God's Presence A Contemporary Recapitulation of Early Christianity

In 2011, Frances Young delivered the Bampton Lectures in Oxford to great acclaim. She offered a systematic theology with contemporary coherence, by engaging in conversation with the fathers of the church - those who laid down the parameters of Christian theology and enshrined key concepts in the creeds - and exploring how their teachings can be applied today, despite the differences in our intellectual and ecclesial environments. This book results from a thorough rewriting of those lectures in which Young explores the key topics of Christian doctrine in a way that is neither simply dogmatic nor simply historical. She addresses the congruence of head and heart, through academic and spiritual engagement with God's gracious accommodation to human limitations. Christianity and biblical interpretation are discussed in depth, and the book covers key topics including Creation, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, spirituality, ecclesiology and Mariology, making it invaluable to those studying historical and constructive theology.

Preface; Introduction; 1. From pondering Scripture to the first principles of Christian theology; 2. From cosmology to doxology: reading Genesis alongside Plato and Darwin; 3. From creation to re-creation: nature and the naked ape; 4. From image to likeness: Incarnation and theosis; 5. From Adam and Eve to Mary and Christ: sin, redemption, atonement; 6. From inspiration to sanctification: discerning the work of the Holy Spirit; 7. From the Church to Mary: towards a critical ecumenism; 8. From dogma to theoria: the Christian God; Epilogue.

Frances Young previously served as Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology, Dean of Arts, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham. She is the author of The Making of the Creeds (1991), Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture (1997) and Brokenness and Blessing (2007). She is co-editor of The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (with Lewis Ayres and Andrew Louth, 2004) and the first volume of The Cambridge History of Christianity (with Margaret M. Mitchell, 2006).