Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology

by David H. Kelsey

What does it mean to be a human being? David Kelsey expertly probes this complicated issue in his exhaustive and ambitious examination of theological anthropology. Divided into three parts, Kelsey's work posits that humanity's relationship to God is a basic claim of Christianity and that God actively relates to human beings in three major ways: God creates them, God is there at the end of all things eschatologically, and God reconciles humans when they are alienated from God. The result of this seminal theological work is a textured affirmation of humanity's relationship with God and with each other. It represents the culmination of decades of theological thought and is certain to be recognized as a major achievement.

Genres: Theology, Anthropology, Christianity

1092 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

David H. Kelsey is the Luther A. Weigle Professor Emeritus of Theology at Yale Divinity School. Kelsey graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1958 and with a Ph.D. in 1964. He was on the faculty at YDS from 1965 to 2005, during which time he published several books including Imagining Redemption (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), Between Athens and Berlin: The Theological Education Debate (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), and To Understand God Truly: What’s Theological about Theological Education? (Westminster John Knox Press, 1992). Most recently he has published the two-volume title, Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009). In 2011 he gave the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, entitled “Glory, Kingdom, and Power: Stammering about God.” In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Tubingen in Germany, a great honor for an international scholar.

Reviews

[Sherwood Belangia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich and profound study in theological anthropology, perhaps the best I know. I have been working on this one for a couple months now (It's 1000+ pages long!) This is the kind of book that can change not only your theology but also guide you toward a better way to live.

[Timothy Crouch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant. Tedious. Tediously brilliant.

[Ben Gresik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have such mixed feelings about this book. It's core idea, and explanation of humanity in terms of what God has done for us, is really helpful. It's framed it a trinitarian way and presents sin in interesting terms. It has given me language and categories for things that I already knew intuitively but wouldn't have been able to explain.

At the same time the book is not for a general audience, and I think even for an academic audience the book is desperately in need of an editor. Kelsey writes in extremely long sentences (sometimes taking up half a page) and uses language frequently that is strange and unfamiliar. He tends to follow lots of rabbit trails that don't seem to reinforce his main points (although I am sure he would disagree), and so it makes it difficult to understand what's important and what's not important. I think I would recommend the ideas in the book, but hope that someone can present Kelsey's ideas in a more accessible format.

[✎ madalaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished volume one! It is a book that I will have to return to before I venture into volume two… but a brilliant piece of Theology, worthwhile read for all Christians.