Grounded in Heaven: Recentering Christian Hope and Life on God

by R. Michael Allen

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2018

Overview

Eschatology and ethics are joined at the hip, says Michael Allen, and both need theocentric reorientation. In Grounded in Heaven Allen retrieves the traditional concept of the beatific vision and seeks to bring Christ back into the heart of our theology and our lives on earth.

Responding to the earthly-mindedness of much recent theology, Allen places his focus on God and the heavenly future while also appreciating ways in which the Reformed tradition provides a unique angle on broadly catholic concerns. Reaching back to classical ethics as well as its reformation by Calvin and other Reformed theologians, Grounded in Heaven offers a distinctly Protestant account of the ascetical calling to be heavenly-minded and to deny one’s self.

Key Features

• Examines how eschatology and ethics interact in Christian theology
• Emphasizes a theocentric perspective in Christian living
• Written from within the Reformed tradition

Contents

• Introduction: The Eclipse of Heaven
• In the End, God: Retrieving a Theological Eschatology
• The Visibility of the Invisible God
• Heavenly-Mindedness: Retrieving the Ascetical Way of Life with God
• Self-Denial: Reforming the Practices of Renunciation

Top Highlights

“Hence Reformed theologians (such as Owen and Edwards) have agreed with Gregory of Nyssa that we will not see the divine essence but will see God by means of theophanic (and specifically Christophanic) disclosure.³⁴ The paradoxical language of the invisible making himself visible points, therefore, also to the particularity of that manifestation in Christ.” (Pages 85–86)

“Abraham Kuyper famously declared a century ago that there is not one square inch upon this earth of which Jesus Christ does not say ‘Mine!” (Page 5)

“Richard Sibbes attests to this reality—God’s triune fullness and his eternally loving bent toward sharing that goodness with others—and it can be related directly to sight, for the Scriptures tell us that goodness and flourishing are found only in God’s presence.” (Page 86)

“Yet his argument consistently tacks toward the earthly and minimizes or mocks the heavenly, the beatific, the liturgical, and especially anything that he might deem Platonic.” (Page 4)

“he repeatedly argues that Christians need to be retrained away from their notions of heaven as a personal union with God” (Page 41)

Endorsements

Christians the world over pray as Jesus taught them, saying, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Michael Allen digs up new treasures from this phrase, arguing that heavenly hope—for eternal life in fellowship with the triune God—ought to inform our earthly way of life. The four chapters in this book work variations on the theme that the norms for Christian behavior today (ethics) are related to our hope for tomorrow (eschatology). Contra Marx, it turns out that heaven is not the opiate of the people, lulling them into indifference to present injustices, but a potent stimulant to work for the good of others, denying oneself and, in the process, communicating God’s goodness and displaying God’s coming kingdom. Allen’s call to heavenly-mindedness on earth is a provocative corrective to the contemporary emphasis on earth-bound conceptions of heaven.

—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Can we still say, with the disciple Philip, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied’ (John 14:8)? Is the desire of our hearts ordered to everlasting communion with the Holy Trinity, so that eternal life will rejoice us insofar as we share in Life? Instructed preeminently by John Calvin and John Owen, Michael Allen urges that our encounter with Jesus Christ’s eschatological words and deeds must give us the spiritual-mindedness and self-denial that configure us (and this world) to the Lord whom we love. Ecumenical readers will find this book to be, at its core, an exercise in sound biblical and Augustinian good sense.

—Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary

“With his characteristic clarity and verve, Michael Allen presents an alternative to the recent evangelical trend of thinning down heaven to human—all too human—proportions. In its place, Allen articulates a richly theocentric account of heaven that affixes our affections and actions to the proper end of creation and redemption—the triune God made known in Jesus Christ. In the process, he presents an astonishingly countercultural vision of the Christian life lived in a ‘heavenly-minded’ manner. This lively book is a conversation-changer!”

—J. Todd Billings, Western Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Title: Grounded in Heaven: Recentering Christian Hope and Life on God
• Author: R. Michael Allen
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2018
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Pages: 176
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Desire for God; Beatific vision; Spiritual life › Christianity; Hope › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780802874535, 0802874533
• Resource ID: LLS:GRNDDHVNRCNLFGD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:22:49Z

About R. Michael Allen

R. Michael Allen teaches systematic (or dogmatic) theology and theological ethics as a way to train students to delight in the study of God’s mighty deeds (Psalm 111:2). He hopes that integrated study of Bible and theology will help students prepare for faithful ministry in the local church by considering our worship and witness in light of God’s Word. He is especially interested in how Christian doctrine relates to other theological disciplines: biblical theology, historical theology, and moral theology. He grew up in both the South and in South Florida as the son of a Presbyterian pastor. He is presently a candidate for ordination as a teaching elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

In addition to his work in the seminary, he enjoys serving in local churches: teaching classes for children and adults, preaching, and working in the nursery. Prior to joining the faculty at Knox, he taught undergraduate and graduate students at Wheaton College for two years. He has also been active in the American Academy of Religion, the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Sample Pages from Grounded in Heaven: Recentering Christian Hope and Life on God