Abide and Go: Missional Theosis in the Gospel of John

Michael J. Gorman

Jul 2018 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

About this ebook

The Gospel of John would seem to be both the “spiritual Gospel” and a Gospel that promotes Christian mission. Some interpreters, however, have found John to be the product of a sectarian community that promotes a very narrow view of Christian mission and advocates neither love of neighbor nor love of enemy. In this book for both the academy and the church, Michael Gorman argues that John has a profound spirituality that is robustly missional, and that it can be summarized in the paradoxical phrase “Abide and go,” from John 15. Disciples participate in the divine love and life, and therefore in the life-giving mission of God manifested in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As God’s children, disciples become more and more like this missional God as they become like his Son by the work of the Spirit. This spirituality, argues Gorman, can be called missional theosis.

About the author

Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of numerous books, including The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant, Reading Revelation Responsibly, and Reading Paul (all from Cascade), as well as Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission.