A Theology of the Christian Life: Imitating and Participating in God

by Christopher R.J. Holmes

This book gets at the heart of the Christian life by considering some of the great truths of God's existence. Christopher Holmes, an expert in contemporary theology, engages with the church fathers along with Augustine and Aquinas to offer a rich, accessible account of the triune God and the divine perfections. Holmes shows how we share in the life of God through imitation and participation and how the doctrines of the triune God and the divine attributes shape our understanding of the Christian life. Throughout, Holmes demonstrates the importance of theology for Christian faith and practice.

Genres: Theology

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2021

About the author

Christopher R. J. Holmes (ThD, Wycliffe College and University of Toronto) is associate professor in systematic theology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He is an Anglican priest, and he is the author of The Holy Spirit, Ethics in the Presence of Christ, and Revisiting the Doctrine of the Divine Attributes: In Dialogue with Karl Barth, Eberhard Jüngel, and Wolf Krötke.

Reviews

[Matt Pitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the most profound and rich work on the Christian life I’ve ever read. Likely some of it was over my head, but that did not keep me from feasting on the rest.

[Christian Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a marvelous book. I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could. Beautifully written, but sometimes you just wanted him to say things straight and not wax poetic. Still, questions about theology as a moral discipline will find answers here. Why study the simplicity of God? Because in his simplicity we see that we never receive a part of God, but God himself. Why study his infinity? Because in it we learn that we will never stop learning about God, that we too might take part in the infinite itself.

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stirring.

[Michael Stilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written beautifully throughout. Half the time I was in awe, the other half I had no clue what he was talking about 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting. Beautiful writing. Almost excellent but I have embodiment/incarnation concerns and wonder if it’s a bit over-intellectualised (as in over-leaning to the life of the mind to the exclusion of many. However it’s beautifully theological and thoroughly readable.

[Scott Bielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding work of theology. Dense at points, deeply rewarding throughout.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and well-informed theological vantage point; one that suggests theology should be practical and lived. He systematically assesses God's more abstract attributes (which he identifies as the "names" of God) and builds an an understanding of Christian life from those qualities, summed up quite well as, "In imitating God, we become like God." An important observation, necessary, and one that supports the author's view that a theology which does nothing with itself is useless. Rather, our theology, in helping us understand God in greater detail, thereby elicits within us the desire to become those very things.

By contemplating and studying God's qualities, we see the pathway forward to imitation and participation in those qualities ("names") of God. God exists, and because I exist, there is a shared connection between us and an origin point for examining God's effects: my existence is predicated on God's existence. If that's true, then I can continue examining and extrapolating qualities that, if I want to be like God, I must emulate. This illustration is brought home in the person of Christ; it is the divine with the nature of humanity; we then can be humanity with the nature of the divine. God is holy, therefore, when I think on and pursue His virtues and His perfection, I become as such, which befits the effect of our existence. It's the grand quest of sanctification, rephrased and rooted in Holmes' doctrine of God.

The book is not without flaws, however. Holmes' staccato writing style is repetitive and unnecessarily dense. Each point is stated, repeated and rephrased, many times, sometimes in convolution, often over whole chapters with a multitude of seemingly unnecessary citations that drown out the author's voice. He transcends this near the end of his chapters when, after circling the bullet points of his arguments to exhaustion, he closes his thoughts in eloquent, frequently beautiful, fashion. It's like working through an extensive math equation in order to arrive at the base of an ornate painting. Well-researched, powerful at times, and immediate in its ideas, the book could probably have been half as long with just as much power. Regardless, it's a fair read with a very necessary call to Christ-like living, and an invitation to take on the qualities of divinity.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated Mr. Holmes' orthodox theology, but his application of it to the Christian life seemed both strained and impractical. So much so that I'm not really sure the purpose or point of this book. There are great books about sanctification out there (read any good Puritans recently?), and this one doesn't really add to the conversation.

I read the work due to a positive review in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. I read most of my books due to good reviews. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that occasionally I am led astray. I was in this instance.

[Nathaniel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book! It's a dense but devotional work of theology written in doxalogical prose. It's not a book I would attempt to read quickly even though it's brief. This book offers rich rewards for careful readers. Read slowly, reflect, and respond with prayer.

I highly recommend it!

[James Korsmo]

So many great insights.

[Joel Newberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and thought-provoking thesis on the imitation of God through our participation in God and union with Christ.

[Chase Dewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3/5

A deep, important work. While small, it is not a quick read. Despite this, it’s worth sitting in.

[Richard Lawrence]

Mixed thoughts on this book and unsure on how to rate it.

The premise is excellent - the Christian life as the art of drawing nearer to God by growth in virtue (imitating God as the way of Participation), the modern evangelical church is sorely lacking in this concept that was so basic to the church fathers.

However some of the specifics are presented in confusing ways and even sometimes apparently contradictory e.g. speaking of the beatific vision on one page we're told we'll see the Persons NOT the Essence BUT on another page we're told the Persons are the Essence.

In discussing "Perfection" we're told we can obtain Perfection in this life - though it's implied that we obtain it only partially i.e. we won't actually be perfect here.

The book is on the christian life not the way of salvation but Justification by faith rarely appears - I think it's being assumed but I think it would have been better if it had had a prominent place in the text.