God of Salvation: Soteriology in Theological Perspective

The theology of salvation stands at the heart of the Christian faith. Christians believe that creaturely existence is currently not the way it's supposed to be, but that the same God who brought the world into being acts to renew and restore it - to bring all things to their proper end in relation to their creator. Central to this action are the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, the perfecter of creation. How is this process to be described? Very often the structure of Christian salvation is seen in terms of a single theme, such as atonement for sins, forgiveness, liberation or friendship with God, Important as such motifs are, it is easy to reduce things simply to a matter of personal experience, or to merely human attempts to symbolize an intrinsically mysterious encounter with the divine. The essays in this book seek to focus things differently. Their common concern is with an often rather neglected but vital aspect of Christian confession - the essential relationship between the nature of salvation and the character of the God who saves. What kind of God is it who confronts creatures in the drama of divine action outworked in worldly history? In what ways does God's saving outreach reflect God's character? How might a Christian depiction of salvation best bear witness to these features? What difference might it make to start with the contours of the identity of God as encountered in the Christian gospel, and view everything else in the light of that? In addressing these questions, this book offers fresh appraisals of a range of major themes in theology: the relationship between divine purposes and creaturely history; the holiness, love and judgement of God; nature and grace; human and non-human ends; communion with God; and salvation outside the church. In looking at these issues in the light of God's nature and identity, it offers a stimulating and tightly argued reassessment of what a Christian theology of salvation ought to look like, and asks what the implications will be for Christian life and witness in the world today.