Self and Salvation

This eagerly awaited book by David F. Ford makes a unique and important contribution to the debate about the Christian doctrine of salvation. Using the pivotal image of the face, Professor Ford offers a constructive and contemporary account of the self being transformed. He engages with three modern thinkers (Levinas, Jüngel and Ricoeur) in order to rethink and reimagine the meaning of self. Developing the concept of a worshipping self, he explores the dimensions of salvation through the lenses of scripture, worship practices, the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and the lives of contemporary saints. He uses different genres and traditions to show how the self flourishes through engagement with God, other people, and the responsibilities and joys of ordinary living. The result is a habitable theology of salvation immersed in Christian faith, thought and practice while also being deeply involved with modern life in a pluralist world.

• An eagerly awaited book from the highly respected theologian, David Ford • Offers a constructive theology of salvation, which is relevant to life in the modern world as well as rooted in the Christian faith and tradition • The book goes to the heart of the Christian faith while staying in dialogue with leading contemporary thinkers

Preface; Part I. Dialogues: Levinas, Jüngel, Ricoeur: 1. Facing; 2. Enjoyment, responsibility and desire: a hospitable self; 3. God, otherness and substitution; a self without idols; 4. Language, love and testimony: a worshipping self; Part II. Flourishings: 5. The communication of God’s abundance: a singing self; 6. Do this: a Eucharist self; 7. Facing Jesus Christ; 8. The face on the cross and the worship of God; 9. Love as vocation; Thérèse of Lisieux; 10. Polyphonic living: Dietrich Bonhoeffer; 11. Feasting; Bibliography.