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Theosis: Patristic Remedy for Evangelical Yearning at the Close of the Modern Age
Evangelicalism is reaching an inflection point. The exodus of millennials from Evangelical churches and the growth of those self-identifying as "Nones," as in "None of the Above," for their church affiliation, is concerning for the movement's future.
Evangelical leaders offer mixed responses to this challenge--from circling the wagons to an enthusiastic "Everything must change!" posture.
Theosis takes a different approach. Seeking to understand Evangelicalism and its origins, this book suggests that Evangelicalism is best understood as the sibling of western, Enlightenment Modernity, which served it well . . . until the modern cultural ethos began to shift dramatically toward post-modernity.
In this shift, young Evangelicals--principally postmoderns themselves--are abandoning "their father's Evangelicalism" and its perceived linearity, hyper-rationalism, either/or exclusivity, and faith expression, too often perceived as stripped of mystery and wonder.
Theosis proposes that to move forward, Evangelicalism must go back to the future, to re-engage with the patristic understanding of salvation as theosis; deification, or union with God.
This radical return--and broadening of the doctrine of salvation--has begun to gain traction in Western Christendom, slowly being considered as it has always in the Christian East, as mere Christianity.
"For those seeking answers in this time of societal upheaval, this well written and researched work proposes a very ancient doctrine as the key for a renewed engagement of Christianity with American culture. In addition to the wonderful research he presents, Dr. Michael Gama's spiritual journey from Evangelical Christianity to Catholic Christianity is as compelling as his Maronite perspective is refreshing."
--Anthony Lilles, Associate Professor; Academic Dean, The Avila Institue of Spiritual Formation; Academic Dean, Saint John's Seminary, Camarillo, CA
"Michael has written a marvelous and ambitious book--part historical narrative, part theological tract, part apologia, part pastoral letter, part prophetic call. . . . I commend this book to you, the reader. He invites us to join him on a journey--or more appropriately, a pilgrimage--to explore what has been lost to the memory of the church but can be found again. He is a trustworthy guide who will help us do the finding. I am one who is ready to follow."
--Gerald L. Sittser, Professor of Theology, Whitworth University
"Michael Gama shows how American Evangelicalism rose in concert with Modernist rationalism and is now falling into decline--especially among America's youth--as modernism gives way to postmodernism. Interweaving his personal story with cultural history, Gama offers a promising way forward by looking back, recovering the insights of the early Church Fathers."
--David C. Downing, Author ofThe Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith and Into the Region of Awe
Michael Gama received his MDiv from Fuller Seminary and his Doctorate of Ministry from George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Born and baptized Roman Catholic, and raised in Evangelicalism, he is now a member of the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full fellowship with Rome. He teaches at the Avila Institute and is a Faculty Advisor at George Fox Seminary. He and his wife live in Oregon, have three children, and eight grandchildren.
Evangelical leaders offer mixed responses to this challenge--from circling the wagons to an enthusiastic "Everything must change!" posture.
Theosis takes a different approach. Seeking to understand Evangelicalism and its origins, this book suggests that Evangelicalism is best understood as the sibling of western, Enlightenment Modernity, which served it well . . . until the modern cultural ethos began to shift dramatically toward post-modernity.
In this shift, young Evangelicals--principally postmoderns themselves--are abandoning "their father's Evangelicalism" and its perceived linearity, hyper-rationalism, either/or exclusivity, and faith expression, too often perceived as stripped of mystery and wonder.
Theosis proposes that to move forward, Evangelicalism must go back to the future, to re-engage with the patristic understanding of salvation as theosis; deification, or union with God.
This radical return--and broadening of the doctrine of salvation--has begun to gain traction in Western Christendom, slowly being considered as it has always in the Christian East, as mere Christianity.
"For those seeking answers in this time of societal upheaval, this well written and researched work proposes a very ancient doctrine as the key for a renewed engagement of Christianity with American culture. In addition to the wonderful research he presents, Dr. Michael Gama's spiritual journey from Evangelical Christianity to Catholic Christianity is as compelling as his Maronite perspective is refreshing."
--Anthony Lilles, Associate Professor; Academic Dean, The Avila Institue of Spiritual Formation; Academic Dean, Saint John's Seminary, Camarillo, CA
"Michael has written a marvelous and ambitious book--part historical narrative, part theological tract, part apologia, part pastoral letter, part prophetic call. . . . I commend this book to you, the reader. He invites us to join him on a journey--or more appropriately, a pilgrimage--to explore what has been lost to the memory of the church but can be found again. He is a trustworthy guide who will help us do the finding. I am one who is ready to follow."
--Gerald L. Sittser, Professor of Theology, Whitworth University
"Michael Gama shows how American Evangelicalism rose in concert with Modernist rationalism and is now falling into decline--especially among America's youth--as modernism gives way to postmodernism. Interweaving his personal story with cultural history, Gama offers a promising way forward by looking back, recovering the insights of the early Church Fathers."
--David C. Downing, Author ofThe Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith and Into the Region of Awe
Michael Gama received his MDiv from Fuller Seminary and his Doctorate of Ministry from George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Born and baptized Roman Catholic, and raised in Evangelicalism, he is now a member of the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full fellowship with Rome. He teaches at the Avila Institute and is a Faculty Advisor at George Fox Seminary. He and his wife live in Oregon, have three children, and eight grandchildren.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 29, 2025
Having taken PTO for the final two weeks of 2025, I found myself with plenty of time to dig into the assigned reading for my next course at The Avila Institute. So, I began with this book by the course's professor, Dr. Gama. It was a quick, interesting, at times breathtakingly beautiful, highly relatable, and, for me with my background, a bit eerie read.
Eerie, mostly, because certain Protestant voices I had not given much thought to since leaving my work with Renovaré three years ago were suddenly present again as Dr. Gama shaped his opening argument for the link between Evangelical Protestantism and Enlightenment thought and how, in this postmodern era, a turning away from "the rationalistic presuppositions that underlie twentieth-century modernity" is largely leading the exodus of millennials and younger Christians from these long-predominant (at least in America) religious expressions. All of a sudden, Thomas Oden, Dallas Willard, Brian McLaren, Rachel Held Evans, and others, were floating again to the front of my consciousness—many of the same people who had shaped or provoked discussion in the work we did at Renovaré. Amazing!
Though no longer part of the evangelical expression, Gama holds affection for and concern about the state of this large, unwieldy group of God's image-bearers. His book seems written largely to try to help the evangelical church shift to accommodate the new questioning spirit of the younger generations in a way that is consistent with the orthodox Church. That is, rather than pushing back against these whippersnappers by sullenly reasserting things that "haven't been working" for them in the practice of their faith or digging in with both feet against the pull of voices complaining about traditional evangelical takes on politics, church structure, and focus, Gama invites them to reorient their teaching and preaching not toward some relativistic "Jesus is my homeboy" baloney, but toward the teleological Christian teaching on theosis—that ancient understanding as salvation not as a point in the timeline of a Christian life but rather as a continual process flowing out of the Incarnation that recognizes that God became man so that man might become God, as Gama clarifies, "not by nature, but by grace." It is an invitation to, in Christ and through Him, partake of the divine life of the Holy Trinity. This enfolds each human into the redemptive work of the Cross throughout all Creation and raises him back to his state as an unblemished image-bearer.
To help these his readers understand whence came the evangelical movement and why it seems to be falling apart, Gama spends most of the book crafting the history of evangelical Protestantism as religious expression of Enlightenment philosophy, its rise to predominance in America in the latter part of the twentieth century, and the current state of disillusionment with this expression from the rising generation of Millennials (this book was published in 2017, but it gives the sense of having been written in bulk a few years prior) and the implications flowing out of the popular tide of postmodern thinking.
These first six chapters of the book were interesting and lively. I like to think, since my entering the Catholic Church in 2017, in an insufferably patronizing and pitying way about the state of the evangelical church in the United States as "not my circus; not my monkeys." But, of course, this was my circus and those were my monkeys in my first twenty years of being a Christian. So, it was a cringe-inducing revisit for me, but good for me, too, to remember my roots. Much like Dr. Gama himself, coming into the ancient practices of the Church* was a "sensory feast" with "a surprising recognition" enveloping me at my first Mass "as the entire panorama and sense of mysterium tremendum took my breath away." But, my first knowledge of my Lord was in the evangelical Protestant church, and I am grateful that He met me there.
The seventh chapter, though, is the payoff. In it, Dr. Gama shares a blueprint for bringing the American evangelical church "back to the future and the faith of the Fathers" through a recognition of the doctrine of theosis. He lovingly lingers on many facets of what this teaching implies and how it can be brought into the sphere of understanding in a postmodern, unenchanted Protestant world. Salvation, far from being a one-and-done sinner's prayer in your heart and raised hand in a room of closed eyes, needs to be seen, in the words of Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (I had a lot of fun sounding that name out in my head), "beyond terms such as 'redemption,' 'reconciliation,' 'justification' and the like to encompass the wholeness of new life with God."
As he nears his conclusion, Gama writes, “Instead, what must be recognized is that the world was never, really, wholly as we moderns imagined or even measured it out to be. At the core of the cosmos lies not an elegant equation or mathematical grand unification theory holding all the pieces together. Indeed, what lies resident at the core of the cosmos, pulsating and vivifying all that is, is the communion of Trinitarian love. God himself.” Amen.
An enjoyable read and a fun trip in the way-back machine of my own spiritual journey.
* He had a long flirtation with the Orthodox Church before settling into an eastern rite Maronite Church in full communion with Rome.
Eerie, mostly, because certain Protestant voices I had not given much thought to since leaving my work with Renovaré three years ago were suddenly present again as Dr. Gama shaped his opening argument for the link between Evangelical Protestantism and Enlightenment thought and how, in this postmodern era, a turning away from "the rationalistic presuppositions that underlie twentieth-century modernity" is largely leading the exodus of millennials and younger Christians from these long-predominant (at least in America) religious expressions. All of a sudden, Thomas Oden, Dallas Willard, Brian McLaren, Rachel Held Evans, and others, were floating again to the front of my consciousness—many of the same people who had shaped or provoked discussion in the work we did at Renovaré. Amazing!
Though no longer part of the evangelical expression, Gama holds affection for and concern about the state of this large, unwieldy group of God's image-bearers. His book seems written largely to try to help the evangelical church shift to accommodate the new questioning spirit of the younger generations in a way that is consistent with the orthodox Church. That is, rather than pushing back against these whippersnappers by sullenly reasserting things that "haven't been working" for them in the practice of their faith or digging in with both feet against the pull of voices complaining about traditional evangelical takes on politics, church structure, and focus, Gama invites them to reorient their teaching and preaching not toward some relativistic "Jesus is my homeboy" baloney, but toward the teleological Christian teaching on theosis—that ancient understanding as salvation not as a point in the timeline of a Christian life but rather as a continual process flowing out of the Incarnation that recognizes that God became man so that man might become God, as Gama clarifies, "not by nature, but by grace." It is an invitation to, in Christ and through Him, partake of the divine life of the Holy Trinity. This enfolds each human into the redemptive work of the Cross throughout all Creation and raises him back to his state as an unblemished image-bearer.
To help these his readers understand whence came the evangelical movement and why it seems to be falling apart, Gama spends most of the book crafting the history of evangelical Protestantism as religious expression of Enlightenment philosophy, its rise to predominance in America in the latter part of the twentieth century, and the current state of disillusionment with this expression from the rising generation of Millennials (this book was published in 2017, but it gives the sense of having been written in bulk a few years prior) and the implications flowing out of the popular tide of postmodern thinking.
These first six chapters of the book were interesting and lively. I like to think, since my entering the Catholic Church in 2017, in an insufferably patronizing and pitying way about the state of the evangelical church in the United States as "not my circus; not my monkeys." But, of course, this was my circus and those were my monkeys in my first twenty years of being a Christian. So, it was a cringe-inducing revisit for me, but good for me, too, to remember my roots. Much like Dr. Gama himself, coming into the ancient practices of the Church* was a "sensory feast" with "a surprising recognition" enveloping me at my first Mass "as the entire panorama and sense of mysterium tremendum took my breath away." But, my first knowledge of my Lord was in the evangelical Protestant church, and I am grateful that He met me there.
The seventh chapter, though, is the payoff. In it, Dr. Gama shares a blueprint for bringing the American evangelical church "back to the future and the faith of the Fathers" through a recognition of the doctrine of theosis. He lovingly lingers on many facets of what this teaching implies and how it can be brought into the sphere of understanding in a postmodern, unenchanted Protestant world. Salvation, far from being a one-and-done sinner's prayer in your heart and raised hand in a room of closed eyes, needs to be seen, in the words of Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (I had a lot of fun sounding that name out in my head), "beyond terms such as 'redemption,' 'reconciliation,' 'justification' and the like to encompass the wholeness of new life with God."
As he nears his conclusion, Gama writes, “Instead, what must be recognized is that the world was never, really, wholly as we moderns imagined or even measured it out to be. At the core of the cosmos lies not an elegant equation or mathematical grand unification theory holding all the pieces together. Indeed, what lies resident at the core of the cosmos, pulsating and vivifying all that is, is the communion of Trinitarian love. God himself.” Amen.
An enjoyable read and a fun trip in the way-back machine of my own spiritual journey.
* He had a long flirtation with the Orthodox Church before settling into an eastern rite Maronite Church in full communion with Rome.
December 16, 2025
Sometimes, book titles and subtitles aren’t the most clarifying when it comes to knowing what a book is about. That is not the case with this book. Michael Paul Gama has nailed down the focus of this book in the few words on the front cover, and I am so glad to have come across it! This book was a fun blend of personal story, history, philosophy, and theology, and I found the articulation of “theosis” as an insightful add into the topic of why evangelicalism is no longer working for many Millennials and younger. That topic is one I’ve read and thought a decent bit about, but this book felt like it peeled back yet another layer of the onion and gave me new language and fresh framework to apply to it. And not just to “it,” but to me! I resonated with much here, and am grateful for the Eastern Church who have held on to realities, truths, and perspectives within theology and spirituality that we in the West all but lost during the Enlightenment (and yes, it does always come back to the Enlightenment… 🤣). May we recover what we’ve lost and find a greater purpose than we have thus imagined: a life of union with the Triune God.
January 3, 2024
The book is ok, however I expected more. It seems to be that the author mainly reflects or critizises his evangelical past and tries to show why Evangelicalism is quite problematic in our times. The book’s title „Theosis“ in combination with its subtitle - the reason I wanted to read the book in the first place - fall short. Nonetheless I believe the author is up to something and there is potential to learn from Orthodoxy and yes, theosis, understood as a deep com-union with God, or as I call it „intimate relationship“ might be the central theme.
December 28, 2025
It’s helpful as a primer on the relevance of the doctrine of theosis in post-modernity or metamodernity. It’s very light on the actual doctrine itself. It gives the most space for the author’s narrative, history of ideas, context, etc. It gives only one chapter to theosis. It was as if there were six courses of appetizers, and I had to skip some to still have appetite for the main course (Chapter 7). It’s helpful, but you’ll have to look elsewhere to get more holistic teaching and knowledge of theosis; likely to the works that he refers to in Chapter 7.
November 2, 2020
A good introduction, especially for Evangelicals.
March 8, 2022
I enjoyed the book. It reflects my own dis-allusion with Evangelicalism and yearning for more out of Christianity. I was hoping to get more out of the subject of Theosis than just one chapter.
April 7, 2018
This book expresses the hope that we can answer millennial despair of rational evangelicalism with a return to the mystery of the earliest Christian understanding of the true 'Good News': Theosis. Herein is a history of how we got to this inflection point of Christianity and a reexamination of earliest beliefs that built the church from the ground up. Recommended.
"The Word of God became man so that you too may learn from a man how it is even possible for a man to become a god." - Clement of Alexandria
"From the Holy Spirit there is the likeness of God, and the highest of all things to be desired, to become God." - St. Basil the Great
"For He was made man that man might be made God." - St. Athanasius
"Let us become as Christ is, since Christ became as we are; let us become gods for his sake, since he became man for our sake." - St. Gregory of Nazianzus
"[We are] called to participate in divinity. Although Jesus Christ alone is by nature God, all people are called to become God 'by participation.' Through such participation, we become likenesses of Christ and perfect images of God the Father." - St. Cyril of Alexandria
"God and man are paradigms of one another, that as much as God is humanized through love for mankind, so much has man been able to deify himself to God through love." - St Maximus the Confessor
"The Word of God became man so that you too may learn from a man how it is even possible for a man to become a god." - Clement of Alexandria
"From the Holy Spirit there is the likeness of God, and the highest of all things to be desired, to become God." - St. Basil the Great
"For He was made man that man might be made God." - St. Athanasius
"Let us become as Christ is, since Christ became as we are; let us become gods for his sake, since he became man for our sake." - St. Gregory of Nazianzus
"[We are] called to participate in divinity. Although Jesus Christ alone is by nature God, all people are called to become God 'by participation.' Through such participation, we become likenesses of Christ and perfect images of God the Father." - St. Cyril of Alexandria
"God and man are paradigms of one another, that as much as God is humanized through love for mankind, so much has man been able to deify himself to God through love." - St Maximus the Confessor
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews