God's Provision, Humanity's Need: The Gift of Our Dependence - Paperback

by Christa L. McKirland (Author), Alan Torrance (Foreword by)

In a world often consumed with self-sufficiency, this book reminds us that humans have an innate need for the grace of God's personal presence. Christa McKirland, an author doing research at the intersection of Christian theology and the sciences, argues for a new way of understanding the image of God that might precondition science-engaged theology. She makes an exegetical and theological case that human beings were created to need the presence of God in order to flourish. Such a need is not a liability but our greatest human dignity. Foreword by Alan J. Torrance.

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"A biblically and theologically robust picture of what it means to be human"

Christa McKirland makes an exegetical and theological case that human beings were created to need the presence of God in order to flourish.

"With the clarity born of epistemic humility, McKirland gives readers no less than a biblically and theologically robust picture of what it means to be human--namely, to need God and to have God meet that need. In so doing, she constructs a rigorous and insightful Christ-centered theological anthropology that does not abandon the Spirit. Readers will find this a resource for many pressing biblical and theological questions, but even more, they will find reasons through this text to worship the abundant God."
--Amy Peeler, Wheaton College

"McKirland has given us a text that is biblically rooted, theologically sophisticated, and attuned to vital issues that we face today concerning how we treat one another and how we relate to God. This is theological anthropology of a higher order."
--Oliver Crisp, St. Mary's College, University of St. Andrews

"Howard Thurman memorably remarked that there is deeply rooted in each person an island of peace, and on that island is a temple with an altar built for the presence of God to dwell. What a person is and where they are going, he said, is all available to us in that presence. I know of no more careful and sustained theological mediation on that great insight about the human need of God's presence than this book."
--Sameer Yadav, Westmont College

"Writing in a lucid style that students, church leaders, and scholars will all enjoy, McKirland has written a biblical theology that takes the best from analytic philosophy, drinks deeply from the wells of Scripture and biblical scholarship, and draws countless threads together with systematic creativity. Anyone looking for a Christian answer to the question, What does it mean to be human? needs to read this book."
--Joanna Leidenhag, University of Leeds

"McKirland beautifully articulates the centrality of God's presence for the well-being of the human person. A profoundly moving must-read for anyone interested in academic theology!"
--Sofanit T. Abebe, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology

Author Biography

Christa L. McKirland (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is lecturer in systematic theology at Carey Baptist College in Aotearoa (New Zealand). She is the founder and executive director of Logia International, which seeks to support women across the divinity disciplines for the sake of the academy and the church.