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Work of Christ
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282 pages, Paperback
First published July 17, 1996
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About the author
P.T. Forsyth
142 books19 followersPeter Taylor Forsyth, Scottish theologian.
From The Soul of Prayer book description:
P. T. Forsyth is sometimes described as an English pre-cursor to Karl Barth. He was born in 1848 to a Scottish family of humble origins and later in life attended Aberdeen University, where he graduated with first-class honours in classical literature in 1869. In 1876 he was ordained and called to minister in Shipley, Yorkshire. In his early ministry in the Congregational Church, Forsyth fought orthodoxy and sought for the right to rethink Christian theology and pursue liberal thought. In 1878, however, Forsyth experienced a conversion from, in his own words, "being a Christian to being a believer, from a lover of love to an object of grace." A profound awareness of pastoral responsibility was awakened which radically altered the the course of his ministry. His conversion thrust him from the leadership of liberalism to a recovery of the theology of grace. Quickly, he became one of the better-known figures in British Nonconformity. In 1894, he received a call to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where he preached his famous sermon, "Holy Father" in 1896. In 1901, he accepted a position as principal of Hackney Theological College, London where he remained until he died in 1921. Over his lifetime Forsyth published 25 books and more than 260 articles. He is often credited with recovering for his generation the reality and true dimensions of the grace of God.(
From The Soul of Prayer book description:
P. T. Forsyth is sometimes described as an English pre-cursor to Karl Barth. He was born in 1848 to a Scottish family of humble origins and later in life attended Aberdeen University, where he graduated with first-class honours in classical literature in 1869. In 1876 he was ordained and called to minister in Shipley, Yorkshire. In his early ministry in the Congregational Church, Forsyth fought orthodoxy and sought for the right to rethink Christian theology and pursue liberal thought. In 1878, however, Forsyth experienced a conversion from, in his own words, "being a Christian to being a believer, from a lover of love to an object of grace." A profound awareness of pastoral responsibility was awakened which radically altered the the course of his ministry. His conversion thrust him from the leadership of liberalism to a recovery of the theology of grace. Quickly, he became one of the better-known figures in British Nonconformity. In 1894, he received a call to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where he preached his famous sermon, "Holy Father" in 1896. In 1901, he accepted a position as principal of Hackney Theological College, London where he remained until he died in 1921. Over his lifetime Forsyth published 25 books and more than 260 articles. He is often credited with recovering for his generation the reality and true dimensions of the grace of God.(
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 27, 2015
In this book Forsyth doesn't come up with a completely new theology of the atonement - there's no such thing, really - but he brings such clarity and such a personal viewpoint to what he has to say that it was as if I was getting hold of it for the first time, and in a way that was immensely satisfying to my miniscule theological brain.
He also clarifies the whole aspect of God's holiness - something that's exceedingly important to him - and the place of Christ in the whole business - another one of his great themes. In doing so it helped open up for me a different way of thinking about Christ, something that I've also needed to do for many years.
Forsyth isn't an easy writer to read. I can't quite put my finger on the reason for this, but I wonder if it isn't partly the fact that he's Scottish. I have the same problem with George MacDonald, another Scottish writer. Both of them use the English language in a way that's slightly odd. It's something about the sentence construction, I think, rather than the words they use, because these are straightforward enough in general. MacDonald is perhaps more difficult than Forsyth; some of his sentences verge on unintelligibility as he leaps from thought to thought. Both he and Forsyth seem almost to turn the sentences inside out, put things back to front from your normal expectation. It's impossible to describe, but no doubt someone more able than yours truly could do it.
Forsyth's obviously a better teacher than I suspected while reading the book. The way he hammers home a point works; he revolves around and around it until he's sunk it in.
Forsyth doesn't like to give concrete examples; you might almost say he writes at a kind of abstract level. Some things, which are probably unexplainable, he doesn't trouble himself to explain. At least not in The Work of Christ. I'm the kind of reader who needs some 'pictures' to get a hold of, some stories to back up the theology. As far as I can remember there's only one story in the whole of this book, and it's a vivid one about a railway worker who saves two trains from colliding by lying down between the tracks and manually working the switch, when the lever that should do the job has jammed. But having used that story, Forsyth then proclaims, pretty much, that it doesn't suffice for what he's trying to say. And he's right. But for the kind of reader I am, it's a help in terms of feeling as though there was something to hold onto in the book. (Incidentally, he also says at one point that if you haven't bothered to do some philosophy then it won't be surprising that you don't understand theology. I thought this was just a little sniffy of him, but I jotted a note on the page about it, and carried on reading.)
Forsyth is consistent in his use of language, at least. You just have to work out why he's using a particular word ('moral' was one I kept tripping over) in such a way. Once you've got hold of that, you can keep moving forward.
He also clarifies the whole aspect of God's holiness - something that's exceedingly important to him - and the place of Christ in the whole business - another one of his great themes. In doing so it helped open up for me a different way of thinking about Christ, something that I've also needed to do for many years.
Forsyth isn't an easy writer to read. I can't quite put my finger on the reason for this, but I wonder if it isn't partly the fact that he's Scottish. I have the same problem with George MacDonald, another Scottish writer. Both of them use the English language in a way that's slightly odd. It's something about the sentence construction, I think, rather than the words they use, because these are straightforward enough in general. MacDonald is perhaps more difficult than Forsyth; some of his sentences verge on unintelligibility as he leaps from thought to thought. Both he and Forsyth seem almost to turn the sentences inside out, put things back to front from your normal expectation. It's impossible to describe, but no doubt someone more able than yours truly could do it.
Forsyth's obviously a better teacher than I suspected while reading the book. The way he hammers home a point works; he revolves around and around it until he's sunk it in.
Forsyth doesn't like to give concrete examples; you might almost say he writes at a kind of abstract level. Some things, which are probably unexplainable, he doesn't trouble himself to explain. At least not in The Work of Christ. I'm the kind of reader who needs some 'pictures' to get a hold of, some stories to back up the theology. As far as I can remember there's only one story in the whole of this book, and it's a vivid one about a railway worker who saves two trains from colliding by lying down between the tracks and manually working the switch, when the lever that should do the job has jammed. But having used that story, Forsyth then proclaims, pretty much, that it doesn't suffice for what he's trying to say. And he's right. But for the kind of reader I am, it's a help in terms of feeling as though there was something to hold onto in the book. (Incidentally, he also says at one point that if you haven't bothered to do some philosophy then it won't be surprising that you don't understand theology. I thought this was just a little sniffy of him, but I jotted a note on the page about it, and carried on reading.)
Forsyth is consistent in his use of language, at least. You just have to work out why he's using a particular word ('moral' was one I kept tripping over) in such a way. Once you've got hold of that, you can keep moving forward.
February 11, 2013
Forsyth is Cross focused. This book was my first experience with this intellectual, gospel giant and I was stunned at the depth of Forsyth's insight into the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. While most of his books were out of print in the 1980s, I found used copies of many of his works. Some others I found in libraries.
My reading of Forsyth has always been quite slow and in short spurts. He is so well read and so well versed in seemingly every discipline of philosophical, religion, literature, history, and even the science of his day; his language and his references are natural to him, but were often impossible for me to follow. In his analysis of various aspects of those subjects, he demonstrated that each idea was insufficient for final answer. In every discussion, Forsyth soon came back to the cross of Christ and to the Bible for the final answer for individuals and for humanity. That, for me, was the exciting part.
Fortunately, this book was a bit more practical and less technical than most that I have read since. Nevertheless, it is plenty technical in its analysis of Bible passages and truths on the work of Christ.
To the lay reader like myself, this book has in-depth explanations of Substitution, Reconciliation, Sacrificial Atonement, and other aspects of Christ's work.
I highly recommend Forsyth's books on any subject. While my understanding and opinion differs from his at times, his well-founded ideas always demand my consideration and his point of view must be addressed.
My reading of Forsyth has always been quite slow and in short spurts. He is so well read and so well versed in seemingly every discipline of philosophical, religion, literature, history, and even the science of his day; his language and his references are natural to him, but were often impossible for me to follow. In his analysis of various aspects of those subjects, he demonstrated that each idea was insufficient for final answer. In every discussion, Forsyth soon came back to the cross of Christ and to the Bible for the final answer for individuals and for humanity. That, for me, was the exciting part.
Fortunately, this book was a bit more practical and less technical than most that I have read since. Nevertheless, it is plenty technical in its analysis of Bible passages and truths on the work of Christ.
To the lay reader like myself, this book has in-depth explanations of Substitution, Reconciliation, Sacrificial Atonement, and other aspects of Christ's work.
I highly recommend Forsyth's books on any subject. While my understanding and opinion differs from his at times, his well-founded ideas always demand my consideration and his point of view must be addressed.
April 30, 2017
A lovely transcript of P.T. Forsyth's lectures on Christ as Reconciler. You can almost imagine his polished Scot's tones reverberating around an eager lecture hall. The last couple of chapters seemed less relevant than the foregoing. His criticism of Penal Substitution as God's punishment on Christ in our place were to the point. Christ bears the penalty for our sins rather than being subject to the punishment of God, and he is our representative on the cross, not our substitute as he thoroughly identifies with sinful humanity just as we are buried with him in our baptism.
Too few people read Forsyth now, I fear.
Too few people read Forsyth now, I fear.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews