Stephen Barkley
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We have placed such emphasis on the legal dimension of atonement that the resurrection, which does not address that issue as framed, drops away as a saving event.
— Pinnock, Flame of Love, 99.
Teacher | Author | Practical Theologian
This semester in Soteriology, our course reader included chapters Newbigin, Bloesch and Pinnock. Because I was in the group required to defend Open Theism, I purchased “The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God” that Pinnock co-authored.
Can you provide a bit of a teaser as to where Pinnock will take us to understand how the resurrection relates to a saving event?
Sure. Pinnock prioritizes the early Christian doctrine of theosis (or divinization). Athanasius said it most concisely: God became man that we might become god (not ontologically, but through adoption).
In his incarnation-life-death-resurrection-ascension-(and Macchia would add Spirit-giving), Jesus redeems our human nature and draws us into the life of God. Jesus, in his resurrection, is the firstfruits from the dead. He blazed the path that we follow.