The Mystery Of Union With God

The Mystery of Union with God offers the most extensive, systematic analysis to date of how Albert and Thomas interpreted and transformed the Dionysian Moses "who knows God by unknowing." It shows Albert's and Thomas's philosophical and theological motives to place limits on Dionysian apophatism and to reintegrate mediated knowledge into mystical knowing. The author surfaces many similarities in the two Dominicans' mystical doctrines and exegesis of Dionysius. This work prepares the way for a new consideration of Albert the Great as the father of Rhineland Mysticism. The original presentation of Aquinas's theology of the Spirit's seven gifts breaks new ground in theological scholarship. Finally, the entire book lays out a model for the study of mystical theology from a historical, philosophical and doctrinal perspective.

An accomplished theologian recovers the biblical theme of union with Christ, showing how it affects current theological and ministry issues.

Albert the Great was born in Swabia, the son of a military nobleman. He was a Dominican priest who taught theology in Cologne and Paris. His most distinguished student was Saint Thomas Aquinas. Albert was called "Doctor universalis" because his breadth of knowledge spanned not only philosophy and theology but all the natural sciences. He was a dedicated student of nature, and although he argued that the physical world can only be known reliably through observation and comparison, Albert distinguished between thruths, which are naturally knowable, and mysteries, which cannot be known without revelation. People can only reach God through Himself - that is, by leaving behind the entanglements of earthly things and contemplating Him exclusively. The image and reality of God's incarnation in Jesus gives human beings the opportunity to attain a more perfect knowledge God through contemplation. Albert refers to the teaching of St. Peter, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."

'The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification' by Walter Marshall, first published in 1692, is one of the classic works of Christian spirituality. It is a deep and rich biblical study of sanctification - how Christians grow in holiness and become more like Jesus. In a day when Christians are very prone to pursue self-help methods to grow in obedience to Christ, Walter Marshall lays out the biblical way of growth: obedience comes as Christians live by grace, in union with Christ, by faith. Growth comes, as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, through Christ living in me.Ó The message of this book is so important for Christians today, it is essential that it be rewritten in contemporary English.

Foundational to believers' salvation is their union with Christ. In this accessible introduction, Johnson argues that this neglected doctrine is the lens through which all other facets of salvation in the New Testament should be understood.

It’s the defining reality of all existence, the central fact of human history, and the heart of the Christian faith: God became a man and lived among us. More than just part of the Christmas story, the doctrine of the incarnation radically affects our understanding of God, humanity, life, death, and salvation. In The Incarnation of God, theology professors John Clark and Marcus Johnson explore this foundational Christian confession, examining its implications for the church’s knowledge and worship of God. Grounded in Scripture and informed by church history, this book will help Christians rediscover the inestimable significance of the truth that the Son of God became what we are without ceasing to be the eternal God—the greatest mystery of the universe.

The essays in this volume explore three areas in which St. Thomas Aquinas's voice has never fallen silent: sacred doctrine, the relationship of sacraments and metaphysics, and the central role of virtue in moral theology.

We Were Lost. Now We’re Found...in Him. Everyone has experienced isolation and alienation. We lost more than a nice home when we were banished from Eden. We lost relationship with God and with each other. But then God did the unthinkable. The Son of God became the Man Christ Jesus: one of us that we might be united to him. In Found in Him, Elyse Fitzpatrick explores the wonder of the incarnation and the glory of our union with Christ, offering us a sure path to ultimate acceptance and true belonging through the power of the gospel.

Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole biblical teaching about salvation. The entirety of our relationship with God can be summed up in this doctrine. Yet when people ask what this union actually is, we flounder. The incarnation shows that God has made us to be united with him, and God has given us his Word to enable us to understand the nature of this union. Set out with Robert Letham to explore this doctrine from Scripture using help from the church fathers to modern theologians.

Insightful and heart-warming, this classic book is written for those who seek to know God better. It unfolds life-impacting, biblical truths and has been called a "soul-stirring celebration of the pleasures of knowing God."

How many times have you heard someone say, “I want to be close to God,” or “I feel far from Jesus?” For many of us, we have been led to believe that our relationship with Jesus is based on proximity—a sliding scale of “near” or “far” based on the faithfulness of our spiritual devotion. But what if being “close” to you isn’t good enough for Jesus? What if he wants to be closer than close? Instead of simply having a “personal relationship” with you, what if Jesus longs to be “perfectly one” with you instead? In this achingly bold and beautiful book, pastor, scholar, friend, and now author, Dave Hickman, invites you into his personal journey from striving to abiding, anxiety to peace, weariness to rest; from having a relationship with Jesus to awakening to the freedom of his union with Christ. Through careful attention to Scripture, personal stories, and everyday examples, join Dave as he guides you into the depths of the mystery of your personal and corporate union with Christ. In doing so, you, too, can awaken to the wonder and freedom that is already yours in Christ.

Since the time of bloody persecutions right up to the post-modern age, each historical period posed its particular challenge to Christianity. Psychologically, Christians' vitality in overcoming these challenges came primarily from what is perhaps the deepest mystery of faith itself—the believers' union with God. The postmodern positivist questions this mystery, and rejects the possibility of communication with a non-sensorial and therefore "non-existing" God. Agnostics proclaim, "One man's religion, is another's delusion." Therefore, the modern challenge for Christians is to explain how God, despite being invisible, is experientially present in the life of believers. Although the experience of living in a relationship with an invisible God is a profound one for Christians, it seems nonsensical to those who emphasize the primacy of sensory experience. Paul Ungar's extensive scholarly training equips him remarkably well to explore where, when, how, and through which psychological functions communication with the spiritual God factually occur. Ungar's The Mystery of Christian Faith: A Tangible Union with the Invisible God is an apologetic work on the borderline of theology, psychology and philosophy. It is written for Christian intellectuals regardless of their denominational background and rationally demonstrates what François Mauriac's hauntingly poetic expression, "Nothing is more alien than living in a Godless world, and nothing is closer to humans than God."

“This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” —Ephesians 5:32 Marriage reveals something of eternal significance. From the beginning, God designed marriage to convey a greater reality—the passionate, unfailing, redeeming love of God for sinners, the eternal romance between Christ and his bride. In this volume, Ray Ortlund traces marriage throughout Scripture—from the first marriage in the garden of Eden to the ultimate marriage in the book of Revelation—laying out a transcendent vision of marriage that dignifies our own imperfect unions as a display of the gospel. This book offers insight and hope to every married person today. Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series.

Winner of the 2017 Christian Book Award for New Author Named one of the top books of 2016 by John Piper's Desiring God ministry To experience why the gospel is good news and answer life’s most foundational questions about identity, destiny, and purpose, we must understand what it means to be united to Christ. If you are a Christian, the Bible says that Christ has united his life to yours, that you are now in Christ and Christ is in you. This almost unfathomable truth is the central theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Yet few Christians today experience or enjoy this reality. Union with Christ reveals the transformational power of this ancient doctrine while addressing the basic questions of the human heart: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Where Am I Headed? How Will I Get There? Nothing is more practical for living the Christian life than union with Christ. The recovery of this reality provides the anchor and engine for your life with God—for your destiny is not only to see Christ, but to actually become like him.

Mysticism has a place in all the major world religions. This book begins with the assertion that Christian Mysticism, in its most essential state, is the mystery of Christ's union with God. Certain major theologians including Albert Ritschl and Karl Barth have stood in opposition to the concept of mysticism and have even suggested that it is opposite to the heart of the Gospel and indeed the whole Bible. Yet Bouyer here makes a strong argument for understanding Mysticism as central to the Christian faith. This analysis of mysticism is contrasted with its place in pagan religions and its role throughout Christian history. In so doing, Bouyer reveals the significance of mysticism for understanding the meaning of life.

The first three chapters [of this book] give a general discussion of four great matters in the Bible: the economy of God, the dispensing of God, the union of God with His believers, and the corporate expression of God. The subsequent chapters go on to explain the profound truths and the experience of life related to these four great matters according to the book of Ephesians, the Gospel of John, and the Gospel of Matthew. Following this, the book proceeds to offer guidance to all those who have a heart to serve the Lord full time concerning the building up of themselves in the matters of life, truth, character, learning languages, knowing the church, living a healthy life, and managing personal finances as living witnesses of the Lord, so that they may become useful vessels in the Lord's hands.

Jüngel sets out to establish a basis for a theology of God the crucified while avoiding the shoals of theism and atheism. He warns of the danger, rooted in the fact that modernity no longer dares to think God, of talking God to death, of silencing God with too much God-talk. Jüngel analyzes what our possibilities are of thinking and speaking God and concludes that theology has to become the narrative of God's humanity. This second book in the series helps the reader to gain a more explicit awareness of the contemporary issues Jüngel's theology grapples with.