Exploring the Glory of God

This book offers biblical, theological, and scientific perspectives on the subject of divine self-revelation and human response to the manifestations of divine presence.

With the aim of envisioning new horizons for a theology of glory, Exploring the Glory of God: New Horizons for a Theology of Glory offers fresh biblical, theological, and scientific perspectives on the subject of divine self-revelation and human responses to the manifestations of divine presence. The first three chapters explore the glorious encounter between Moses and God, and the Christological dimensions of glory in Johannine and Pauline writings. These chapters demonstrate how the biblical text inherently weaves aspects of covenant relationship, revelation, Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology into a remarkable tapestry of divine glory. Five theological chapters cover the role of the Holy Spirit and the worshipful response of believers to the glory of God, as well as expositions on the glory-themed writings of Jonathan Edwards, Karl Barth, Oscar Romero, and Etty Hillesum. These theological writers provoke challenging questions by emphasizing how the theme of glory paradoxically encompasses both otherworldly perfection and worldly imperfections. The two concluding chapters focus on the natural and physical sciences, revealing how God’s glory is displayed in the heavens and on earth. The entire volume demonstrates the significance of divine glory in the study of the words and works of the triune God.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Adesola Akala

Chapter One: “Show Me Your Glory” (Exodus 33:18): An Exegetical Analysis of Moses’ Request in the Context of Exodus 32-34

Rebecca G. S. Idestrom

Chapter Two: “To See My Glory”: Jesus and the Dynamics of Glory in John’s Gospel

David F. Ford

Chapter Three: Presence, Radiance, and Rule: Rethinking Paul’s ‘Glory-Christology’

Haley Goranson Jacob

Chapter Four: The Glory of God in the People of God: Participating in the Intensity of the Spirit’s Life

Tom Greggs

Chapter Five: “A True Sense of the Glory of God:” Jonathan Edwards and the Beatific Vision

William M. Schweitzer

Chapter Six: No Cowering Down: Glory, Election and Worship in Karl Barth’s Doctrines of God

Keith Starkenburg

Chapter Seven: Glory in a 20^th Century Mystic: Reflection on the Experience of Etty Hillesum (1914-43)

Christopher Southgate

Chapter Eight: Vivens Pauper: An Exploration of the Good Life with Óscar Romero

Edgardo Colón-Emeric

Chapter Nine: Jonathan Edwards and the Glory of the Natural Sciences

Joanna Leidenhag

Chapter Ten: God’s Glory in the Physical Universe

Peter Bussey

About the Contributors