HOLY SCRIPTURE REQUIRES HOLY READING

Jesus is the point of reading the Bible. Christians read Scripture to encounter Christ and be conformed to his image. Scripture is no mere human text; it is God’s living word. So how should we read it?

For Christians throughout the centuries, the answer has been lectio divina—“divine reading.” In Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition, Hans Boersma invites Christians to retrieve this ancient and meditative way of reading the Bible. Lectio divina is a sacramental reading. It aims to take us more deeply into the life of God. Through practicing the four movements of lectio divina—attentive reading, extended meditation, prayerful reflection, and silent resting—we have a structured and simple way to focus on Christ, listen to the Spirit, and rest in God’s love. We no longer simply read the words of Scripture; instead, we read the face of God in the eternal Word.

Drawing insights from our forefathers, such as Augustine, Anselm of Canterbury, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Pierced by Love encourages Christians to join the church’s rich heritage of transformative reading.

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PREVIEW THE BOOK: ARTICLES ON PIERCED BY LOVE

Read an adapted version of one section from Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition. Originally published with Comment Magazine.

Read an in-depth review by the Catechesis Institute, or an interview with Dr. Boersma at Credo Magazine.

PREVIEW THE BOOK: PODCASTS ON PIERCED BY LOVE

Listen to a discussion on the book with the Mere Fidelity podcast:

Listen to a discussion with Ken Meyers from Mars Hill Audio.

Rev. Dr. Hans Boersma

Rev. Dr. Boersma with Ken Myers on How to Read Scripture

In conversation with Ken Myers, Dr. Boersma discusses his book Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition. This is part of Mars Hill Audio 162 (2024…

Listen now

2 years ago · Hans Boersma

ENDORSEMENTS

This book is many things. It is a guide to biblical reading, meditation, and prayer. It reintroduces the truth that Scripture’s sole purpose is to lead us to the living God in Jesus Christ. It lovingly opens up the riches of monastic and scholastic theology. But above all, this book is a work of spiritual instruction by one of the true spiritual masters of our time. Never has the Church more sorely needed theologians who are masters of the spiritual life, and, in our spiritually arid day, God has raised up Hans to direct our minds and hearts toward union with Christ.

― Matthew Levering, James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

Love for Christ flies off every page. With gentle profundity, Hans Boersma guides his reader through the healing process of lectio divina with the skill of a master, a master wounded by the arrow of the Master of all.

―Alexis Torrance, associate professor and Archbishop Demetrios College Chair of Byzantine Theology, University of Notre Dame

Though the Protestant and evangelical churches have begun to recover elements of the Christian tradition, especially patristic sources, the rich history and theology of the Middle Ages remains to be explored in its fullness. Hans Boersma’s Pierced by Love is an excellent introduction to and exposition of early and medieval writings on sacred reading. The book's deep examination of medieval authors illuminates the Bible-centeredness of medieval theology and the text’s many diagrams further reveals the richness of medieval reading and reflection on the Bible. One does not need to be an expert in medieval theology to benefit greatly from Boersma’s analysis and his incisive treatment will change the way you read the Bible. Take up and read!

―Greg Peters, Biola University and Nashotah House Theological Seminary

For a contemporary church that has worn away the point of divine love, Hans Boersma sharpens it again with the flint of tradition. In Pierced by Love, the title is more than metaphor; it indicates how we should experience lectio divina. The early and medieval church knew that reading the Bible meant being entered into as much as entering the text. Boersma reacquaints us with the dangers and costs as well as the fruits of divine reading.

―Jessica Hooten Wilson, visiting scholar at Pepperdine University; author, The Scandal of Holiness

Boersma calls Christians back to the ancient and medieval practice of a spiritual immersion into Scripture as the path to deeper union with Christ. By moving through the four steps of lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio, he shows how formation and encounter flow together as the reader finds Christ in the depths of Scripture’s spiritual meanings. Scripture becomes sacrament―the place where we ascend to contemplative vision of Christ as we find him and are formed into him through its pages. Recognizing the need for sure guides in this journey, Boersma moves through ancient and medieval writers to build up a thick account of how lectio divina unfolds. The result is like moving through a medieval garden of delights in which the voices of Christian tradition swirl together to form a holistic vision of the Scriptures. This is theology in the best sense―historically rooted, spiritually alive, and oriented toward Christ as the telos of life.

―Dale Coulter, professor, Pentecostal Theological Seminary

The monk in me skips with delight on delving into this comprehensive exploration of lectio divina by Hans Boersma. The book is exceedingly modest, conversational in tone, and yet impressively profound. It is obviously the rich fruit of both long study in the Christian (especially monastic) tradition and long personal practice of lectio. Boersma refuses to dichotomize between exegesis and mysticism, and he rightly loses interest in any approach to the revealed text that is not ultimately headed toward union with God. Desire for God, thirst for the living Christ, is Boersma’s key to biblical anthropology, and this vision everywhere informs his interpretation and application of the divine words.

―Simeon Leiva-Merikakis, OCSO, St. Joseph’s Abbey

The transformative power of lectio divina, the ancient practice of religious reading, is masterfully presented in Hans Boersma’s Pierced by Love. By drawing testimony from Christian spiritual writers across the centuries, he gives readers a vivid sense of what can happen to us as we read, meditate, pray, and contemplate a sacred text. This is a practice not for the faint-hearted for divine reading pierces to the core of our hearts, impels us to face truths about ourselves and embrace a cruciform existence. But as Boersma reminds us, the divine word is an arrow that wounds us with God’s love. His book suggests how lectio opens us to the hidden reality around us and delivers us from a world that has lost a sense of the transcendent. Both long-time practitioners of lectio and those who have just begun the practice will appreciate the rich perspective on lectio presented in this work.

―Raymond Studzinski, OSB, author, Reading to Live: The Evolving Practice of Lectio Divina

Eucharistic Participation deals with the importance of the Eucharist, and in the process challenges Protestants (and especially evangelicals) to treat the Eucharist more seriously than they sometimes do.

In particular, Boersma re-addresses the two issues of the Lord's Supper as sacrifice and as real presence. These were the two issues central to the Eucharistic debates of the Protestant Reformation. This booklet is written from an attitude of sympathy with the motivations and concerns of the Reformers. At the same time, it suggests that it is possible to get beyond the disagreements of the Reformation period. If we take seriously the notion of "participation"-the idea that in the Eucharistic celebration we share in Christ and in his work-we can affirm both "sacrificial" language and talk of "real presence"-while at the same time holding on to the all-sufficient and unique character of Christ's sacrifice.

Participation, so Boersma argues, reconfigures our understanding of both time and space. If past, present, and future coincide in and through Christ, this means that what we do today in the Eucharist can participate in the unique sacrifice of Christ without undermining it. And if heaven and earth are reunited in and through Christ, this means that the heavenly reality of Christ's body can become really present in the celebration of the Eucharist. Serious ecumenical dialogue requires, therefore, that Protestants do justice to the theology of participation as they try to come to grips with the disagreements between Rome and the Reformation.

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Perhaps the “five things” in the title worries you that I have caved in to an instrumentalist or utilitarian approach to hermeneutics. Let me assure you: I have a strong dislike of “how to” books, and in no way do I offer yet another “method” for reading the Bible. My aim is simply to remind folk of the theological focus of biblical exegesis. The divide between biblical and doctrinal theology will disappear, I argue in this book, if we take Christ as the theological starting point, center, and goal of our biblical engagement.

And here are the chapter titles, which should whet your appetite:

1. No Christ, No Scripture
2. No Plato, No Scripture
3. No Providence, No Scripture
4. No Church, No Scripture
5. No Heaven, No Scripture

In short, if you want Scripture, you should not discard what precedes it.

The disciplines of theology and biblical studies should serve each other, and they should serve both the church and the academy together. But the relationship between them is often marked by misunderstandings, methodological differences, and cross-discipline tension.

Theologian Hans Boersma here highlights five things he wishes biblical scholars knew about theology. In a companion volume, biblical scholar Scot McKnight reflects on five things he wishes theologians knew about biblical studies.

With an irenic spirit as well as honesty about differences that remain, Boersma and McKnight seek to foster understanding between their disciplines through these books so they might once again collaborate with one another.

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PREVIEW THE BOOK: ARTICLES AND PODCASTS ON FIVE THINGS

READ AN EXCERPT

When I speak with colleagues in biblical studies, I often find myself defending the notion that we need to search for Christ in all of Scripture (which is my polite way of saying we should read the Bible allegorically). In these discussions, I repeatedly encounter the objection, “But you wouldn’t treat any other text that way!” … Read the whole except here.

PODCASTS AND LECTURES

Mere Fidelity · ‘Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew,’ with Rev. Hans Boersma

Hans Boersma · Scot McKnight and Hans Boersma – Things I Wish You Knew

ENDORSEMENTS

Boersma invites us to consider the relationship between theology and biblical studies by taking us on a tour of the inner workings of his discipline. He helps us understand how theology views the Bible as a witness to all things being reconciled in our Lord Jesus Christ, a book saturated in metaphysical presuppositions, governed by the providence of God, which we interpret as his church, in anticipation of our final end: the contemplation of God. This book and its companion are must-reads for those pursuing theological or biblical studies—a clear and winsome invitation to step beyond artificial but strongly held divisions in seminaries and universities today.

— Adam Johnson, Associate Professor of Theology, Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University

I was trained in a method of biblical scholarship that insisted that as long as one employed the methodologies of historical-critical scrutiny of the Bible, one could arrive at the determinate meaning of the biblical text. But what if the overriding property of the Bible is that the risen Christ elects to speak through these texts? Hans Boersma here explores how that fundamental theological conviction makes all the difference. His case is largely convincing to this biblical scholar, and I hope it will be widely considered among my colleagues in the biblical studies guild.

— Wesley Hill, Associate Professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan

I am blessed to have been trained in institutions and by people who decried any sharp divisions between biblical studies and theology, yet I respected the distinct contributions of both. Boersma's book gives words to this sentiment. Each chapter reminds biblical scholars of broad commitments they likely share, but ones their discipline makes easy to ignore. Boersma grounds a call to increased appreciation and common mission in the aim of all theology, namely respecting the sacramental character of Scripture and its role in pointing all who hear it to the worship of God.

— Amy Peeler, Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School

With apologies to Shakespeare, we have to admit the impediments to the marriage of true minds before we can reconcile them. Communication lies at the heart of healthy relationships, and Boersma does a good job of sharing what's on his theological mind to his biblical scholar counterpart. My prayer is that this exchange will lead not to another battle for the Bible (Why do the theological disciplines rage?) but, rather, to a closer working relationship between biblical scholars and theologians. For exegesis and theology are joined at the hip, and a dislocated hip only cripples the body of Christ.

— Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

In this slim but rich volume, Hans Boersma invites us to consider Christ as not just the climax of the biblical story but the starting point and goal of our engagement with the Bible. He beautifully reminds us that we engage with the Scriptures to find Christ and to be drawn further into the love of God in Christ. Provocatively suggesting that our efforts to elevate the Bible often end up devaluing it, he challenges us to wrestle with many notions that we today take for granted. While a quick read, the questions he raises and the theological vision he casts for our biblical engagement will long stay with you.

— Kristin Deede Johnson, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Professor of Theology and Christian Formation, Western Theological Seminary

This book is useful and exhilarating! Hans Boersma takes us on a tour of those 'elements that help us to read Scripture … as a sacrament'—Christology, (Platonic) metaphysics, providence, church, and heaven. His insistence on the mystagogical telos of Scripture, coupled with a penetrating critique of today's common exegetical methods, retrieves patristic approaches (Irenaeus, Athanasius, Origen, Augustine, and many others) that are still devalued today. Here exploration and polemic are conjoined, so some may want to engage the author vigorously in, for example, his exuberant claims for Christian Platonism, or his insistence that entry into the divine life is contemplative rather than active in nature. Finally Boersma commends to our minds and hearts the image of full-blooded scriptural exegesis as 'an exploration of an enchanted forest that holds ever deeper mysteries' when we maintain Scripture's 'proper penultimacy' to life in Christ.

— Edith M. Humphrey, William F. Orr Professor Emerita of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

When we see God, are we looking with our physical eyes or with the mind’s eye? Both, says Hans Boersma in this sacramental and historical treatment of the beatific vision. Focusing on “vision” as a living metaphor, Boersma shows how the vision of God is accessible already today.

Seeing God is a historical study, but it also includes a dogmatic articulation of key characteristics that contribute to our understanding of the beatific vision. Theologians, philosophers, and literary authors have long maintained that the invisible God becomes visible to us. Boersma shows how God trains us to see his character by transforming our eyes and minds, highlighting continuity from this world to the next. Christ-centered, sacramental, and ecumenical in character, Seeing God presents life as a pilgrimage to see the face of God in the hereafter. 

Purchase the book from Eerdmans.

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PREVIEW THE BOOK: ARTICLES AND PODCASTS ON SEEING GOD

• Interview on Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition. Mars Hill Audio 146 (2020).

• “The Beatific Vision." The Sacristy. Podcast with Father Matt and Father David. October 21, 2019.

• “Divine Vision: Human Beings are Created to See God.” Interview in U.S. Catholic 84/8 (August 2019): 18–22.

• Interview on Seeing God with Will Sipling on the New Books Network. August 16, 2019.

• “Looking at God’s Face.” Interview for The Laymen’s Lounge, August 2019.

ENDORSEMENTS

Hans Boersma’s Seeing God is the most significant and theologically comprehensive treatment of this topic in English since Kenneth Kirk’s classic The Vision of God. And, far more than Kirk, Boersma provides the invaluable service of breaking down the barriers (mostly barriers of misconception) separating differing Christian traditions, East and West, Orthodox and Catholic and Protestant. This is theological reflection of the most illuminating kind.

— David Bentley Hart, Author of Atheist Delusions & The Beauty of the Infinite

Christian theology has traditionally identified the beatific vision as the ultimate end of humanity. But what does it mean to ‘see God’? How can we pursue such an end if it is beyond our understanding? Building on his exemplary ‘sacramental ontology,’ Hans Boersma here offers us a ‘sacramental teleology’ in which the end of humanity—the visio Dei—is revealed sacramentally within the created order. A profound and important work.

— Simon Oliver, Durham University

Only Hans Boersma could write this book. With a superb command of the Scriptures and of the Reformed, Protestant, and Catholic traditions, he revisits the neglected topic of beatific vision and reminds us what it is to see God in Christ. An energizing book from one of today’s best theologians.

— Janet Soskice, University of Cambridge

Seeing God is a subtle yet sustained polemic against the notion that the Christian eschaton is simply an improved version of the universe as we know it, and that Christian Platonists—Nyssen, Augustine, Dante, Jonathan Edwards, C. S. Lewis—were all wrongheadedly otherworldly. Boersma’s breviary for sacramental ontology, advocating a more ‘vertical’ kind of theology and spirituality, deserves consideration among so-called Christian materialists and contemporary proponents of the ‘renewed cosmos’ approach to eschatology.

— Michael McClymond, Saint Louis University

Hans Boersma’s Seeing God provides a richly comprehensive historical account of theologies of the beatific vision. But it also successfully mediates between the Nyssen account of eternal progress into God and the Thomist account of an eternal finality, and it properly modifies Aquinas by insisting that the final vision will be one achieved essentially and not accidentally in the resurrected body. This is a wonderful achievement.”

— John Milbank, University of Nottingham

This is a striking manifesto, in the form of a gentle, subtle, moving, and encyclopedic tour through the church’s long reflection on our final destiny of gazing upon God’s face given in Christ. Boersma eloquently unveils the powerful truth that we are made in our bones to thirst for such a vision and that the ordering of our lives is properly geared toward this end.

— Ephraim Radner, Wycliffe College

The doctrine of the beatific vision, the final vision of God, has been sidelined in some recent theological discussions. In this rich and exciting study Hans Boersma restores the appreciation of its centrality that was common in earlier Christian traditions. He invites us to engage in the ultimate adventure of our lives—to become who God made us to be and thereby come to know God in ways that anticipate the vision of him in his fullness. A wonderful and supremely worthwhile feat.

— Lydia Schumacher, King’s College London

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Why Beatific Vision? / History and Analogy / Sacramental Ontology and the Beatific Vision / Chapter Outline

1. Plausibility and Vision: Beatific Vision in Modernity
Sacramental Teleology / Seeking the Face of God: Anselm’s Proslogion / Dynamic Communion: Hans Urs von Balthasar / No “Melting Union”: Herman Bavinck Conclusion

PART 1: BEATIFIC VISION IN EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

2. Philosophy and Vision: Plato, Plotinus, and the Christian Faith
Theology, Philosophy, and the Beatific Vision Plato’s Symposium: Diotima and the Sight of Beauty /The three Allegories of Plato’s Republic: From the Cave to the Sun / Gazing beyond the Rim: The Winged Soul in Plato’s Phaedrus / Plotinus on Virtue as the Way to Beauty / Toward the Vision: Upward and Inward / Another Kind of Vision / Conclusion

3. Progress and Vision: Gregory of Nyssa’s Unending Search
A Spiritual Quest / Homilies on the Beatitudes: Obstacles to Purity / The Life of Moses: Vision as Perpetual Desire / Homilies on the Song of Songs: Seeing More and More of Christ / Conclusion

4. Anticipation and Vision: Augustine on Theophanies and Ecstasy
Sign and Reality: Sacramental Entwining? / The Backdrop of Omnipresence and Participation / Trinitarian and Christological Controversies / Creature Control and Sacramental Presence / Moses’s Desire for the Substance of God / Contemplation in the Greatness of the Soul / The Firstfruits of the Spirit / Conclusion

PART 2: BEATIFIC VISION IN MEDIEVAL THOUGHT

5. Transfiguration and Vision: Thomas Aquinas and Gregory Palamas
Transfiguration and Modernity / The Glory of God in Christ / The Glory of the Kingdom in Christ / Christian Spirituality and Beatific Vision / Conclusion

6. Mystical Union and Vision: Symeon the New Theologian and John of the Cross
Theologies of Light and Darkness / Symeon’s Visions of Light / Vision as Union with Christ / Ascending the Mount: John’s Sketch and Poem /  Dark Nights of the Soul / Imaginative Visions / Conclusion

7. Faculties and Vision: Bonaventure and Nicholas of Cusa
Joining Knowledge and Love / Bonaventure,  The Soul’s Journey into God / Nicholas of Cusa, On the Vision of God / Conclusion

8. Speech and Vision: Dante’s Transhumanizing Journey
Legomena and Phenomena // “To soar beyond the human cannot be described / in words” // “For this reason Scripture condescends” // “Who,  filled with longing, / finds satisfaction in his hope” // “Beatitude itself / is based upon the act of seeing” // “Speech, which fails at such a vision” // “I grew more bold and thus sustained my gaze” // “Sending forth Its rays / It is the source of every good” // Conclusion

PART 3: BEATIFIC VISION IN PROTESTANT THOUGHT

9. Accommodation and Vision: John Calvin on Face-to-Face Vision of God
Calvin and the Beatific Vision? / Pedagogical Accommodation / Christological Accommodation / Provisional Accommodation / Conclusion

10. Modernity and Vision:  John Donne’s Restoration of “Commerce twixt heauen and earth”
Donne’s Rejection of Pure Nature / The Anniversaries: “’Tis all in pieces, all cohærance gone” / Goodfriday, 1613: “To See God dye” / Sermons: “his eye . . . turnes us into himselfe” / Conclusion

11. Christ and Vision: Puritan and Dutch Reformed Articulations of the Beatific Vision
Puritanism and Neo-Calvinism / Looking unto Jesus: Isaac Ambrose / The Glorious Mystery of Christ: John Owen / “Contemplative-Mystical Piety” (1): Richard Baxter and Isaac Ambrose / “Contemplative-Mystical Piety” (2):  Thomas Watson and John Owen / Beatitude and Glory in Abraham Kuyper / Direct Knowledge of the Eternal Being / “Mysticism of the Heart”: Experiential Piety / Conclusion

12. Mediation and Vision: An Edwardsean Modification of  Thomas Aquinas
Edwards as Neoplatonist / Beatific Vision and Embodiment / Beatific Vision and Christ / Beatific Vision and Progressive Happiness / Conclusion

PART 4: BEATIFIC VISION: A DOGMATIC APPRAISAL

13. Pedagogy and Vision: Beatific Vision through Apprenticeship
God as Teacher / Pedagogy and Providence in Nicholas of Cusa and Jonathan Edwards / Pedagogy and Salvation History / Pedagogy and Christology / Pedagogy and Transformation: Bodily Vision of God / Conclusion

This work argues that the heart of patristic exegesis is the attempt to find the sacramental reality (real presence) of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. Leading theologian Hans Boersma discusses numerous sermons and commentaries of the church fathers to show how they regarded Christ as the treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament and explains that the church today can and should retrieve the sacramental reading of the early church. Combining detailed scholarly insight with clear, compelling prose, this book makes a unique contribution to contemporary interest in theological interpretation.

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ENDORSEMENTS

I highly recommend this marvelous exploration of the sacramental reading of Scripture. Hans Boersma expertly and comprehensively opens up many different dimensions of the theological interpretation of Scripture—a category increasingly invoked today—as exemplified by the great practitioners of early Christianity. By bringing the insights gained into constructive dialogue with contemporary concerns, Hans Boersma shows how Christ’s real presence in Scripture can still be encountered today. A must-read both for those concerned with the hermeneutics of scriptural engagement and for those seeking to enrich their own reading of Scripture, this book is an indispensable resource.

— Fr. John Behr, Dean And Professor Of Patristics, St. Vladimir's Seminary, New York

This volume makes an outstanding contribution to the retrieval of the ancient Christian biblical hermeneutic. Through a careful analysis of individual texts, Boersma demonstrates that patristic exegesis is not based on naive allegorizing but on a theology of history in which Christ is recognized as truly present in the words and deeds of the old covenant. This book will reinforce the growing consensus that patristic exegesis remains valid and indispensable for the church today.

— Mary Healy, Professor Of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

In the spirit of Henri de Lubac and Jean Daniélou, Hans Boersma here makes his own important contribution to the nature of biblical interpretation. Scripture as Real Presence is informed by a deep reading of the patristic tradition. With that tradition Boersma advocates for a sacramental approach to Scripture, contending that the mystery of the Christ event is already present in the Law and Prophets. This book offers a lively foray into the current debates about the theological interpretation of the Bible and its place in the academy and pulpit.

— Peter W. Martens, Associate Professor Of Early Christianity, Chair Of The Department Of Theological Studies, Saint Louis University

A splendid and scholarly study! Here is required reading for any who are rightly intrigued by the renewed concern for the theological interpretation of Scripture. With astute awareness of contemporary prejudices, Boersma disarms both the Protestant rigorist who may be scandalized by the patristic emphasis on human virtue, and the historicist who dismisses ancient spiritual interpretation as arbitrary. All the while, he carefully and lovingly retrieves winsome writings of various church fathers, who taught that Scripture itself participates in the life of Christ and vitally changes the interpreter and the church when received according to that conviction.

— Edith M. Humphrey, William F. Orr Professor Of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Few scholars have contributed as much to the vigorous debate in our generation about the theological interpretation of Scripture as Hans Boersma. His latest offering for our edification, Scripture as Real Presence, presents nine examples of patristic interpretations of important (and challenging) passages from Scripture. They illustrate, for Boersma, an ecclesial hermeneutic that treats Scripture as a sacrament containing a treasure of great value, Christ, hidden and waiting for the church’s discovery. Boersma’s examples of the rich, polyphonic readings given by the fathers provide models of how pastors and all students of Scripture might unearth the treasure that will give depth to preaching and teaching. Boersma and the fathers transform modern exegesis from reconstructing the past to participating in the life-giving Word.

— J. Warren Smith, Associate Professor Of Historical Theology, Duke Divinity School

Biblical exegesis has to be approached amid metaphysical and spiritual commitments attuned to the gospel or else unexamined assumptions will invariably cause even our most disciplined efforts at biblical interpretation to unravel. Hans Boersma helps us think carefully about how we read the Bible by reintroducing us to patristic exegesis. Alerting us to the exegetical practice of Origen, Gregory, and many others, he reminds us that ‘they saw the Scriptures as a sacrament and read them accordingly.’ For sensitive readings of varied early church fathers and a host of their reading approaches, all rooted in common commitments to the relations of God and the world and of theology and spirituality, take up and read Boersma’s book.

— Michael Allen, Associate Professor Of Systematic And Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

CONTENTS

1. Patristic Reading
2. Literal Reading
3. Hospitable Reading
4. Other Reading
5. Incarnational Reading
6. Harmonious Reading
7. Doctrinal Reading
8. Nuptial Reading
9. Prophetic Reading
10. Beatific Reading
Conclusion

This primer on the ministry of preaching connects reading the Bible theologically with preparing and preaching sermons. Hans Boersma explains that exegesis involves looking beyond the historical and literal meaning of the text to the hidden sacramental reality of Christ himself, which enables us to reach the deepest meaning of the Scriptures. He provides models for theological sermons along with commentary on exegetical and homiletical method and offers guidance in placing the focus on Christ in all our reading of the Scriptures. Boersma also shows how patristic exegesis is relevant for reading the Bible today.

Sacramental Preaching will be of use to professors and students in homiletics and hermeneutics courses as well as pastors and seminarians. Readers interested in theology and theological interpretation will also appreciate this work.

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ENDORSEMENTS

‘Happiness and heaven are tied together’ and the knot is Christ. This is the essential theme of this imaginative and theologically powerful book. This collection of sermons represents Boersma’s mature theology. I highly recommend it to all pastors and laity. It is a treasure.

— Stanley Hauerwas, Professor Emeritus Of Divinity And Law, Duke Divinity School

The growing body of literature on patristic exegesis and spiritual interpretation has reached a consensus: the modern modes of biblical interpretation, whether historical-critical or historical-grammatical, are inadequate. Which is to say, Sacramental Preaching is exactly what we need! Boersma’s performed exegesis in fourteen sermons allows us to think through the challenges of interpretation by way of hands-on immersion. This book will be warmly received by the growing cohort of theology students and pastors who want to transcend the inherent limitations of academic biblical studies.

— R. R. Reno, Editor, First Things

Finally, contemporary preaching that honors the church’s Scriptures in their Christ-filled breadth and power! Boersma’s deeply sensitive immersion in patristic faith and Bible reading, joined with his own living encounter with Christ in the Scriptures, has produced sermons that demonstrate the utter relevance of the church fathers’ way of interpreting the Scripture. Treating texts from Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs to the Psalms and Ezekiel, to Hebrews and Revelation, these are rich, profound yet straightforward sermons. Neither antiquarian nor trendy, they direct and embody the listener’s ascent through the sacramental text of Scripture to the person of the heavenly Christ. It is a beautiful and necessary journey for Christian disciples, preachers, and hermeneutical specialists all to take.

— Ephraim Radner, Professor Of Historical Theology, Wycliffe College, University Of Toronto

This is a remarkable recovery of pre-modern preaching for a truncated, post-modern world, based on reception exegesis. With all the subtle skills of a patristic scholar, Boersma reunites us to ‘the communion of the saints’ by the fourfold reading of Scripture. This is not ‘a collection of sermons’ but a challenge to inspire deeper historical perspectives in pastoral preaching in an ahistorical culture.

— James M. Houston, Founding Principal And Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver

Hans Boersma bridges from the church fathers to modern churchgoers with a sure hand and a well-lit vision. The fathers have something to teach us about sermons as a means of grace, and Boersma delivers their goods with great homiletical skill and wisdom. More, he has savvy aplenty for listeners today. Like a concert violinist’s tone, Boersma’s preaching has both core and sheen—in other words, real beauty. I find it inspiring.

— Cornelius Plantinga Jr., President Emeritus, Calvin Theological Seminary; Author of Reading for Preaching

On Easter afternoon, the Risen Jesus, walking with dejected, not-yet-believing disciples, opens up the Scriptures, showing them how it all points to him. After he does his exegesis, they say, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us?’ Hans Boersma believes what Jesus claims and has experienced what those disciples experienced. Big time! In this book of powerfully engaging sermons, Hans demonstrates how we who want to preach Jesus and his gospel in our time can preach him from any and every text of the Bible. After reading these pages, you, like me, will know the joy of finding and proclaiming ‘the more’ that comes from the early church’s sacramental understanding of all reality; that Christ is everywhere presented, and most especially in the text we read and preach on the Lord’s Day. So life-giving!

— Darrell Johnson, Teaching Fellow, Regent College; Director Of The Centre For Preaching, Carey Theological College

CONTENTS

Foreword by Eugene H. Peterson

INTRODUCTION

1. Why Join the Chariot? Acts 8:26-35

PART 1: SENSED HAPPINESS

2. First Things First Exodus 12:1-12
3. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry? Ecclesiastes 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7
4. Virgin Mother - Song of Solomon 4:16b-5:1a
5. The Blessing of a Child - Exodus 1:1-2:10

PART 2: PILGRIM HAPPINESS

6. Out of Egypt - Matthew 2:13-21
7. Going Up the Hill - Psalm 24
8. God's Own Rest - Hebrews 3:7-4:13

PART 3: HEAVENLY HAPPINESS

9. Happiness in Christ - Psalm 1
10. Resurrection Faithfulness - Luke 20:27-40
11. Perfect Blessing - Revelation 22:14

PART 4: UNVEILED HAPPINESS

12. The Gate of Heaven - Genesis 28:10-22
13. When the Heavens Open Up - Ezekiel 1
14. God of Change - 2 Corinthians 3

EPILOGUE

INDEX

As a multi-faceted introduction to sacramental theology, the purposes of this Handbook are threefold: historical, ecumenical, and missional. By devoting 28 of the 44 essays in this book to historical surveys, we are able to introduce readers to the historical roots and development of Christian sacramental worship.

The contributors to this Handbook explain the diverse ways that believers have construed the sacraments, both in inspired Scripture and in the history of the Church’s practice. In Scripture and the early Church, Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics all find evidence that the first Christian communities celebrated and taught about the sacraments in a manner that Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics today affirm as the foundation of their own faith and practice. Thus, for those who want to understand what has been taught about the sacraments in Scripture and across the generations by the major thinkers of the various Christian traditions, this Handbook provides an introduction. While the divisions in Christian sacramental understanding and practice are certainly evident in this Handbook, the Handbook is not thereby without ecumenical and missional value. This book evidences that the story of the Christian sacraments is, despite divisions in interpretation and practice, one of tremendous hope.

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CONTENTS

Introduction: The Handbook's Three Purposes, Hans Boersma and Matthew Levering

SACRAMENTAL ROOTS IN SCRIPTURE

1. Sacramentality And The Old Testament, Walter Moberly
2. Sacramentality in the Torah, Dennis T. Olson
3. Intertestamental Background of the Christian Sacraments, Craig A. Evans and Jeremiah J. Johnston
4. Sacraments and Sacramentality in the New Testament, Nicholas Perrin
5. Sacrifice and Sacrament: Sacramental Implications of the Death of Christ, Edith M. Humphrey
6. Sacraments and the Gospel of John, Richard Bauckham
7. Sacraments in the Pauline Epistles, David Lincicum
8. Sacramentality and Sacraments in Hebrews, Luke Timothy Johnson

PATRISTIC SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY

9. Sacraments in the Pre-Nicene Period, Everett Ferguson
10. Sacraments in the Fourth Century, Khaled Anatolios
11. Augustine and the West to AD 650, Lewis Ayres and Thomas Humphries
12. Late Patristic Developments in Sacramental Theology in the East (Fifth-Ninth Century), Andrew Louth

MEDIEVAL SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY

13. Sacramental Theology from Gottschalk to Lanfranc, Mark G. Vaillancourt
14. The Christo-Pneumatic-Ecclesial Character of Twelfth-Century Sacramental Theology, Boyd Taylor Coolman
15. The Sacraments In Thirteenth-Century Theology, Joseph Wawrykow
16. Sacraments in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Ian Christopher Levy
17. Sacramental Ritual in Middle and Later Byzantine Theology, 9th -15th centuries, Yury P. Avvakumov

FROM THE REFORMATION THROUGH TODAY

18. Sacraments in the Lutheran Reformation, Mickey L. Mattox
19. Sacraments in the Reformed and Anglican Reformation, Michael Allen
20. Sacraments in the Radical Reformation, John Rempel
21. Sacraments in the Council of Trent and 16th Century Catholic Theology, Peter Walter, Translated by David L. Augustine
22. Orthodox Sacramental Theology: Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries, Brian A. Butcher
23. Post-Tridentine Sacramental Theology, Trent Pomplun
24. Lutheran and Reformed Sacramental Theology, 17th-19th Centuries, Scott R. Swain
25. Sacramental Theology in America, 17th through 19th Centuries, E. Brooks Holifield
26 Part I. 20th century and contemporary Protestant sacramental theology, Martha L. Moore-Keish
26 Part II. The Lord's Supper in Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Protestant Theology, George Hunsinger
27. Catholic Sacramental Theology in the Twentieth Century, Peter Casarella
28. Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Orthodox Sacramental Theology, Peter Galadza

DOGMATIC APPROACHES

29. Liturgy, Signs, and Sacraments, David W. Fagerberg
30. One Baptism, One Church?, Geoffrey Wainwright
31. Confirmation, C. C. Pecknold and Lucas Laborde, S.S.J.
32. What is the Eucharist? A Dogmatic Outline, Bruce D. Marshall
33. Marriage, Brent Waters
34. The Sacrament of Orders Dogmatically Understood: Adam A. J. DeVille
35. Reconciliation, Anthony Akinwale, O.P.
36. Anointing of the Sick, John C. Kasza

PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL ISSUES IN SACRAMENTAL DOCTRINE

37. Sacraments and Philosophy, Thomas Joseph White, O.P
38. The Sacraments and the Development of Doctrine, Benoit-Dominique de La Soujeole, O.P. Translated by Dominic M. Langevin, O.P.
39. A Sacramental World: Why It Matters, David Brown
40. Christ, The Trinity, and The Sacraments, Francesca Aran Murphy
41. Signs of the Eschatological Ekklesia: The Sacraments, the Church, and Eschatology, Peter J. Leithart
42. Liturgy, Preaching and the Sacraments, Gordon W. Lathrop
43. Sense and Sacrament, C. J. C. Pickstock
44. The Sacraments in Ecumenical Dialogue, Jorge Scampini, O.P

Embodiment in the theology of Gregory of Nyssa is a much-debated topic. Hans Boersma argues that this - worldly realities of time and space, which include embodiment, are not the focus of Gregory's theology. Instead, embodiment plays a distinctly subordinate role. The key to his theology, Boersma suggests, is anagogy, going upward in order to participate in the life of God.

This book looks at a variety of topics connected to embodiment in Gregory's thought: time and space; allegory; gender, sexuality, and virginity; death and mourning; slavery, homelessness, and poverty; and the church as the body of Christ. In each instance, Boersma maintains, Gregory values embodiment only inasmuch as it enables us to go upward in the intellectual realm of the heavenly future.

Boersma suggests that for Gregory embodiment and virtue serve the anagogical pursuit of otherworldly realities. Countering recent trends in scholarship that highlight Gregory's appreciation of the goodness of creation, this book argues that Gregory looks at embodiment as a means for human beings to grow in virtue and so to participate in the divine life.

It is true that, as a Christian thinker, Gregory regards the creator-creature distinction as basic. But he also works with the distinction between spirit and matter. And Nyssen is convinced that in the hereafter the categories of time and space will disappear - while the human body will undergo an inconceivable transformation. This book, then, serves as a reminder of the profoundly otherworldly cast of Gregory's theology.

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REVIEWS

Hans Boersma’s Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa: An Anagogical Approach is a compelling and erudite analysis of the significance of bodiliness in one of the most popular Church Fathers to have emerged from theressourcement movement of the 20th century. . . . [T]his study is rich in its exegetical offerings and shows why so much prior scholarship has gone awry by projecting its often unexamined theoretical commitments onto a pre-modern discourse. As a corrective to that body of research, Boersma’s offering is deeply persuasive - a must-read for those researching Gregory of Nyssa.

— Raphael Cadenhead, Reviews in Religion & Theology

[Boersma] has produced a cogent-occasionally exhilarating-monograph.

— Thomas E. Hunt, Journal of Theological Studies

Although the book is aimed at the patristic scholar, fortunately its lucid prose and well structured chapters make it accessible to the non-specialist. Gregory’s anagogical and otherworldly emphasis offers a refreshing challenge to our modern sensibilities, and certainly must be wrestled with by anyone who is interested in embodiment and broad sacramentality. Like everything else that Boersma writes, Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa is worth the read.

— Andrew T. J. Kaethler, Transpositions

Boersma offers many interesting insights, based on an intimate acquaintance with Gregory’s works. ... [I]n doing so he gives us a salutary reminder of the distance between a fourth-century ontological framework and our own.

— Ann Conway-Jones, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

CONTENTS

Introduction
1. Measured Body
2. Textual Body
3. Gendered Body
4. Dead Body
5. Oppressed Body
6. Ecclesial Body
7. Virtuous Body
Epilogue

This collection assembles essays by eleven leading Catholic and evangelical theologians in an ecumenical discussion of the benefits – and potential drawbacks – of today’s burgeoning corpus of theological interpretation. The authors explore the critical relationship between the earthly world and its heavenly counterpart.

Ground-breaking volume of ecumenical debate featuring Catholic and evangelical theologians
Explores the core theological issue of how the material and spiritual worlds interrelate
Features a diversity of analytical approaches
Addresses an urgent need to distinguish the positive and problematic aspects of today’s rapidly growing corpus of theological interpretation

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CONTENTS

Introduction: Spiritual Interpretation and Realigned Temporality, Hans Boersma and Matthew Levering

PART I: READING THE FATHERS

1. “In Many and Various Ways”: Towards A Theology of Theological Exegesis, Brian E. Daley
2. “There’s Fire in That Rain”: On Reading the Letter and Reading Allegorically, Lewis Ayres
3. Origen against History? Reconsidering the Critique of Allegory, Peter W. Martens
4. “This Is the Day Which the Lord Has Made”: Scripture, Manumission, and the Heavenly Future in Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Hans Boersma

PART II: READING SCRIPTURE

5. Imperial Lover: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ in Revelation, Peter J. Leithart
6 Translation and Transcendence: The Fragile Future of Spiritual Interpretation, David Lyle Jeffrey
7 Readings on the Rock: Typological Exegesis in Contemporary Scholarship, Matthew Levering

PART III: READING IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

8. The Self-Critique of the Historical-Critical Method: Cardinal Ratzinger’s Erasmus Lecture, Michael Maria Waldstein
9 Profiling Christ: The Psalms of Abandonment, Francesca A. Murphy
10 Reading the Book of the Church: Bonhoeffer’s Christological Hermeneutics, Jens Zimmermann
11 “Ascending the Mountain, Singing the Rock: Biblical Interpretation Earthed, Typed, and Transfigured”, Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Surveying the barriers that contemporary thinking has erected between the natural and the supernatural, between earth and heaven, Hans Boersma issues a wake-up call for Western Christianity. Both Catholics and evangelicals, he says, have moved too far away from a sacramental mindset, focusing more on the "here-and-now" than on the "then-and-there." Yet, as Boersma points out, the teaching of Jesus, Paul, and St. Augustine—indeed, of most of Scripture and the church fathers—is profoundly otherworldly, much more concerned with heavenly participation than with earthly enjoyment.

In Heavenly Participation Boersma draws on the wisdom of great Christian minds ancient and modern—Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, C. S. Lewis, Henri de Lubac, John Milbank, and many others. He urges Catholics and evangelicals alike to retrieve a sacramental worldview, to cultivate a greater awareness of eternal mysteries, to partake eagerly of the divine life that transcends and transforms all earthly realities.

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REVIEWS

Hans Boersma makes a superb contribution to evangelical theological reflection in this well-designed book, and it goes a long way to drawing us back from the brink of a fashionable evangelical tendency to reductive historicism. His re-situation of the doctrine of the Incarnation in its historic sacramental language and thought opens up the way to a deeper understanding of the truths of faith that evangelicals and Catholics alike seek to comprehend and nurture.

— David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University

Theology at its best, says Hans Boersma, is less interested in comprehending the truth than in participating in it. Skillfully marshalling passages from the church fathers and medieval theologians and drawing judiciously on contemporary evangelical and Catholic thinkers, Boersma shows that theology is not primarily an intellectual enterprise but a spiritual discipline by which one enters into the truth and is mastered by it. Though this ‘sacramental tapestry,’ as he calls it, is as old as the church, it is refreshing to have it presented anew in this engaging book.

— Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia

Starts a timely conversation about reform within evangelical Christianity.

— American Theological Inquiry

I wholeheartedly suggest this book for seminary classrooms in spiritual formation and to every thinker who is engaging questions of spiritual formation.

— Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

This is a book that is well worth reading as it provides an important background for and corrective to a missing component in contemporary theological reflection.

— Bibliotheca Sacra

Boersma’s book serves as a valuable contribution to the bourgeoning evangelical reflection on the church fathers and medieval theologians.

— Reviews in Religion & Theology

The reader will learn much about the development of eucharistic theology as well as the movement of nouvelle théologie.

— Theological Studies

A brilliant and novel reconsideration of discovering spiritual realities alive in our mundane world.

— Catholic Library World

A promised sign of evangelical theology seeking to root itself more deeply in the tradition of the Church.

— First Things

In the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, the movement of nouvelle théologie caused great controversy in the Catholic Church and remains a subject of vigorous scholarly debate today. In Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology Hans Boersma argues that a return to mystery was the movement's deepest motivation.

Countering the modern intellectualism of the neo-Thomist establishment, the nouvelle theologians were convinced that a ressourcement of the Church Fathers and of medieval theology would point the way to a sacramental reintegration of nature and the supernatural. In the context of the loss suffered by both Catholics and Protestants in the de-sacramentalizing of modernity, Boersma shows how the sacramental ontology of nouvelle théologie offers a solid entry-point into ecumenical dialogue.

The volume begins by setting the historical context for nouvelle théologie with discussions of the influence of significant theologians and philosophers like Möhler, Blondel, Maréchal, and Rousselot. The exposition then moves to the writings of key thinkers of the ressourcement movement including de Lubac, Bouillard, Balthasar, Chenu, Daniélou, Charlier, and Congar. Boersma analyses the most characteristic elements of the movement: its reintegration of nature and the supernatural, its reintroduction of the spiritual interpretation of Scripture, its approach to Tradition as organically developing in history, and its communion ecclesiology that regarded the Church as sacrament of Christ. In each of these areas, Boersma demonstrates how the nouvelle theologians advocated a return to mystery by means of a sacramental ontology.

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REVIEWS

...provides enough background and references related to the ideas and disputes surrounding the nouvelle théologie that the interested reader can easily pursue a given issue more deeply...Specialists as well as those with a more general interest in theology should find the author’s insights and overarching thesis worth engaging.

― Bryan Kromholtz, O.P., The Thomist

..very instructive and meticulously researched...a very welcome and much-needed first treatment of a group of figures as a group, and will no doubt bear fruit in the further research it inspires.

― Peter M. Candler Jr., The Journal Of Theological Studies

This is a must read book... It is for those that are hungry and hunger for a more meaningful faith.

― Ron Dart, Clarion Journal

Uniting a breadth of theological themes with its exploration of sacramental depths, B.’s book is one of the best introductions to the Nouvelle Théologie.

― Joseph S. Flipper, Theological Studies

This scrupulously well-documented book is the fruit of a labour of love.

― Philip Kennedy, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

I have rarely, if ever, encountered such an assured and reliable penetration of a Catholic mindset from someone outside that tradition as that achieved here by Boersma.

― John Sullivan, Heythrop Journal

The author is to be warmly congratulated on a book that is both thoroughly researched and pleasingly written, an exercise in good, solid, purposeful scholarship, which sustains the reader’s interest.

― Stephen N. Williams, Themelios

Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery is a true contribution to ecumenical theology. It should be essential reading for ministerial students in the Protestant tradition and for Catholic seminarians, as well as students in faculties of education, religious studies and theology.

― Gabriel Flynn, Irish Theological Quarterly

CONTENTS

1. Introduction: The Rupture between Theology and Life
2. Eyes of Faith: Precursors to a Sacramental Ontology
3. The Mystery of Faith: De Lubac and Bouillard on Nature and the Supernatural
4. The Law of the Incarnation: Balthasar and Chenu on Nature and the Supernatural
5. A Wheel Within a Wheel: Spiritual Interpretation in De Lubac and Daniélou
6. Living Tradition: Recovering History for the Church
7. The Church as Sacrament: The Ecclesiology of De Lubac and Congar
8. Conclusion: The Future of Ressourcement

The cross is central to any understanding of Christian theology. But what is the primary significance of the cross: God's victory over death and hell? The moral example of a righteous sufferer? God's Son taking the punishment for the world's sin? Or is it possible that in our postmodern setting these traditional views of the atonement are irrelevant and outmoded? In this important study, Hans Boersma proposes an understanding of the atonement that is sensitive to both the Christian tradition and to postmodern critiques of that tradition.

Throughout his work, Boersma takes seriously the critics of traditional atonement theology. He also acknowledges a certain paradoxical tension between violence and hospitality that will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, he offers a substantial response in the form of an alternative account of violence that also reenvisions the atonement as divine hospitality.

In the first section, Boersma considers the basic theological issues as well as the postmodern critique. He also addresses the question of election and proposes a biblical vision of "preferential hospitality." In the second section, Boersma embraces the three historical views of the atonement and suggests that the "recapitulation" theory of Irenaeus is most compatible with the metaphor of divine hospitality. The third section looks at the church as the community of God's hospitality, both in its role as the continuing presence of Christ in the world and as a proponent of public justice.

This is an important contribution to contemporary theology. In light of current criticisms, Boersma offers a new model for looking at the atonement that draws on the rich resources of the Christian tradition in its portrayal of God's hospitality in Jesus Christ.

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ENDORSEMENTS

This is a bold book. It takes courage in today’s academic culture to argue that divine violence is an unavoidable part of bringing the sinful world into an eschatological state of pure hospitality. Those who tend instinctively to reject any notion of violence as unworthy of God better take Boersma’s arguments seriously.

― Miroslav Volf, Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, Yale University Divinity School

Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross is an important contribution to the ongoing task of articulating orthodox Christian theology in light of contemporary thought. Boersma is a creative, constructive theologian who is not afraid to tackle some of the toughest criticisms leveled against the Christian tradition. His courage in the face of postmodern criticisms is matched by his courage to take the tradition seriously. This book is learned and erudite, engaging an impressive range of biblical, theological, and philosophical sources.

― James K. A. Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College

Boersma combines postmodern philosophy and ancient theology to address how God’s hospitality at the cross undermines violence and supports human hospitality. Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross is a model of how scholarship and praxis are united in the work of the kingdom.

― Robert Webber, Myers Professor of Ministry, Northern Seminary

This is generous evangelicalism at its best. Boersma does not merely react but responds to contemporary objections to the violence inherent in traditional theories of atonement. At the same time, Boersma’s hospitality, like that of the God of the gospel itself, should not be confused with an anything-goes, everyone-in relativism. On the contrary, Boersma’s style matches his subject matter. Given evil, corruption, and falsehood, a certain exclusion, even violence, is both moral and legitimate. Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross responds to postmodern sensibilities with a nonreductionistic reappropriation of the moral influence, penal, and Christus Victor theories, all of which are but moments in a broader recapitulation theory that views Christ’s saving work in terms of his threefold office as prophet, priest, and king. Boersma does a fine job of bringing Scripture and tradition to bear on the contemporary situation—all for the sake of the church’s participation in the divine hospitality.

― Kevin Vanhoozer, Blanchard Professor of Theology, Wheaton College And Graduate School

Christ prayed that all may be one, and he even died to bring about that at-one-ment. Yet Christians now find themselves, paradoxically, divided up according to models of Christ’s atonement. This is a noble and beautiful book—a labor of mind and heart to synthesize and unite all that is in the science of our salvation as it has come down to us in Christian tradition and as it is emerging in theological currents today.

― Scott W. Hahn, Professor of Scripture and Theology, Franciscan University Of Steubenville

REVIEWS

[A] fine book. . . . I found [Boersma's] discussion of the moral influence and substitutionary models extremely rich. Indeed I think his chapter on the latter should be required reading in all evangelical seminaries.

—Stanley Hauerwas, Canadian Evangelical Review

A scholarly review and analysis of differing historical and contemporary understandings of God's work of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, particularly with regard to hospitality and violence. . . . Well structured and readable. . . . Recommended for scholarly theological collections.

—George Westerlund, Library Journal

One of those rare evangelical tomes that engages critically and creatively with a major doctrine under attack--the Atonement. Boersma has written a spirited defense of divine violence as a means toward an eschatological state of pure hospitality.

—Christianity Today

This is an honest and intriguing reexamination of one of the central themes of Christian theologizing (the atonement) in light of more recent concerns (the violence of God) and postmodern vocabulary (hospitality).

—Stephen Finlan, Review of Biblical Literature

Boersma offers a penetrating analysis of one of the most contentious doctrines in contemporary theology at perhaps its most contentious point. . . . The scope of Boersma's argument is impressive. He engages an extraordinarily wide range of authors from the patristic period to the present, and his treatment of alternative points of view is both incisive and generous. Substantively, his contention that divine violence is a category that cannot be dismissed from atonement theory without compromising the very commitment to non-violent communion at the centre of the Christian hope is argued with great consistency and power. . . . Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross constitutes a significant contribution to contemporary thinking on the atonement that combines pastoral sensitivity with exegetical and theological depth."

—Ian A. McFarland, International Journal of Systematic Theology

Readers of Boersma's study will find that he ranges over a considerable body of historical and theological material on the doctrine of the atonement. They will also likely find themselves engaged and provoked by some of his emphases and claims. Certainly, Boersma's insistence that we view the atonement within the overarching context of the triune God's hospitality toward sinners has much to commend it. . . . Those who hold to a traditional Reformed understanding of the atonement will also be pleased with some aspects of Boersma's defense of elements of the satisfaction view. . . . Because of the importance of his subject and the extent to which his modifications of Reformed theology represent popular tendencies in theology today, Boersma's study deserves careful assessment.

—Cornelis P. Venema, Mid-America Journal of Theology

[Boersma's] treatment of Predestination in the Calvinist tradition is balanced and thorough. Also, his section on the Pauline theology of Election and salvation is insightful and is a welcome corrective to a tendency to bypass exegetical issues in other recent treatments of the Atonement. Above all, Boersma is to be commended for his attempt to present an approach that is both faithful to the tradition of Christian discourse regarding the Cross and yet is sensitive to the contemporary situation. He avoid an anachronistic approach to Scripture that forces the texts to conform to our modern sensibilities and he rejects facile solutions to the paradox of the God of justice and the God of mercy. . . . [This book is] thought provoking and raises questions that any contemporary attempt to retrieve the theology of the Atonement cannot ignore.

—Gladstone H. Stevens, S.S., Modern Theology

A thought-provoking book that ought to cause a stir among those not only interested in contemporary constructive theology but also people thinking and teaching in the area of Christianity and violence. . . . The work is a constructive attempt to retrieve traditional theories of the atonement while answering the modern charge that a focus on the cross in Christian theology leads inevitably to violent praxis. . . . Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross will surely become a standard work in soteriology and Christology, deserving to be read by those from across the full theological spectrum. . . . Boersma makes a strong case for the ecumenical appeal of the recapitulation/reconstitution paradigm. This book should, therefore, go a long way in furthering the discussion on the atonement.

—Adrian Langdon, Studies in Religion

Exegetically sensitive, ecumenically attuned, Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross offers its readers a dogmatic delight filled with insight, helping the church affirm that God sent his Son to extend his gracious hospitality to the world. For those interested in a careful repackaging of the atonement in light of current debates or those concerned with how the church should embody Christ's cross, this book will serve as an important resource.

—James R. A. Merrick, Trinity Journal

In this courageous and refreshing book, Hans Boersma faces many of the central contemporary challenges to traditional atonement theologies and proposes a critical retrieval of these traditions, with far-reaching pastoral and social consequences. Showing an uncanny ability to bring together biblical scholarship, contemporary philosophy, historical theology, and social criticism, his ambitious project proffers an integrated account of the nature and implications of Christ's work on the cross. . . . The usefulness of this book to pastors, teachers, and students of theology is great. Boersma offers a fresh and compelling theological account of the atoning work of Christ, and shows implications of this proposal for the church in its preaching, sacraments, confession, and life of hospitality. This book challenges readers through its theological argumentation and provides practical wisdom for teachers and leaders in the church.

—J. Todd Billings, Interpretation

The book engages an impressive range of theological, biblical and philosophical sources. . . Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross is a rewarding book that offers both readability and theological substance. . . . The book ends with a strong section on the public face of hospitality that should stimulate discussion on the continuation of the presence of Christ in the Church through the proclamation of the Word, baptismal fellowship, the celebration of the Eucharist, and the Church's own role in suffering. The application of atonement theories to Christian faith and praxis makes the book an approachable source for any reader who wishes to learn more about the three subject matters indicated in the title."

—Wolfgang Vondey, Pneuma Review

You will not find a more encompassing and courageous critique of the [atonement] tradition in light of contemporary issues and sensitivities than this splendid volume by Hans Boersma.

—Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal

Hans Boersma is an amiable and charismatic person. He is willing to engage carefully with postmodern and feminist critiques of the atonement, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of a Reformed and evangelical theologian.

—Terry A. Larm, Evangelical Review of Theology

Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion concerning the difficulty which the violence of the cross presents for Christian theology. Having listened to contemporary concerns, Hans Boersma presents a creative reappropriation of the Reformed theological tradition, drawing particularly on the thought of Irenæus and contemporary biblical scholarship. . . . One of the strengths of this book is Boersma's presentation of the development of Reformed theology from Calvin to seventeenth-century Federal Theology. . . . Even those who do not find themselves ultimately convinced by Boersma's arguments will have gained from engaging with this excellent book.

—Jonathan Slater, Toronto Journal of Theology

[A] fabulous stud[y] in atonement theory. . . . [Boersma] works carefully through the Christus Victor model, the satisfaction and substitutionary theories, and the moral-influence or subjective presentations of atonement, allowing his efforts to be guided along the way by the wisdom of Irenaeus of Lyons. . . . Boersma moves creatively through evangelical hospitality, baptismal hospitality, eucharistic hospitality, penitential hospitality and cruciform or sympathetic hospitality as ways in which the work of the cross is carried forward through local churches. . . . [This book] offer[s] much food for thought for those wishing to go to the next level in their understanding of the cross.

—Adam C. English, Review and Expositor

[A] well-argued and well-written book. Its case for the paradoxical relation between God's redemptive violence--and by implication, the goodness of the 'penultimate' created order and the profound consequences of sin and evil--and God's 'ultimate' eschatological hospitality is a timely one, especially in view of both secular and ecclesial postmodern calls for an elision of such paradoxes. Thought-provoking and controversial, this book does what good theology should do: stimulate reflection on the heart of Christian faith.

—Lois Malcolm, Theology Today

Boersma's work excels in two ways. First, it is extremely contemporary and current. Boersma is not afraid to work with contemporary philosophers in an unapologetically theological way. His work with radical orthodoxy also keeps this book on the theological cusp. Second, Boersma's fearless yet considered appropriation of the notions of substitution and violence continues a vital dialog.

—Aaron Perry, Asbury Journal

Those who critique the critics of atonement theology and reject efforts to downplay the cross often suggest that these revisionist approaches are not serious about the depth of sin and understate the cost of reconciliation. Boersma's book, crisply Reformed in tenor, may be the most thoughtful and nuanced exploration of these concerns. He carefully probes how far glib dismissals of notions of wrath or expiation might go in preventing us from appreciating what God is against or what is incompatible with God's love.

—S. Mark Heim, Christian Century
 

Interpretation is tricky business. Music and art are among the most difficult 'texts' to interpret. And yet, today more than ever, the media are bombarding us with sounds and images that desperately need imaginative Christian minds to interpret. Is it possible to find traces of the transcendent in contemporary culture? Do we perhaps even find Christian modes of expression where we would least expect them? Or should Christians take a far more critical interpretive stance toward contemporary cultural art forms than they generally do? Consisting of three main sections, this collection of essays first asks how we should interpret the cosmos and the biblical story of salvation. The second part deals specifically with questions surrounding music and worship. The final section deals with the interpretation of contemporary art and mass media. This collection of essays is a helpful guide for those who are willing to engage the imagination as they face tough interpretive questions, particularly in the areas of music and the arts.

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Contributors to this volume:

• Jeremy Begbie

• John L. Bell

• Hans Boersma

• Dennis R. Danielson

• Laurel Gasque

• Wayne L. Roosa

• Quentin J. Schultze

• Diane Sekuloff

• James K.A. Smith

This study takes the reader to the intriguing debates on justification in seventeenth-century English Puritan thought. Richard Baxter (1615-91), the well-known Kidderminster pastor and theologian, insisted that the Calvinists of his day, with their unyielding emphasis on the sola fide of the Reformation, ran the danger of ignoring the conditions that came with God's gift of the covenant of grace. Justification, Baxter insisted, required at least some degree of faith and works as the human response to the love of God. As one of his antagonists, John Crandon, put it: "If we magnifie one grain of our own pepper to that height that we make it a part of that righteousness by which to stand at Gods tribunall this one grain will sink us down to hell, so hot a poison is Mr. Brs pepper-corn." The mix of theological differences and unbending personality traits resulted in years of acrimonious and unyielding debate. Building on previous studies of Baxter's soteriology, this study maintains that Baxter is best understood as an eclectic scholastic covenantal theologian for whom the distinction between God's conditional covenant and his absolute will is key to the entire theological enterprise.

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In recent decades many fundamental Christian assumptions about the nature of God and the world have come under attack. No longer can one assume even in many church circles that historic Christian beliefs about the Trinity and providence are generally accepted or understood. Scientific knowledge and new technologies have also presented challenges for the church. How, for example, should Christians understand the ecological crisis? And how should the opening chapters of Genesis be understood in an age of genetic research and evolutionary science? This collection of essays attempts to chart a faithful path for postmodern Christians, exploring the foundational ideas and concepts of a Christian worldview and suggesting their implications for Christian living today.

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Contributors:

• Hans Boersma

• John Cooper

• Marva J. Dawn

• Michael W. Goheen

• Christopher D. Marshall

• Arnold E. Sikkema

• John G. Stackhouse, Jr.

• Rikki E. Watts

• John R. Wood.