Church Doctrine: Redemption (Faith and Practice of the Christian Community)

The present volume is the fifth in a five-volume study of church doctrine. The multivolume set covers the major parts of church doctrine: Canon God Creation Reconciliation and Redemption. The first volume begins with an introduction to the entire project on why doctrine matters which stresses the ecumenical global and above all biblical horizons of church doctrine as a primary expression of Christian witness.The purpose of this fifth volume is to explicate the full reality of Gods redeeming love for the whole creation. In the doctrine of redemption the church looks forward in hope. Through the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost the church is gathered out of all nations and peoples of the earth and looks forward to the coming day of final redemption for the whole cosmos. Yet even now the promise of Gods coming is active in the world rendering the church into a new humanity establishing a new society calling every individual to a new life of joy in discipleship.Church doctrine is not a luxury but a necessity for the living community of faith by which its witness in word and deed is tested against the one true measure of Christ the risen Lord.