THEOLOGY, HISTORY, and ETHICS
GOD’S PROVISION, HUMANITY’S NEED The Gift of Our Dependence Christa L. McKirland Foreword by Alan J. Torrance In a world often consumed with self-sufficiency, this book re- minds us that humans have an innate need for the grace of God’s personal presence. Using a rubric from analytic philosophy that defines “fundamen- tal need,” Christa McKirland makes an exegetical and theological case that human beings were created to need the presence of God in order to flourish. She argues for a new way of understanding the image of God and shows the significance of the imago Dei for other topics in the theological system. McKirland explains that the ongoing need for the grace of God’s personal presence is not a liability but is our greatest human dignity and is a critical key to understanding human flourishing. This book sets forth a constructive theological anthropology that affirms the value of all human beings. Professors, students, and scholars of theology will value this work.
“Readers will find this a resource for many pressing biblical and theological questions, but even more, they will find reasons through this text to worship the abundant God.” —AMY PEELER, Wheaton College
JUNE 2022 • 240 pp. • paper • $38.00 • 9781540962799
Christa L. McKirland (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is lecturer in systematic theology at Carey Baptist College in Aotearoa (New Zealand). She is the founder and executive director of Logia International, which seeks to support women across the divinity disciplines for the sake of the academy and the church.
FROM THE FOREWORD “This remarkable book represents a dynamic and constructive vision of theology and theological anthropology. Not only does it integrate resources provided by contemporary biblical exegesis, analytic philosophy, and systematic theology; it does so in a man- ner that is historically informed and that engages thoughtfully with the Christian tradition. The author’s background in analytic theology is reflected in the lucidity, transparency, and analytic rigor with which she presents her arguments. “One might suspect that a book whose title refers to God’s provi- sion for human need is likely to be pragmatic in style and apolo- getically driven. Such a perception, however, could not be further from the truth. At no point do we find culturally conditioned perceptions of human need framing the interpretation of God and the Christian faith. What we have is an exercise in trinitarian and christologically focused anthropology that engages in depth and at length with biblical scholarship and key philosophical resources for the sake of the theological task.” —Alan J. Torrance
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