Triadosis: Union with the Triune God

The complex nature of Christian communion with a personal God requires a nuanced expression. Since its inception the early church affirmed Gods unknowable nature and also participation in God through Christ. The church fathers employed the language of theosis in talking about union with God and human transformation in the likeness of God. However the term theosis or deification is a broad category and requires precise explanation to avoid human dissolution in the divine in the mystical union. This book addresses the conundrum of imparticipable divine nature and personal union between human and the Trinity. If God is Trinity then we are created and restored in the image of tripersonal God. Borysovs book adeptly summarizes recent work on patristics Reformation studies and modern Eastern Orthodoxy in order to provide guidance for our understandingofPauls conceptoftheosisor deification. His fresh analysis and his new term triadosis beautifully capture the most fruitful strandofthought on deification: human beings are meant to share in the relational life that characterizes the Father Son and Spirit. I recommend this book enthusiastically. --Donald Fairbairn Robert E. Cooley ProfessorofEarly Christianity Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Borysovs study does a marvelous job in exploring the trinitarian dimensions oftheosisin Pauline interpretation in church history. The strength of this monograph lies in its probing survey of the fathers the reformers and modern theologians orienting the reader to a multi-faceted treatment of the topic through trinitarian lenses. Borysovs work is an important contribution in the re-appropriation oftheosisas interpersonal communion with the triune God whotransforms the faithful into the likeness of the tri-personal divine community through grace. --Ashish J. Naidu Associate Professor of Theology Talbot School of Theology A rich study that rewards the reader over and over by its clear engagement of vast theological and historical themes. Eduard Borysov offers us a compelling account of the summum bonum of our transformation and union with God that is robustly trinitarian biblically faithful and wise in the present currents of Pauline scholarship. --Mark R. Saucy Professor of Theology Talbot School of Theology Eduard Borysov is Professor of New Testament at Kiev Theological Seminary. He is the on-site director of Talbot School of Theology Kiev Extension.