Re-Imaging Election: Divine Election as Representing God to Others & Others to God
“Any attempt to revise the doctrine of election today has to go through Karl Barth. Suzanne McDonald builds upon his legacy even as she seeks to introduce critical modifications. For her, election has to do with the priestly work of a community empowered by the Holy Spirit to represent God to others and others before God. The last-named form of representation is of special interest to her. The Christian community represents others before God in that it holds the personhood of the apparently rejected within the sphere of God’s promised blessing and, thereby, bears their rejection in itself. That such a thesis would provoke questions about the relation of Christ’s work to the work of the church is, of course, inevitable. McDonald’s book will further conversation not only about the doctrine of election but also about the state of Reformed theology today.”— Bruce McCormackPrinceton Theological Seminary