s interaction with Irenaeus and Cyril clarifies that they approach deification as ontological transformation including incorruption and sanctification. Such deification does not, however, do away with the Creator–creature distinction. By means of God's Spirit, believers become like God through grace while their essence remains creaturely. B. terms this "attributive" as opposed to "essential" deification. With wisdom gained from this patristic study, B. examines Paul's soteriology on the basis of four questions: (1) What is the anthropological shape of Paul's soteriology? (2) When do these soteriological changes occur? (3) How do these soteriological changes of the human condition come about? And (4) how does this transformation of the human condition relate to creation? Blackwell's skill at finding apt heuristic categories allows for his patient exegesis of Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 3–5, along with Colossians 2, Galatians 3–4, 1 Corinthians 15, and Philippians 2–3, to be both illuminating and straightforward. For example, he makes a distinction between the intra- and interpersonal effects of soteriology and further divides the intrapersonal into noetic, moral, and somatic. Such careful organizing of Pauline ideas results in clear conclusions. For instance, on the basis of his claim that Paul has a fundamental temporal duality—the present and future ages—B. concludes that Paul's soterio-logical understanding is that in the present age believers experience moral enablement and noetic enlightenment "in a somatic context of suffering" (p. 242). The consummation of Paul's soteriology is somatic resurrection—incorruption. The primary organizing principle that B. identifies in Paul's soteriology is conformation with the death and life of Christ—the life of Christ being Christ's risen, glorified life. At present, believers know Christ's death and life in bodies that are corruptible and so suffer; the future for believers is what Christ knows now—incorruptible life in the glory of God. This life will be a participation in the divine life but will not obliterate the distinction between God and those who participate in God. Blackwell chooses the term christosis over theōsis for various reasons, among which is that he reads Paul's soteriology as "christo-telic in nature" (p. 245). God's purpose is, through the Spirit, to transform humanity into the image of Christ. God's project in Christ is not to recover what Adam and Eve lost but to transcend the original creation—to allow Christ's own glorious existence to be shared by humanity in a transformed, nonhuman creation fitting for such heavenly existence. [End Page...

The Holy Trinity – God for God and God for Us: Seven Positions on the Immanent‐Economic Trinity Relation in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology. By Chung‐HyunBaik (Princeton Theological Monograph Series) Pp. 220, Eugene, Oregon,Pickwick Publications,2011, $26.00.The One the Many and the Trinity: Joseph A. Bracken and the Challenge of Process Metaphysics. By Marc A.Pugliese. Pp. 297, Washington, D. C.,The Catholic University of

The Heythrop JournalVolume 57, Issue 6 p. 1046-1048 BOOK REVIEW The Holy Trinity – God for God and God for Us: Seven Positions on the Immanent-Economic Trinity Relation in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology. By Chung-Hyun Baik (Princeton Theological Monograph Series) Pp. 220, Eugene, Oregon, Pickwick Publications, 2011, $26.00. The One the Many and the Trinity: Joseph A. Bracken and the Challenge of Process Metaphysics. By Marc A. Pugliese. Pp. 297, Washington, D. C., The Catholic University of America Press, 2011, $69.95. Jacob Phillips, Jacob Phillips King's College, LondonSearch for more papers by this author Jacob Phillips, Jacob Phillips King's College, LondonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 10 October 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12_12329Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume57, Issue6November 2016Pages 1046-1048 RelatedInformation

Book Review: Book Reviews

Cultivating Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology. Edited by Nancy E. Snow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. xii + 349 pp. $105.00 (cloth); $36.95 (paper).Health as a Virtue: Thomas Aquinas and the Practice of Habits of Health. By Melanie L. Dobson. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publications, 2014. 170 pp. $20.00 (paper).What does it take to cultivate virtue in oneself, ones children, and one's community? Editor Nancy Snow suggests in Cultivating Virtue that in the recent resurgence in virtue ethics, little attention has been paid to the question of how virtue is developed (p. 1). The book aims to fill this presumed gap, bringing together philosophers, theologians, and moral psychologists to reinforce what each field contributes (p. 16).Yet while a gap in reflecting on the cultivation of virtue may exist in some circles of discussion, that gap does not quite exist in theology. Cultivating Virtue presumes a very broad understanding of theolog/ (Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity), yet its conversation comes mostly from of religion whose entry points (history, culture) are distinct from those with theological concerns from those same traditions. Granted, theology necessarily includes historical and cultural work, and granted the work of of religion is important; still, the fact that most of the authors in this book directly use the word philosophy or philosophers to refer to the book's audience is suggestive of the conversations that are engaged here.Thus, for the audience of this journal, some of the conversations in Cultivating Virtue will show noticeable gaps. As one example, another book recently published, Melanie Dobson's Health as a Virtue: Thomas Aquinas and the Practice of Habits of Health, is one of many books in the Christian theological tradition that stem from a robust Christian theological conversation about virtue and its cultivation. In this review, I will show some points where Dobson's book might demonstrate precisely some of the conversations the authors in Cultivating Virtue advocate. That said, of course neither book is dealing directiy with the other and some of the unique conversations in both books are important, though they do not bear on each other, and so I aim to account for those conversations as well.Accordingly, if readers look a bit past Cultivating Virtue's central organizing question, they will find some weighty essays by an array of notable scholars. Moreover, these scholars often draw on each other's work, which makes for a kind of consistent conversation in these essays that is sometimes lacking in essay collections.The first essay, by Daniel C. Russell, closely examines Aristotle's understanding of virtue in light of the moral psychological research done on what it takes to develop a skill. Russell suggests that too often take a view of Aristotle's ethics as suggesting too lofty a picture of humanity. This then suggests that all we need to do is a kind of computation, plugging in variables of environment, who a person's moral exemplars have been, and the circumstances of the present situation, to arrive at an understanding of perfect development. Contrarily, Russell argues for a pathcentered focus on virtue, borrowed from moral psychology: to start with what we know about human development and improvement, and then extend this knowledge to an account of improving in character in particular (p. 19). Russell argues that cultivating virtue is messy, and there is no neat philosophical theory we can indulge in order to cultivate virtue. Nor is there a perfect community that will definitively cultivate the kind of people we want to be (p. 40).Russell's argument provides good potential grist for a central problem in theological virtue conversation, namely the question of whether and how the Christian community called church helps form Christian character. …

Pentecostal Experience: An Ecumenical Encounter by Peter D. Neumann, and: Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue: Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way? by Amos Yong, and: The Holy Spirit and Ch’i (Qi): A Chiological Approach to Pneumatology by Koo Dong Yun (review)

Peter D. Neumann, Pentecostal Experience: An Ecumenical Encounter. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 187. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2012. Pp. 373. $42.00, paper. Amos Yong, Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue: Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way? Studies in Systematic Theology 11. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2012. Pp. 301. $182.00. Koo Dong Yun, The Holy Spirit and Ch'i (Qi): A Chiological Approach to Pneumatology. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 180. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications (Wipf & Stock), 2012. Pp. 169. $22.00, paper. The recent renaissance in pneumatology alongside a rapidly growing interest in interreligious dialogue in Christian theology has presented a genuine opportunity for Pentecostal and Charismatic theologians who are eager to contribute to a discipline that has long been suspicious of non-Catholic and non-Mainline Protestant theologians. These books by Neumann, Yong, and Yun are best understood in this contextual situation, as all three aspire to demonstrate the distinct value that Pentecostal and Charismatic voices can contribute to the wider field of Christian theology via potential intersections between pneumatology and the theological issues surrounding religious diversity. While there are many differences among these texts, they share a common general entry point into this theological conversation. With varying emphases, all three authors argue that the delicate balancing act between absolute exclusivism and erasing the differences of others has typically led to a deadend for much of contemporary Christian theology and that this balance can be perfected by grounding any Christian theology of religious diversity upon an understanding of the Holy Spirit. While Neumann briefly touches on the topic of religious diversity beyond Christianity, his scope is the narrowest of the three texts. He seeks primarily to demonstrate the value of Pentecostal theology in the Christian ecumenical conversation--no small undertaking, as Pentecostal thought has long been pushed to the periphery of Christian discussions on ecumenicity. Relying on the metaphor of aging, Neumann argues that, while earlier Pentecostal theological models of God, scripture, and experience reflected an adolescent state of mind, more recent theologians in the traditions have helped Pentecostal thought mature to fit better the norms of modern rationality. He makes his case by constructively surveying three contemporary Pentecostal theologians--Frank D. Macchia, Simon K. H. Chan, and Amos Yong--to demonstrate that the leaders in Pentecostal theology have moderated earlier, more radical Pentecostal views of the believer's relationship with God. They have reconceptualized this Pentecostal view by emphasizing that, while believers' experiences with the Holy Spirit are direct, they are also still mediated through contextual interpretation through reason, tradition, culture, and scripture. The astute reader will notice the mainline Protestant influence (the Wesleyan Quadrilateral) on this reconstruction, and Neumann devotes a significant portion of the text to comparing Macchia, Chan, and Yong to Mainline Protestant and Catholic theologians from Jurgen Moltmann to Yves Congar. He does an excellent job of demonstrating that this conversation can and should go both ways and that Pentecostal theologians have a great deal to contribute to Christian thought on the Holy Spirit and beyond. The Holy Spirit and Ch'i (Qi) is Yun's first book since his important 2003 comparative survey, Baptism in the Holy Spirit. These texts share much in common, both methodologically and topically. Trying to avoid the pitfalls of both exclusivism and inclusivism, Yun searches for a theological alternative to the question of religious diversity by reinterpreting pneumatology through the Eastern conceptions of ch'i (spirit). Within these conceptions, Yun discovers a useful distinction between the formal presence of the spirit (sangjeok), which is universally present in all cultures, and the material aspect of the spirit (muljeok), which is revealed in particular people, events, and features. …

Book Review: The Virtue of Bonhoeffer's Ethics: A Study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics in Relation to Virtue Ethics

The of Bonhoeffer's Ethics: A Study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics in Relation to Ethics. By Jennifer Moberly. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 194. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publications, 2013. xvi + 254 pp. $30.00 (paper).This important book by Jennifer Moberly marks the first sustained and detailed engagement with the question of how Bonhoeffer's Ethics as a whole might be related to what is now called ethics. Following the introduction, the second chapter, and Virtue Ethics,' deals with the question central to the book itself: would Bonhoeffer have understood himself as what we might call a ethicist? Dealing honestly and openly with the ostensible reasons why we might reply to this in the negative, Moberly examines the manuscripts of Ethics in detail (as well as secondary commentators) to demonstrate why there are no prima facie reasons simply to deny that Bonhoeffer was a virtue ethicist on the grounds of his comments about Aquinas and ambivalent uses of the term virtue. This chapter lays the foundations for the explorations in the remaining chapters and allows the issues examined to be developed in depth.The following chapter offers a detailed overview of the tradition of virtue ethics within the Christian tradition, examining Augustine, Aquinas, and MacIntyre. This description recognizes the particularity of these different thinkers and the innate danger in overly systematizing their works into a unified whole, but goes on to outline the kinds of concerns and questions which typify such ethicists. These concerns form the basis of the examination in chapter 4, where Moberly examines Bonhoeffer's ethics as a whole in relation to such a description of virtue ethicists. The mediating concept in this analysis is the doctrine of sanctification: Moberly contends that becoming virtuous might find a theological analogy in being sanctified.Chapter 5, Mode of Ethical Discourse, applies the insights of chapter 4 (and its analysis of Bonhoeffer in relation to virtue ethics) to specific ethical topics: the natural; suum cuique; the right to bodily life; arbitrary killing (a typical example); suicide (an atypical example). The chapter then offers an overview of Bonhoeffer's modes of ethical thinking in relation both to Ethics and Letters and Papers from Prison. The final material chapter considers Bonhoeffer's ethics in relation not to the virtue components of his thought, but to the (Barthian) divine command approach to ethics which is also very prevalent in his thinking. …

WINGEIER-RAYO, Philip D., Where are the Poor? A Comparison of the Ecclesial Base Communities and Pentecostalism – A Case Study in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Princeton Theological Monograph Series, vol. 153. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011. xii+164pp. Pbk

WINGEIER-RAYO, Philip D., Where are the Poor? A Comparison of the Ecclesial Base Communities and Pentecostalism – A Case Study in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Princeton Theological Monograph Series, vol. 153. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011. xii+164pp. Pbk

Review of Peterson, Brian Neil, Ezekiel in Context: Ezekiel's Message Understood in its Historical Setting of Covenant Curses, and Ancient Near Eastern Mythological Motifs (Princeton Theological Monograph Series, 182; Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012).

Review of Peterson, Brian Neil, Ezekiel in Context: Ezekiel's Message Understood in its Historical Setting of Covenant Curses, and Ancient Near Eastern Mythological Motifs (Princeton Theological Monograph Series, 182; Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012).

Creation and Chaos Talk: Charting a Way Forward. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 185

Creation and Chaos Talk: Charting a Way Forward. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 185

Lloyd Kim. Polemic in the Book of Hebrews: Anti-Judaism, Anti-Semitism, or Supersessionism? Princeton Theological Monograph Series 64

No abstract is available.

Making Disciples in a World Parish: Global Perspectives on Mission & Evangelism. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 162

Making Disciples in a World Parish: Global Perspectives on Mission & Evangelism. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 162

Making Disciples in a World Parish: Global Perspectives on Mission & Evangelism. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 162

Making Disciples in a World Parish: Global Perspectives on Mission & Evangelism. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 162

The Pietist Impulse in Christianity. Edited by Christian T. Collins Winn, Christopher Gehrz, G. William Carlson, and Eric Holst. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick, 2011. xxvi + 340 pp. $40.00 paper.

The Pietist Impulse in Christianity. Edited by Christian T. Collins Winn, Christopher Gehrz, G. William Carlson, and Eric Holst. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick, 2011. xxvi + 340 pp. $40.00 paper. - Volume 81 Issue 4

Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission: A Social Identity Perspective on Local Leadership Development in Corinth and Ephesus. By JackBarentsen. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 168. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011. Pp. xviii + 378. Paper, $44.00.

Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission: A Social Identity Perspective on Local Leadership Development in Corinth and Ephesus. By JackBarentsen. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 168. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011. Pp. xviii + 378. Paper, $44.00.

Johnson, Roger E. Peacemaking and Religious Violence: From Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Jefferson. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2009. ix+245 pp. $28.00 (paper).

Johnson, Roger E. <i>Peacemaking and Religious Violence: From Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Jefferson</i>. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2009. ix+245 pp. $28.00 (paper).

Gerald W. King, Disfellowshiped: Pentecostal Responses to Fundamentalism in the United States, 1906-1943, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 164 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011). xviii + 262 pp. $31.00 paper.

Gerald W. King, Disfellowshiped: Pentecostal Responses to Fundamentalism in the United States, 1906-1943, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 164 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011). xviii + 262 pp. $31.00 paper.

Labor's Millennium: Christianity, Industrial Education, and the Founding of the University of Illinois. By Brett H. Smith. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 124. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick, 2010. x + 188 pp. $23.00 paper.

Labor's Millennium: Christianity, Industrial Education, and the Founding of the University of Illinois. By Brett H. Smith. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 124. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick, 2010. x + 188 pp. $23.00 paper. - Volume 80 Issue 3

Trinitarian Theology after Barth (Princeton Theological Monograph Series). Edited by Myk Habets and Phillip Tolliday

Trinitarian Theology after Barth <i>(Princeton Theological Monograph Series)</i>. Edited by Myk Habets and Phillip Tolliday

Stephen Final and Vladimir Kharlamov (eds), Theosis: Deification in Christian Theology, Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2006), pp. 185. $22.00.

Stephen Final and Vladimir Kharlamov (eds), Theosis: Deification in Christian Theology, Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2006), pp. 185. $22.00. - Volume 63 Issue 2

Consenting to God and Nature: Toward a Theocentric, Naturalistic, Theological Ethics, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 55; Practices, Politics, and Performances: Toward a Communal Hermeneutic for Christian Ethics, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 57

Consenting to God and Nature: Toward a Theocentric, Naturalistic, Theological Ethics, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 55; Practices, Politics, and Performances: Toward a Communal Hermeneutic for Christian Ethics, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 57

Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945–1961 (review)

Reviewed by: Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945–1961 Bernard Aspinwall Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945–1961. By David Hein. [Princeton Theological Monograph Series.] (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. 2007. Pp. xviii, 122. $17.00 paperback. ISBN 978-1-597-52824-5.) Geoffrey Fisher, archbishop of Canterbury, presided over the Anglican communion during a momentous transition in modern British culture and society: from deference, dependence, and duty to indifference, insecurity, and mass individualism. The end of empire was fast approaching as India and then African nations gained independence while the masses at home enjoyed the welfare state. Revolutions in higher education, health, and consumer spending gradually gathered pace. The end of National Service in 1960, emerging feminism, and comparative affluence further eroded the old order: money did not smell. The Anglican Church and all Western Christian churches faced a new intractable problem, wealthier leisured classes rather than poverty: it was a shock. David Hein’s fine book shows Fisher facing these shifts with headmasterly composure, if not creative flair. Like Cardinal Griffin, his Roman Catholic counterpart, he remained in his safe haven: both were benign authoritarians. Fisher’s businesslike administration proved far more valuable in the long term than popular headlines. Hein shows Fisher as a traditional, gentlemanly vicar, comfortable in the small village of his youth and dotage. An unimpressive public speaker, perhaps surprisingly for a public school headmaster, he proved more a rigid upholder of the Law of God than the spirit of the Gospel. In balancing competing wings of the Anglican Church, he was suspicious of intellectuals and uncomfortable in a Britain “that never had it so good.” After evading the morality of using A-bombs against Japan, he became a cold war realist in accepting nuclear weapons. To him, adultery was always a sin, and so he [End Page 170] opposed Princess Margaret’s possible marriage to an innocent divorced man. Similarly, he found Premium Bonds unacceptable gambling. He refused to countenance the representation of the Church of Scotland in the House of Lords and enjoyed his Masonic membership. By establishing the Church Commissioners within the Anglican Church he was able to improve clerical stipends. Stability and order were his key ideas. A disappointment as successor to the short-lived William Temple, Fisher proved a safe pair of hands. Less intellectual than Bishop Barnes, J. A. T. Robinson, and their ilk, he felt their academic concerns unhelpful in the public arena. Although he steadied the ship with his much criticized and protracted work on canon law, he reached out to the World Council of Churches and appreciated the emerging world in visits to Africa, where he laid the groundwork for the postcolonial church, to North America, and to Australia. The televised Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 brought both royal splendor and Anglican liturgy to a wider public in a bland postwar world. His visit to Pope John XXIII paved the way for ecumenical advances. Like the less than charismatic Labour premier Clement (Richard) Attlee, founder of the welfare state, he proved an effective bridge to the modern world. Within shorter confines than Edward Carpenter’s 820-page biography (1991), Hein gives us an excellent, balanced overview. Bernard Aspinwall University of Glasgow Copyright © 2009 The Catholic University of America Press