Overview
"The night before his crucifixion, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asks his Father to take away the cup of his suffering, but then says, ""not my will, but yours, be done."" Shortly afterward, Judas arrives, and his arrival reveals something important about the Father's will. Yet much remains obscure. The sheer fact of Christ's crucifixion shows only that God was not willing to spare his Son. It does not shed any light on the positive content of the Father's will. Drawing on philosophical analysis and historical-critical exegesis, The Father's Will sets out to clarify the Father's will for Christ and how it relates to his death on the cross. Then, after considering the theologies of Anselm and Peter Abelard, it argues for the recovery of the early Christian category of ransom. Since Christians look to the crucifixion to make sense of their suffering, the Father's will for Christ relates to many existential questions; it also shapes the place of God the Father in Christian theology and culture. Interpreting the crucifixion as a ransom makes the goodness of God more evident. It also makes it easier to see God the Father as the author of our salvation, rather than a stern judge who must be placated. And since the category of ransom traces back to Jesus' saying in the Gospels about giving his life ""as a ransom for many"" it has great claim to interpret the crucifixion in the way Jesus himself interpreted it."
Full Product Details
Author: Nicholas E. Lombardo (Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, The Catholic University of America)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.40cm
, Length: 24.00cm
Weight: 0.582kg
ISBN: 9780199688586
ISBN 10: 0199688583
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 28 November 2013
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Lombardo convincingly argues for the unity of the Trinity and the morality of the divine will in the crucifixion while raising a ridiculed metaphor of redemption back to respectability and thus beautifully inviting the church to re-appropriate its most ancient theory of redemption, the devils ransom theory. Forest Buckner, The Two Cities
Author Information
Nicholas E. Lombardo, O.P., received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and is now Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His book The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion is published by The Catholic University of America Press, for which he was awarded the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in 2011.
