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Incongruous Grace as Pattern of Experience

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis article examines the relationship between the theological concept of grace and the effects of grace on human beings in bodies and in time, in critical engagement with John Barclay’s account of Paul’s theology of grace in jats:italicPaul and the Gift</jats:italic>. It begins by showing how one of the book’s most significant contributions is its ‘thick’ description of the effects of incongruous grace in the world in terms of its socially transformative power in the formation of communities. It then argues that Barclay’s account is substantially less successful at giving a compelling account of the more rapid and immediate changes that Paul also associates with encounter with divine grace in the lives of Christians. The article concludes by showing how Barclay’s picture can be expanded and improved by examining how the ‘incongruity’ of grace functions to pattern experience in relatively sudden, emotionally immediate ways rather than just through the long‐term formation of a Christian jats:italichabitus</jats:italic>.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

5005 Theology, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies

Journal Title

International Journal of Systematic Theology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1463-1652
1468-2400

Volume Title

22

Publisher

Wiley

Rights

All rights reserved