Absolute Person and Moral Experience - (T&t Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics) by Nathan D Shannon (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Presenting a neo-Calvinist account of human moral experience, this book is an advance upon the tradition of Augustinian moral theology. The first two chapters are theological interpretations of Genesis 2:17 and 3:6 respectively. Chapter 3 approaches the neo-Calvinist notion of God as absolute person through a consideration of theologies of human reason and history. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between absolute person and classical trinitarianism, and the significance of absolute person for accommodation, hermeneutics, and the Creator/creature relation and distinction. The fifth chapter considers the role of the incarnation in Bavinck's thought, and thus provides a backdrop for reflection upon absolute person from a biblical theological point of view. Shannon concludes with the claim that, according to the Bavincks, Vos, and Van Til, human moral experience is the product of a divine self-expression primarily in the Son"--

Book Synopsis

Presenting a neo-Calvinist account of human moral experience, this book is an advance upon the tradition of Augustinian moral theology.

The first two chapters are theological interpretations of Genesis 2:17 and 3:6 respectively. Chapter 3 approaches the neo-Calvinist notion of God as absolute person through a consideration of theologies of human reason and history. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between absolute person and classical trinitarianism, and the significance of absolute person for accommodation, hermeneutics, and the Creator/creature relation and distinction. The fifth chapter considers the role of the incarnation in Bavinck's thought, and thus provides a backdrop for reflection upon absolute person from a biblical theological point of view.

Shannon concludes with the claim that, according to the Bavincks, Vos, and Van Til, human moral experience is the product of a divine self-expression primarily in the Son.

Review Quotes

It is emblematic of neo-Calvinism's global impact that its theology is now elaborated with great skill by an American scholar who graduated in the Netherlands and taught in Korea. Focusing on what unites instead of what divides them, Dr Shannon probes the theological resources of Bavinck, Vos and Van Til in a compelling attempt to tease out the contours of a neo-Calvinist account of moral experience.

Nathan Shannon's erudite study demonstrates how neo-Calvinism affirms that the history of redemptive economy presupposes both divine immutability and actual relationality in God's triune essence. This is an encouraging breakthrough for readers wearied by false dichotomies between orthodoxy and ideas that are often thought to be modern inventions.

About the Author

Nathan D. Shannon is Lecturer in Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, USA