This text introduces the reader to the great variety of distinctive interpretations within the Christian tradition regarding theologies of salvation, distinctive interpretations expressed by a wide range of Christian theologians.

Regeneration, justification, sanctification. These are the primary words that come to mind when talking about the theology of salvation. However, the Bible teaches that each of these concepts is firmly rooted in something more foundational: our union with Christ. In this accessible book, Johnson introduces us to this neglected doctrine, arguing that it is the dominant organizing concept for salvation in the New Testament. In eight thought-provoking chapters, Johnson shows how a believer's position "in Christ" is the lens through which other all other facets of salvation should be understood. Interacting extensively with the biblical text and drawing on lessons from church history, Johnson presents a compelling case for the unique importance of this beautiful, biblical doctrine.

All too often, the Christian understanding of salvation has been one-dimensional, reducing all that God has done for us to a single conception or idea. Tom Greggs, one of today's leading theologians, offers a brief, accessibly written, but theologically substantive treatment of the doctrine of salvation. Drawing on the broad tradition of the church and the Christian faith in explaining the Christian understandings of salvation, Greggs challenges the contemporary church to be captured afresh by the immeasurable height, depth, and breadth of God's saving actions.

The saving mission of Jesus constitutes the foundation for Christian mission, and the Christian gospel is its message. This second edition of a classic NSBT volume emphasizes how the Bible presents a continuing narrative of God's mission, providing a robust historical and chronological backbone to the unfolding of the early Christian mission.

All religious traditions that ground themselves in texts must grapple with certain questions concerning the texts' authority. Yet there has been much debate within Christianity concerning the nature of scripture and how it should be understood—a debate that has gone on for centuries. Christian Theologies of Scripture traces what the theological giants have said about scripture from the early days of Christianity until today. It incorporates diverse discussions about the nature of scripture, its authority, and its interpretation, providing a guide to the variety of views about the Bible throughout the Christian tradition. Preeminent scholars including Michael S. Horton, Graham Ward, and Pamela Bright offer chapters on major figures in the pre-modern, reformation, and early modern eras, from Origen and Aquinas to Luther and Calvin to Barth and Balthasar. They illuminate each thinker's understanding of the Christian scriptures and their views on interpreting the Bible. The book also includes overview chapters to orient readers to the key questions regarding scripture in each era, as well as chapters on scripture and feminism, scripture in the African American Christian tradition, and scripture and postmodernism. This volume will be indispensable reading for students and all those interested in the nature and authority of Christian scripture.

Christians trying to "save the planet" have to relate "creation" with "salvation." This volume explores the ways in which this task is approached by a wide range of recent theological movements.

Delves into the ancient debate regarding the nature and purpose of the seven sacraments What are the sacraments? For centuries, this question has elicited a lively discussion and among theologians, and a variety of answers that do anything but outline a unified belief concerning these fundamental ritual structures. In this extremely cohesive and well-crafted volume, a group of renowned scholars map the theologies of sacraments offered by key Christian figures from the Early Church through the twenty-first century. Together, they provide a guide to the variety of views about sacraments found throughout Christianity, showcasing the variety of approaches to understanding the sacraments across the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox faith traditions. Chapters explore the theologies of thinkers from Basil to Aquinas, Martin Luther to Gustavo Gutiérrez. Rather than attempting to distill their voices into a single view, the book addresses many of the questions that theologians have tackled over the two thousand year history of Christianity. In doing so, it paves the way for developing theologies of sacraments for present and future contexts. The text places each theology of the sacraments into its proper sociohistorical context, illuminating how the church has used the sacraments to define itself and its congregations over time. The definitive resource on theologies of the sacraments, this volume is a must-read for students, theologians, and spiritually interested readers alike.

How does the Christian proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ relate to the lives of the people who suffer most? Does salvation consist entirely of the hope for eternal life with God? How might the church effectively preach the message of salvation in Christ today? In Jesus and Salvation, Robin Ryan adopts a historical approach to these questions, discussing key themes and classic authors in the developing tradition about Christ the Savior. He examines modern soteriology by engaging the thought of Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and Elizabeth Johnson. He also discusses contemporary conceptions of salvation within an evolutionary view of the cosmos as well as issues related to the Christian confession of Jesus as universal savior in a religiously pluralistic world. Ryan concludes by offering his own reflections on the meaning of salvation from God in Jesus Christ. By understanding salvation in Christ as both gift and call, Ryan invites readers to recognize in the saving grace of God a responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the rest of creation.

FollowingCovenant and EschatologyandLord and Servant, this concluding volume of a four-part series examines Christian salvation from the perspective of covenant theology. InCovenant and Salvation, Michael Horton surveys law and gospel, union with Christ, and justification and theosis, conversing with both classical and contemporary viewpoints.

Universalism runs like a slender thread through the history of Christian theology. Over the centuries Christian universalism, in one form or another, has been reinvented time and time again. In this book an international team of scholars explore thediverse universalisms of Christian thinkers from the Origen to Moltmann. In the introduction Gregory MacDonald argues that theologies of universal salvation occupy a space between heresy and dogma. Therefore disagreements about whether all will be saved should not be thought of as debates between the orthodox and heretics but rather as in-house debates between Christians. The studies in this collection aim, in the first instance, to hear, understand, and explain the eschatological claims of a range of Christians from the third to the twenty-first centuries. They also offer some constructive, critical engagement with those claims.