Participation in God: A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics

Description

Few ideas have excited greater interest among theologians in recent decades than the idea of 'participation'. In thinking about creation, it is the notion that everything comes from, and depends upon, God, inviting the language of sharing, or of an exemplar and its images; in thinking about redemption, it points to the restoration of that image, and is expressed in the language of communion with God and with the redeemed community. In this volume, Andrew Davison considers these themes in unprecedented breadth, investigating the fundamental character of participation as it can be applied to a wide range of theological topics. Exploring what it means to know, to love, to do good, and to live together well, he shows how these ideas animate a particular understanding of human life and how we relate to the world around us. His book offers the most comprehensive survey of participation to date, contributing to detailed discussions of these themes among academic theologians.

Andrew Davison is Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and fellow in theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His previous books include The Love of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy for Theologians(2013), Why Sacraments? (2013), and Blessing (2014).

'... especially admirable as a lucid, generous, thorough synthesis of recent and contemporary scholarly discussions of Thomist thought.' Clare Carlisle, Times Literary Supplement 'Davison ... succeeds overall in offering a clear, theologically nuanced and philosophically tenable articulation of participation in God with all that it entails. Works of this kind can be opaque, but Davison's monograph stands out since he writes for the specialist and the nonspecialist alike. Due to the breadth and depth of his treatment, this work ought to be consulted by anyone interested in systematic theology in general and metaphysics and philosophical theology more specifically.' Thomas Haviland-Pabst, Theology and History 'The text is written in a lucid and inviting style. The student of theology will find in ita offer a movingly coherent and often poetic account of a world ordered by and sharing in God. The scholar as well will find plenty of insights ... Few scholars have the gift of writing such a full treatment of a bedrock idea in a way that is both approachable and generativeof new critical engagement. Davison has this gift, and he has written such a book.' Anthony Baker, Scottish Journal of Theology 'Andrew Davison's Participation in God is a magnificent gift to teachers and students of Christian theology, preachers of the faith, spiritual directors of the faithful, and specialists requiring a systematic theology of participation.' Simon Oliver, Modern Theology '... Davison offers an impressive and wide-ranging study of the doctrine of participation, effectively demonstrating how it provides a metaphysical framework for theology that allows us to see the world as a gift from God, bearing some trace of his likeness, and creation as profoundly precious because of the one who gives it to us, and whose likeness it bears: God himself.' Daria Spezzano, The Living Church