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New Studies in Dogmatics
Christian Life
What is the Christian life? What does it mean to live life in Christ?
In this volume in Zondervan Academic's New Studies in Dogmatics series, theologian Kelly M. Kapic reflects on the Christian its foundation, its nourishment, and its goal.
Kapic contends that the Christian life is, first and foremost, one that is lived in response to the love of the triune God. It thus flows from God toward us, and we are then drawn back into communion with God. As those united to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, Christians are enabled to respond to God's love. Shaped further by the community of faith, especially through corporate worship, Christians thus participate in this love of God and neighbor. What is true of the whole discipline of theology is thus reflected in the Christian Christ is its foundation, Christ is its source of nourishment, and Christ is its goal.
New Studies in Dogmatics seeks to retrieve the riches of Christian doctrine for the sake of contemporary theological renewal. Following in the tradition of G. C. Berkouwer's Studies in Dogmatics, this series will provide thoughtful, concise, and readable treatments of major theological topics, expressing the biblical, creedal, and confessional shape of Christian doctrine for a contemporary evangelical audience. The editors and contributors share a common conviction that the way forward in constructive systematic theology lies in building upon the foundations laid in the church's historic understanding of the Word of God as professed in its creeds, councils, and confessions, and by its most trusted teachers. This volume presents a dogmatic account of the Christian life.
In this volume in Zondervan Academic's New Studies in Dogmatics series, theologian Kelly M. Kapic reflects on the Christian its foundation, its nourishment, and its goal.
Kapic contends that the Christian life is, first and foremost, one that is lived in response to the love of the triune God. It thus flows from God toward us, and we are then drawn back into communion with God. As those united to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, Christians are enabled to respond to God's love. Shaped further by the community of faith, especially through corporate worship, Christians thus participate in this love of God and neighbor. What is true of the whole discipline of theology is thus reflected in the Christian Christ is its foundation, Christ is its source of nourishment, and Christ is its goal.
New Studies in Dogmatics seeks to retrieve the riches of Christian doctrine for the sake of contemporary theological renewal. Following in the tradition of G. C. Berkouwer's Studies in Dogmatics, this series will provide thoughtful, concise, and readable treatments of major theological topics, expressing the biblical, creedal, and confessional shape of Christian doctrine for a contemporary evangelical audience. The editors and contributors share a common conviction that the way forward in constructive systematic theology lies in building upon the foundations laid in the church's historic understanding of the Word of God as professed in its creeds, councils, and confessions, and by its most trusted teachers. This volume presents a dogmatic account of the Christian life.
- GenresTheology
336 pages, Paperback
Published December 2, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 26, 2026
Kelly Kapic is one of the best theological writers of our day. He gears his writings a bit toward scholars, but don’t let that stop you. Accept the challenge of this book and you won’t be sorry. The title of the series (“New Studies in Dogmatics”) might scare off some readers, but don’t allow that to camouflage a great read. Yes, scholars will likely eat it up as a book that shows an artisan at work in their trade, but I say pastors and thoughtful Bible students ought to claim this one as their own.
The only part that might appeal more to scholars than the rest of us is how he loves to delve into some historical personage or creed to illustrate his point. That is only an issue because sometimes that takes more explanation than the point at large he is making. I doubt he can help it. He seems like a walking encyclopedia; a passionate one to be sure, but it is amazing the scope at which he views his subject.
His clearly stated thesis is that “Christian life is a response to the love of God”. Not only does that make sense, especially as he develops it, but it also gave him free reign to write across most of the systematic theology corpus as he desired. That could easily degenerate in a muddled mess that said little, but in his skilled hands it became something really special. In fact, the first chapter on why we need a theology of Christian life shows his clear vision of the argument of this book. For the record, I was bought in part way through that first chapter.
Part Two with its three chapters fills in “the love of God” part of his thesis. He approaches it as love, grace and fellowship. Those three are often thrown about with a perverse shallowness. Not here. It seems that the depths of the heinousness of sin that he so astutely explains is the key to bringing those three out in all their resplendent glory. Here they sparkle.
Next, he has a section that he called an “interlude” on the Law-Gospel distinction. His Reformed orientation comes out strongest here and this section is likely to be the most controversial. In fact, even some Reformed thinkers might quibble with him.
From there, he develops the “response to” part of his thesis. This last section covers Messiah, ego and ecclesia to great effect. That our Messiah is the key is painted with the right significance. The chapter on ego was profoundly done. I thought he brought in current thinking on ego and held it up to Scripture and came up with clear thinking in the process. The two chapters on ecclesia surprised me. I was sure that he was going to champion a certain strain of liturgy, but actually he explained that every worship style is a liturgy. It was convincing to me.
I nominate this book as the theological title of the year. It is that good.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
The only part that might appeal more to scholars than the rest of us is how he loves to delve into some historical personage or creed to illustrate his point. That is only an issue because sometimes that takes more explanation than the point at large he is making. I doubt he can help it. He seems like a walking encyclopedia; a passionate one to be sure, but it is amazing the scope at which he views his subject.
His clearly stated thesis is that “Christian life is a response to the love of God”. Not only does that make sense, especially as he develops it, but it also gave him free reign to write across most of the systematic theology corpus as he desired. That could easily degenerate in a muddled mess that said little, but in his skilled hands it became something really special. In fact, the first chapter on why we need a theology of Christian life shows his clear vision of the argument of this book. For the record, I was bought in part way through that first chapter.
Part Two with its three chapters fills in “the love of God” part of his thesis. He approaches it as love, grace and fellowship. Those three are often thrown about with a perverse shallowness. Not here. It seems that the depths of the heinousness of sin that he so astutely explains is the key to bringing those three out in all their resplendent glory. Here they sparkle.
Next, he has a section that he called an “interlude” on the Law-Gospel distinction. His Reformed orientation comes out strongest here and this section is likely to be the most controversial. In fact, even some Reformed thinkers might quibble with him.
From there, he develops the “response to” part of his thesis. This last section covers Messiah, ego and ecclesia to great effect. That our Messiah is the key is painted with the right significance. The chapter on ego was profoundly done. I thought he brought in current thinking on ego and held it up to Scripture and came up with clear thinking in the process. The two chapters on ecclesia surprised me. I was sure that he was going to champion a certain strain of liturgy, but actually he explained that every worship style is a liturgy. It was convincing to me.
I nominate this book as the theological title of the year. It is that good.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
February 1, 2026
Outstanding theology feast portraying Christian life as a response to God’s love in Christ. Kapic delves deeply into the trinitarian and Christological realities underlying Christian Life. He draws on a wide range of thinkers across Christian traditions and centuries as he presents a unifying centrist perspective. While his writing requires hard thinking, he still inspires with his devotional bent that motivated me. High recommended for people who love theologically rich, intellectual but non-academic books.
December 16, 2025
3.5, but this may be unfair. This was clear and helpful. It’s just not the book I was expecting. That’s probably my fault, though.
June 24, 2026
Good catholic introduction to shape of Christian life. So simple but also rich.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews