Overview

Union with Christ in the New Testament is a study of the union between God and those he has redeemed, as it is represented in the New Testament. In conversation with historical and systematic theology, Grant Macaskill argues that the union between God and his people is consistently represented by the New Testament authors as covenantal, with the participation of believers in the life of God specifically mediated by Jesus, the covenant Messiah: hence, it involves union with Christ. Christ's mediation of divine participation of believers in the life of God specifically mediated by Jesus, the covenant Messiah: hence, it involves union with Christ. Christ's mediation of divine presence is grounded in the ontology of the Incarnation, the real divinity and real humanity of his person, and by the full divine personhood of the Holy Spirit, who unites believers to him in faith. His personal narrative of death and resurrection is understood in relation to the covenant by which God's dealings with humanity are ordered. In their union with him, believers are transformed both morally and noetically, so that the union has an epistemic dimension, strongly affirmed by the theological tradition but sometimes confused by scholars with Platonism. This account is developed in close engagement with the New Testament texts, read against Jewish backgrounds, and allowed to inform one another as context. As a 'participatory' understanding of New Testament soteriology, it is advanced in distinction to other participatory approaches that are here considered to be deficient, particularly the so-called 'apocalyptic' approach that is popular in Pauline scholarship, and those attempts to read New Testament soteriology in terms of theosis, elements of which are nevertheless affirmed.

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9780198818731

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Reviews

'Grant Macaskill's Union with Christ in the New Testament is an ambitious and rare work of New Testament scholarship. Rarely do modern scholars dare to suggest that the writings of the NT as a whole offer a cohesive vision of a topic as broad as union with Christ . . . It is the rare combination of approaches so often held apart or dismissed that makes Macaskill's work so exciting and promising . . . Macaskill offers insightful summaries and analyses of the major works from Deissmann up to the recent work of Constantine Campbell . . . It's refreshing openness to ontological questions and boldness in bringing together approaches too often held apart are a hopeful sign of real progress in the field of theological interpretation. One hopes that such openness will inspire others to further the work of bridging the gap between biblical studies and theology. --Isaac Augustine Morales, O.P., Nova et Vetera This fascinating study is an important contribution both to New Testament studies and to dogmatic theology. --Richard J. Ounsworth OP, New Blackfriars Macaskill has given scholarship and the church a gift...Union with Christ in the NT is a wonderful addition to biblical studies related to participation and theosis. I hope many will read Macaskill's work and NT union passages with new and refreshing insights...Not only will biblical studies students find Macaskill's text refreshing, but so will pastors and students of Second Temple Judaism, patristics, and Reformed and Lutheran theology. --Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Grant Macaskill's Union with Christ in the New Testament is a must-read for all with scholarly interest in the topic of union with Christ. The primary value of Macaskill's study lies in the fact that he takes into account the entire NT, rather than just the Pauline corpus (as is the case with most treatments of union with Christ) or the Pauline corpus and the Fourth Gospel. While the richest and most explicit treatments of union with Christ are to be found in these two bodies of Scripture, the rest of the NT has much to say as well, offering both additional insight as well as demonstrating coherence with the writings of Paul and John. Because NT scholars tend to focus on Jewish and Graeco-Roman contexts and backgrounds and neglect examining the context provided by the wider NT, the fact that Macaskill skillfully does the latter makes this volume a valuable read that provides a good model to follow for all students and scholars of the NT. --Jennifer Guo

'Grant Macaskill's Union with Christ in the New Testament is an ambitious and rare work of New Testament scholarship. Rarely do modern scholars dare to suggest that the writings of the NT as a whole offer a cohesive vision of a topic as broad as union with Christ . . . It is the rare combination of approaches so often held apart or dismissed that makes Macaskill's work so exciting and promising . . . Macaskill offers insightful summaries and analyses of the major works from Deissmann up to the recent work of Constantine Campbell . . . It's refreshing openness to ontological questions and boldness in bringing together approaches too often held apart are a hopeful sign of real progress in the field of theological interpretation. One hopes that such openness will inspire others to further the work of bridging the gap between biblical studies and theology. --Isaac Augustine Morales, O.P., Nova et Vetera This fascinating study is an important contribution both to New Testament studies and to dogmatic theology. --Richard J. Ounsworth OP, New Blackfriars Macaskill has given scholarship and the church a gift...Union with Christ in the NT is a wonderful addition to biblical studies related to participation and theosis. I hope many will read Macaskill's work and NT union passages with new and refreshing insights...Not only will biblical studies students find Macaskill's text refreshing, but so will pastors and students of Second Temple Judaism, patristics, and Reformed and Lutheran theology. --Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Grant Macaskill's Union with Christ in the New Testament is a must-read for all with scholarly interest in the topic of union with Christ. The primary value of Macaskill's study lies in the fact that he takes into account the entire NT, rather than just the Pauline corpus (as is the case with most treatments of union with Christ) or the Pauline corpus and the Fourth Gospel. While the richest and most explicit treatments of union with Christ are to be found in these two bodies of Scripture, the rest of the NT has much to say as well, offering both additional insight as well as demonstrating coherence with the writings of Paul and John. Because NT scholars tend to focus on Jewish and Graeco-Roman contexts and backgrounds and neglect examining the context provided by the wider NT, the fact that Macaskill skillfully does the latter makes this volume a valuable read that provides a good model to follow for all students and scholars of the NT. --Jennifer Guo

Author Information

Grant Macaskill is the Kirby Laing Chair of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to this, he had taught as Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of St Andrews. His research engages with the New Testament as a coherent body of theological literature emerging from the diverse contexts of late Second Temple Judaism. His publications include In the Fullness of Time: Essays on Christology, Creation, and Eschatology in Honor of Richard Bauckham (2016), The Slavonic Texts of 2 Enoch (2013), and Revealed Wisdom and Inaugurated Eschatology in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (2007).

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