into the secondary literature about him.

I wish that there had also been a bibliography of works about theosis. Michael D. Morrison theosis in the theology of thomas torrance Myk Habets Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), x + 212 pp. ISBN 9780754667995. This book represents the published version of Myk Habets PhD dissertation recently completed at the University of Otago under the supervision of Ivor Davidson. In the Introduction, Habets oers a brief outline of the history of the doctrine of theosis (or divinisation or deication) in both the Eastern Church (represented by Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus, Symeon the New Theologian, Nicholas Cabasilas and Gregory Palamas) and in that of the West (here he considers Augustine, Aquinas, the Finnish School of Luther interpretation, John Calvin in whose thought the notion of theosis nds its voice in the grammar of union with Christ the Oxford Movement, the Wesleys and modern Pentecostalism). He suggests that T.F. Torrance functions as something of a mediating theologian insofar as his soteriology betrays a creative continuity (8) with both Eastern and Western notions of atonement and gathers them around the controlling metaphor of theosis (ix). Through an examination of Torrances doctrines of creation, anthropology, incarnation, reconciliation and spirit-ecclesiology, Habets identies that while theosis is not the central point of Torrancean soteriology, and that direct references to theosis within Torrances work are relatively few (14), (Torrance prefers to employ the grammar of union, communion, participation, atoning exchange, etc.), it is a necessarily crucial integrating theme within his overall theological oeuvre (16). Habets study examines these themes in their theological contexts and concludes that what emerges is a complex but coherent Torrancean doctrine of theosis, albeit one which raises critical questions, deciencies, and indications for further study (1516). Chapter one explores Torrances claim in The Christian Doctrine of God that creation is proleptically conditioned by redemption, that from the beginning creations telos is both revealed and actualised in the incarnation. With striking clarity, Habets outlines the mutual history that creation and Book Reviews 109

redemption share, a history which is brought together in a creative synthesis in Torrances doctrine of theosis. This work of theosis is the purpose of Holy Loves gracious determination not to live for himself alone but to bring into being an-other, namely creation, which might share, in Torrances words, the Communion of Love which constitutes the Triune life. This, Torrance insists in the aforementioned book, is the secret of the creation, hidden from the ages but has now in Christ become disclosed to us (218), secured in the act of Gods incarnation, and fruited in the human experience of redemption which comes as the gift of the Holy Spirit. Habets contends that while Christ is central to creation as a whole, [and] not simply to humanity (27), humanity is given the function and privilege to assist creation both to realise and evidence its rational order and beauty and thus to express God and to realise its priestly vocation, in order to bring forth the requisite praise that God deserves (45). In chapter two, Habets attends to the core of Torrances theology Jesus Christ and he outlines the redemptive nature of the Incarnation and how, for Torrance, Christs entire life concerns the work of divinisation. Rehearsing the central motifs in Torrances Christology (namely, the retrospective/prospective aspects of the atonement, the homoousion, the vicarious humanity, mediation and ascension of Christ, etc.), Habets recalls Torrances indebtedness to the Greek Fathers in constructing a doctrine of theosis around two distinct but interrelated movements that take place in the hypostatic union (a doctrine with signicant epistemological currency in Torrances thought), namely the divinising of the human nature of the Logos and the subsequent application of this to the human subject in deication (55). So Habets: In the person of Jesus Christ we see true humanity partaking of true Divinity by nature in such a way that by union, communion, and theosis with Christ by the Spirit we too, by grace, can participate in the divine nature (62). The ultimate achievement of this divinising action is reached in the ascension of the Son: As a man, Jesus Christ has perfect fellowship with God, and because of the eternity of the hypostatic union, the one person of the Son is in the place (topos) and space (chora) of humanity in and with God (89). While otherwise sympathetic to Torrances theology, Habets charges Torrance with a lack of detailed attention to actual historical life of Christ (83), with misrepresenting patristic sources, with embracing a form of divine passibility which leaves his christology too ambiguous at points (see 847), and, more substantially, with a decient and underdeveloped pneumatology, particularly that as concerns the bond of union in Christs theandric nature. On the latter, 110 Colloquium 43/1 2011

Habets contends that Torrances over-correction of Edward Irvings apparent Ebionite Christology leads to Torrance going too far in the direction of Alexandrian christology (74) and so under-emphasising the atoning work of the Spirit in Christs life. Habets turns, in chapter three, to examine the dynamics of how believers are brought into relationship with God. He properly highlights Torrances indebtedness to Calvin (and to Barth) and argues that the Churchs doctrines of theosis are compatible with Reformed theologys understanding of participation. In many ways, the discussion on union with Christ (97 115) takes us to the very heart of the Reformed account of the doctrine of theosis that Torrance represents. This informs Habets thesis that theosis functions as a controlling metaphor that gives coherence to the disparate themes of Torrances soteriology (94). Some readers may feel that Habets has overplayed his hand in proposing that the doctrine of union with Christ is determined by a deeper and distinct-though-related doctrine of theosis within Torrances theology; others, that Habets has not made his case, or that he remains too uncritical of the character of theosis that Torrance outlines and whether it remains too incompatible with the Reformed ontology with which Torrance otherwise operates. Habets is not unaware of these criticisms, however, and devotes some ink to wrestling with them. Throughout, Habets consistently avers that the hypostatic union means that humanitys centre and Gods coincide, that in Christ the Triune God and humanity dwell in each other in mutual personal satisfaction in such a way that humanity is gathered up into the space of the triune community but without loss of creaturely status, nor blurring of the Creator-creature distinctives. Pneumatology and ecclesiology are the subjects of chapter four, Community and Communion. Here Habets, in the most constructive of the books chapters, argues for the indispensability of an adequate pneumatology (which is perhaps the least examined aspect of Torrances theology [140]) for a doctrine of theosis as it is here that the reality of the believers participation in the divine nature emerges (139). He notes that the same Holy Spirit who equips and enables the incarnate Son to oer the wonderful exchange for us is also the bond of love who unites believers to the incarnate Son and enables them to be drawn into the life of God as well as the bond of communion who constitutes the church as the locus of theosis (139; cf. 16870). Habets (tentatively) agrees with Jason Yeungs assessment (in Being and Knowing: An Examination of T.F. Torrances Christological Science) that while Torrance is right never to isolate Book Reviews 111

pneumatology from christology, Torrances pneumatology remains underdeveloped. Moreover, Habets charges that Torrances robust emphasis on the objective elements of soteriology are not matched by corresponding subjective aspects. He recalls the gracious action of God who in/by/with the Spirit unites the Church to the response, obedience, faith and worship of Jesus, and raises that communion up in Christ to participate in heavens worship and in the eternal communion of the triune family. Put short, theosis is worship from beginning to end, for it is an active participation in Jesus Christ made possible by the Spirit (192). The central ecclesial acts in which theosis occurs (170), Habets notes of Torrances thought, is in Baptism and Eucharist. Participation in the sacraments is the path to participation in the divine nature, a mystery of the faith that unites the believer to Christ by the Spirit (184). Baptism functions as the liturgical mediation of forgiveness (176), as the event through which believers participate in the incarnate Sons theopoiesis, and as that action which inaugurates theosis in the believer (178). Habets understands that the Eucharist, like Baptism, is a mediating rather than a constitutive form of Gods saving action. Moreover, it is a form in which Christs real presence reects the hypostatic movement evident in the incarnation and in Christs priestly work. In answering the question How close is the union that believers have with God in theosis by means of the Eucharist?, Habets recalls Torrances claim that No union, save that of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, could be closer, without passing into absolute identity, than that between Christ and His Church as enacted in the Holy Eucharist (182). The books conclusion draws together and recapitulates the main themes of the study before naming some concerns that the author has about some details of his subjects theology, evidence that Habets is a grateful though not uncritical reader of Torrance. Habets remains unconvinced, for example, of Torrances insistence that Christ assumed fallen human nature, that Torrance has done enough to articulate the compatibility between the model of theosis he is proposing and a Reformed doctrine of justication by faith, and that Torrances theology of unio mystica is pneumatalogically sucient in those areas where the concern presses beyond epistemology. Moreover, Habets believes that Torrances theology of theosis, while compatible with the Churchs teaching and with contemporary scholarship, requires additional maturity, sophistication and some specic discussion beyond that which he provides of what theosis looks like in everyday life (189). While the book could do with an additional proofread and edit (there are a number of typographical and grammatical errors, particularly in the 112 Colloquium 43/1 2011

footnotes), it joins work by Colyer, McGrath, Dawson and Molnar as an insightful and clear introduction to Torrances extensive oeuvre, and makes a real contribution to ongoing conversations about the shape and location that the Christian doctrine of theosis assumes in systematic and ecumenical theology, and in theological anthropology. Jason A. Goroncy a g l a s s d a r k ly : m e d i c i n e a n d t h e o l o g y i n f u r t h e r dialogue Edited by D. Gareth Jones and R. John Elford New International Studies in Applied Ethics, Volume 2. (Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2010), 246 pp. ISBN 9783039119363. Continuing on from the dialogue between medicine and theology begun in their previous book, (Elford and Jones eds, A Tangled Web, [Bern: Peter Lang, 2009]), Jones and Elford have sought to further the dialogue between theology and medicine for the benet of both. In quoting from 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) in the title, A Glass Darkly identies the context of change in which we all nd ourselves, especially in relation to the biomedical sciences, where in the midst of uncertainty Christians are called to faithful action. In particular, this volume focuses its attention on issues involving articial reproductive technologies and the human embryo. Recent developments within these areas aect scientist and non-scientists, Christians and nonChristians alike, so importantly this dialogue is not just an academic exercise but as Jones and other contributors point out, has pastoral importance as Christians come to terms with issues such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in their personal lives. The pressing issue then becomes, whether medicine is intruding into the divine centre of human existence, especially at the beginning and end of individual existence[so that] divine chance has been replaced by nondivine choice (10). In this context Gareth Jones helpfully sets the scene by discussing the concept of the articial, which then forms the framework for the rest of the chapters in relation to IVF and other beginning of life interventions. As Jones suggests, theologys engagement with medicine is located in the here and now (11), where through dialogue theology can provide directives through the maze of possibilities opened up by scientic endeavours (31). In the second chapter John Elford explores the theological tools available for such a dialogue that can inform the task of Book Reviews 113