Redemption
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Overview
Anglican belief and practice allows that God communicates through his Word as well as through the beauty of his works. The trick, of course, is to keep the two sources of communication in balance. Nowhere is this balance better struck than in the writings of the atheist-turned-Anglican-clergyman Alister McGrath. McGrath takes Scripture very seriously as an unshakable source of truth for belief. At the same time, McGrath recognizes that God also communicates through art and literature. McGrath draws on these two different sources to teach us more about God and about how to live in light of what he has communicated. McGrath also offers a thoroughgoing defense of God’s existence, again drawing not only evidence from Scripture but from the beauty of creation.
Illuminated by paintings including Sir Edward John Poynter’s The Prodigal’s Return, Amedeo Bocchi’s On the Lawn, Jacopo Bassano’s The Last Supper, Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ, Antonio Ciseri’s Ecce Homo, Salvador Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross, and El Greco’s Pietá, McGrath’s new volume vividly explores the divine compassion that led God to sacrifice his only son to save a world oppressed and unable to help itself.
- Examines why Jesus had to die, and the concept of redemption
- Discusses the difference the coming of Jesus made in how we see the world, cope with suffering, and think about God
- Provides inspirational works of art to enhance the discussion
- Introduction
- Being Wanted
- Coming Home
- Deliverance from Bondage
- The Battle within Us
- Being Judged
- The Death of Christ
- Where was God?
- For Further Reading
- Illustrations
Top Highlights
“Acceptance and love precede renewal and recovery. Redemption, in its deepest sense, is about being accepted as we are, while being transformed into what we are meant to be.” (Page 10)
“Adoption is about being wanted. It is a compelling affirmation of belonging. Adopted people are transferred from a relational wasteland and welcomed into a family. They enter the family home, but not as uninvited strangers or interlopers who must constantly fear discovery, exposure and expulsion. The adopted are there by invitation of the head of the family, because they have been chosen. They are wanted. They are not gatecrashers into the kingdom of God, but are his welcome guests. They can luxuriate in the security and warmth of the family home, knowing that they have the right to be there. And having received this legal status of being adopted, they can call God ‘Abba’—Father!—because that is what God has now become to them (Romans 8:15).” (Pages 8–9)
“‘redemption’ is ‘buying back’—as in the practice of redeeming slaves, a familiar event in New Testament times” (Page 6)
“German Lutheran Phillipp Melanchthon: ‘To know Christ is to know his benefits.’” (Page vii)
“The Christian gospel beautifully marries divine affirmation with divine judgement. In reflecting on the cross of Christ, we realize both the extent of God’s love for us, and our need for redemption.” (Page 57)
- Title: Redemption
- Author: Alister McGrath
- Publisher: SPCK
- Series: Truth and the Christian Imagination
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 87
Alister McGrath
(DPhil, DD, Oxford University) is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University. He previously held the chair of theology, ministry and education and was head of the Centre for Theology, Religion Culture at King's College, London. He is in constant demand as a speaker at conferences throughout the world and is the author of many books including The Dawkins Delusion? and Christianity's Dangerous Idea.
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