Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics

Robin Gill

May 2024 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

Most people would agree that human perfection is unattainable. Indeed, theologians have typically expressed ambivalence about the possibility of human perfection. Yet, paradoxically, depictions of human perfection are widespread. In this volume, Robin Gill offers an interdisciplinary study of human perfection in contemporary secular culture. He demonstrates that the language of perfection is present in church memorials, popular depictions of sport, food, music and art, liturgy, and philosophy. He contrasts these examples with the socio-psychological concept of 'maladaptive perfectionism', using commercial cosmetic surgery as an example, as well as the 'adaptive perfectionism' suggested in the lives of Henry Holland, Paul Farmer, and, more ambivalently, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Gill then provides an in-depth analysis of New Testament and Septuagint usage of teleios and theological debates about the human perfection of Jesus. He argues that the Synoptic accounts of the Transfiguration offer a template for a Christian understanding of perfection that has important ecumenical implications within social ethics.

About the author

Robin Gill, Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology at the University of Kent, was the first holder of both the Michael Ramsey Chair at Kent and the William Leech Research Chair at Newcastle. His previous books include Moral Passion and Christian Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and Sociological Theology (3 volumes, 2012–13).