Inhabiting the cruciform God : kenosis, justification, and theosis in Paul's narrative soteriology

 by Michael J. Gorman. Gorman (St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore) devotes four chapters to the apostle Paul's understanding of human participation in God's cruciform character. Chapter 1 attends to Paul's view that Christ's self-emptying in the Crucifixion represents the character of God (and not just Christ) and is to be the model-character for humans called to be in Christ as God's representative. Chapter 2 contends that Paul understood the justification of humans by God as requiring human "participating in Christ's resurrection life that is effected by co-crucifixion with him." Chapter 3 argues that Paul regarded human holiness as human participation in the Cross of Christ by the power of God's spirit. Chapter 4 shows that a life of nonviolence and reconciliation is required for human participating in God's cruciform character. A nice summary of this approach to Paul's position is Gorman's statement: "To be truly human is to be Christlike, which is to be Godlike, which is to be kenotic and cruciform." Gorman defines "theosis" as "the process of transformation into the image of this God." The book is nontechnical but carefully attentive to relevant literature on its topic. --Choice (Check catalog)