Theosis, Participation in Christ, Billings and Fairbairn
I am recommending 2 books that should be read together. These are probably more for the scholastically minded pastors and academically placed professors. The first is written by a professor at Erskine Theological Seminary, Dr. Donald Fairbairn: "Life in the Trinity: An Introduction to Theology With the Help of the Church Fathers", published by IVP. This 240 page book is a Gospel-Driven, Gospel-Defined work that guides the reader through some important themes in the early Church pastors/theologians. Fairbairn primarily focuses on four big players; Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augustine and Cyril of Alexandria. He does reference a few others, but primarily works with these four. The central theme has to do with the ancient notion of theosis or participation. Fairbairn has done a nice job weaving classic Protestant teaching (justification, sanctification etc) into and flowing from participation in Christ. This leads me to the next book, published by Oxford Press. It's a rather ...