Participating in Christ: Explorations in Paul’s Theology and Spirituality
Overview
Renowned scholar Michael Gorman examines the important Pauline theme of participation in Christ, a topic of great interest in New Testament circles and one that is central to Paul’s theology and spirituality.
Building on his previous work on the topic, Gorman carefully examines participation in Christ in Paul’s letters. His book explores this theme across the letters and includes in-depth studies of key texts such as Galatians 2, 2 Corinthians 5, and Philippians 2. Gorman also explores the contemporary significance of participating in Christ for Christian life and ministry, arguing that it has wide implications for the life of the believer.
Throughout the book, Gorman insightfully unpacks the many theological, spiritual, and pastoral dimensions of participation in Christ and shows its close connection to such related themes as cruciformity, resurrection, justification, theosis, mission, and apocalyptic. One of the themes Gorman explores in particular is what he now calls “resurrectional cruciformity”—that participating in Christ is simultaneously dying and rising with him and that cross-shaped living, infused with the life of the resurrected Lord, is life-giving.
- Continues the participationist and narrative perspective on Paul’s theology and spirituality
- Explores certain critical components of that theology and spirituality
- Examines related themes of justification and resurrection
Part 1: Paul and Participation
- Participating in Christ: An Overview
- The Cross: Revelation of Christ and God, of Humanity and the Church
- Cruciform or Resurrectiform? Paul’s Paradoxical Practice of Resurrectional Cruciformity
- A New Translation of Philippians 2:5 and Its Significance for Paul’s Theology and Spirituality
- The Apocalyptic New Covenant and the Shape of Life in the Spirit according to Galatians
- Reading Galatians 2:15-21 Theologically: Beyond Old and New, West and East
- New Creation! Justification and Participation from Galatians to 2 Corinthians
- Righteousness, Resurrection, Reconciliation: From 2 Corinthians to Romans
- Theosis in 2 Corinthians
Part 2: Paul and Participation Today
- Being “In Christ” Today: Paul’s Letter to the Contemporary Church in North America
- Paul on Practicing and Preaching the Resurrection Today Indexes
Top Highlights
“The search for God—or, rather, God’s search for us—is also ultimately about participation (the heart of the incarnation); indeed, it is about union. How has God connected intimately with us, and how do we, in response, connect intimately with God?” (Page xv)
“Christ did what he did—what the poem narrates as his self-emptying (kenosis) and self-humbling in both incarnation and death (Phil. 2:6–8)—not in spite of his equality with God but because of it.” (Page 9)
“For Paul, however, the cross is more than the source of salvation; it is also its shape. Paul cannot talk for long, if at all, about the cross without connecting it to life in Christ, and he cannot speak of life in Christ for long, if at all, without linking it to Christ crucified.” (Page 12)
“To be in Christ is to embody continuously and simultaneously Good Friday and Easter. This is participating in the Paschal Mystery. This is resurrectional cruciformity.” (Page 74)
“That is, present participation in Christ is resurrection-empowered and resurrection-suffused but cross-shaped.” (Page 66)
Michael Gorman is one of the leading Paul scholars of our time, committing his professional career to expounding the significance of union with Christ for both academic theology and for practical Christianity. In this collection of essays we find Gorman at his erudite best, combining Pauline themes of participation, justification, cruciformity, mission, resurrection living, and spirituality with rare poignancy and power. Few volumes are both informative and spiritually uplifting—this one is!
—Michael F. Bird, academic dean and lecturer in theology, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
Michael Gorman is America’s leading Pauline theologian. I have been following his work on Paul for over fifteen years. Each installment of his research adds fresh and stimulating ideas to the conversation, and Participating in Christ is no exception. This is more than just a book on a narrow topic called ‘participation’; rather, Gorman both addresses this master concept and draws in many other key topics in Paul, such as justification, reconciliation, covenant, and mission.
—Nijay K. Gupta, associate professor of New Testament, Portland Seminary
The fruit of a lifetime of study on Paul, Participating in Christ is accessible, clear, and compelling. Michael Gorman expertly explores the foundational coherence uniting Paul’s theology across his corpus—participation in Christ's narrative through co-crucifixion and co-resurrection. Importantly, he moves beyond simply providing historical exegesis by demonstrating the integration of this reading within the history of the church and in the life of the church today.
—Ben C. Blackwell, associate professor of early Christianity, Houston Baptist University
- Title: Participating in Christ: Explorations in Paul’s Theology and Spirituality
- Author: Michael J. Gorman
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 320
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Pauline Studies
