In the midst of a troubled world, Christians believe in a good God who, as the Creator, has never lost interest in his broken creation. The key evidence for, and the chief symbol of, this divine commitment is the cross of Christ. This God, revealed Scripture, has a project; and...
In the midst of a troubled world, Christians believe in a good God who, as the Creator, has never lost interest in his broken creation. The key evidence for, and the chief symbol of, this divine commitment is the cross of Christ. This God, revealed Scripture, has a project; and central to the divine strategy is Christ, his coming and his cross. The troubles and calamities will end.
The cross which has been scandalous from the start touches the individual, the church and the wider creation. The cross makes peace, and brings shalom. The canon of Scripture presents a 'divine comedy', where the story of Jesus, his cross and empty tomb are set in the framework of God's grand plan to restore the created order.
Graham Cole's excellent study takes the broad approach, but not in a way that masks 'the cruciality of the cross'. He examines who God is and what humanity has become, then focuses on the divine provision for humanity in its plight. He explores how the 'peace dividend' of the cross works itself out at the personal, corporate and cosmic levels, and asks how we are to live if these things are really so. Finally, he discusses God's grand purpose, reviews the journey, and addresses the question of how God the peacemaker brings shalom through atonement in both the broad and narrow senses of the term. An appendix deals with a range of controversial aspects of the cross.
In the midst of a troubled world, Christians believe in a good God who, as the Creator, has never lost interest in his broken creation. The key evidence for, and the chief symbol of, this divine commitment is the cross of Christ. This God, revealed Scripture, has a project; and...
In the midst of a troubled world, Christians believe in a good God who, as the Creator, has never lost interest in his broken creation. The key evidence for, and the chief symbol of, this divine commitment is the cross of Christ. This God, revealed Scripture, has a project; and central to the divine strategy is Christ, his coming and his cross. The troubles and calamities will end.
The cross which has been scandalous from the start touches the individual, the church and the wider creation. The cross makes peace, and brings shalom. The canon of Scripture presents a 'divine comedy', where the story of Jesus, his cross and empty tomb are set in the framework of God's grand plan to restore the created order.
Graham Cole's excellent study takes the broad approach, but not in a way that masks 'the cruciality of the cross'. He examines who God is and what humanity has become, then focuses on the divine provision for humanity in its plight. He explores how the 'peace dividend' of the cross works itself out at the personal, corporate and cosmic levels, and asks how we are to live if these things are really so. Finally, he discusses God's grand purpose, reviews the journey, and addresses the question of how God the peacemaker brings shalom through atonement in both the broad and narrow senses of the term. An appendix deals with a range of controversial aspects of the cross.
***-Publisher.***
God the Peacemaker : How Atonement Bring Shalom
God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom (New Studies In Biblical Theology Series)$39.99
I'd been wanting to read this book by Graham Cole for a while now, and finally bought it and read it. My copy is a hard copy - and it's now one of the most highlighted books I own. I've read a number of books on the atonement - many holding very specific views, narrow in focus, and quite derogatory of any other position. But Cole in God the Peacemaker has done what few others have (at least in my limited reading): shown forth the glory of the atoning work of Christ, with penal substitutionary atonement as vital, yet seeing truth and application in many other theories. His work on the holiness, righteousness and love of God is gold; the conclusion of Christ being the mercy seat where our sin is expiated and God's wrath propitiated is the clearest I've read; and the narrow and wide lens in seeing the atoning work of Christ affecting the individual, corporate body of Christ and cosmos is excellent. And for a somewhat technical book, Cole's use of illustrations was a great addition bringing in-depth theology into the everyday world we live in. This is now my go-to book when thinking through the atonement and shalom
