"'Deification' refers to the transformation of believers into the likeness of God. Of course, Christian monotheism goes against any literal 'god making' of believers. Rather, the NT speaks of a transformation of mind, a metamorphosis of character, a redefinition of selfhood, and an imitation of God. Most of these passages are tantalizingly brief, and none spells out the concept in detail.
"Deification was an important idea in the early church, though it took a long time for one term to emerge as the standard label for the process. That term was theosis, coined by the great fourth-century theologian, Gregory of Nazianzus. Theologians now use theosis to designate all instances where any idea of taking on God's character or being "divinized” (made divine) occurs, even when the term theosis is not used. And of course, different Christian authors understood deification differently."
"While some articles in this collection discuss pre-Christian antecedents of theosis, Greek and Jewish, most focus on particular Christian understandings. The article by Gregory Glazov examines OT covenant theology, with an emphasis on divine adoption, and on bearing the fruit of knowledge or attaining the stature of a tree of righteousness in Proverbs, Isaiah, and Sirach. The article by Stephen Finlan on 2 Pet 1:4 ('You may become participants of the divine nature') examines the epistle's apparent borrowings from Middle Platonic spirituality, Stoic ethics, and Jewish apocalyptic expectation. The epistle stresses 'knowledge of Christ,' which means cultivation of godly character and growing up into Christ."
—from the Introduction

Editor - Stephen Finlan
Editor - Vladimir Kharlamov

"If one were to seek a single volume constituting an up-to-date and learned coverage of the subject, this is the book."
—J. Robert Wright, General Theological Seminary, as reviwed in Religious Studies Review

"An extraordinary collaboration of scholars examining the neglected theme of deification in the classic Christian tradition from its biblical roots through Irenaeus, Augustine, and Maximus, to contemporary reconstructions of Torrance and Soloviev."
—Thomas C. Oden, General Editor, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.

"Salvation as divinization is being recognized by historians and retrieved by contemporary theologians. Here is a wonderfully comprehensive and academically careful presentation of theosis from the Bible until Vladimir Soloviev. It is a superb contribution to fresh Christian thinking."
—Ellen T. Charry
Margaret W. Harmon Associate Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, and editor of Theology Today

Practices, Politics, and Performance by Dr. Michael G. Cartwright
European Pietism Reviewed by Frederick Herzog
Constructing a Relational Cosmology
The Little Church that Refused to Die by William W. Moore
Ambushed by Grace by Dr. Thomas W. Currie
The Will of God and the Cross by Jonathan H. Rainbow
Christ in our Place: The Humanity of God in Christ for the Reconciliation of the World
"Education Has Nothing to Do with Theology" by Dr. Edward J. Newell
A Little Book of Christian Questions and Responses by Theodore Beza
Poverty in the Theology of John Calvin by Dr. Bonnie L. Pattison
Evangelicalism and Karl Barth by Phillip R. Thorne
My Father-In-Law by Max Zellweger-Barth
Coram Deo by Caryn D. Riswold
Orthodoxy and Difference by Dr. Dmitri Sidorov
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews by Matthew J. Marohl
The Holy Spirit and the Renewal of All Things by T. David Beck
The Founding of the Roman Catholic Church in Melanesia and Micronesia, 1850-1875 by Ralph M. Wiltgen
The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Karl Barth by John Thompson
Geoffrey Fisher by David Hein
A Gentleman in Every Slum by David B. McIlhiney
On the Christianity of Theology by Franz Overbeck
Freedom and Civilization Among the Greeks by A. J. Festugiere
Female and Male: The Cultic Personnel: The Bible and the Rest of the Ancient Near East by Richard A. Henshaw
The Loss and Recovery of Transcendence by John C. Robertson
Calvin's Doxology by Pamela Ann Moeller
Fire From the Heights by Moelwyn Merchant
Jesus Christ and Creation in the Theology of John Calvin by Peter Wyatt
Jesus, the Parable of God by Dr. Eduard Schweizer
Jesus and the Word by C. K. Barrett
"Those Who Call Themselves Jews" by Dr. Philip L. Mayo
Consenting to God and Nature by Dr. Byron C. Bangert
The Epigones by William A. McComish
The Aims of Jesus by Ben F. Meyer
R.S. Thomas: Poet of the Hidden God by D.Z. Phillips
How to do Biblical Theology by Peter Stuhlmacher
Where is My Home? by Dr. Zdenek Bednar
Asian Contextual Theology for the Third Millennium
Searching for Lost Coins by Ann Loades
Tradition Renewed
Polemic in the Book of Hebrews by Lloyd Kim
The Reformed Pastor by John W. Nevin D.D.
Theology of Anticipation by Anette Ejsing
Renewing Tradition
Reflections of Renaissance England by Dr. Marie-Helene Davies
Theology Beyond Christendom
Schleiermacher on Christian Consciousness of God's Work in History by Abraham Varghese Kunnuthara
Colonial Presbyterianism
The Kitchen Saint and the Heritage of Islam by Brother Lawrence
The Arminian Confession of 1621
The Trinitarian Self by Charles Bellinger
Living Devotions by Mary Clark Moschella
Go Figure!
Lo, I Tell You a Mystery by Dr. David A. Ackerman
The Tangled Bank by Michael S. Hogue
The Hermeneutical Quest
Christus Faber by Ben F. Meyer
History and Theology by Dr. Piet B. Boshoff
Martin Luther and Buddhism by Paul S. Chung
New Testament Traditions and Apocryphal Narratives by Francois Bovon
Faith, Theology, and Psychoanalysis by Trevor Dobbs Ph.D.
A Place Somewhat Apart by Dr. Philip E. Harrold
Critical Realism and the New Testament by Ben F. Meyer
Theosis
The Triune God by E. L. Mascall
Jeshua by Moelwyn Merchant
Salvaging Wesley's Agenda by Kevin Twain Lowery
The Trial of Jesus Continues by Dr. Rudolf Pesch
Basic Human Rights and the Humanitarian Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa by Gabriel Andrew Msoka
The Sacred Text by Ronald F. Satta
Revitalizing Theological Epistemology by Steven B. Sherman
Speculative Theology and Common-Sense Religion by Linden J. DeBie
The Diffusion of Ecclesiastical Authority
A Church Historian's Odyssey by Horton Davies
The Neo-Orthodox Theology of W. W. Bryden by John Vissers
Who Needs a New Covenant? by Michael D. Morrison
God With Us by Joseph Haroutunian
Saints: Visible, Orderly, and Catholic by Alan P.F. Sell
Schleiermacher's Preaching, Dogmatics, and Biblical Criticism by Catherine L. Kelsey
Enigmas and Powers
From the Margins
Calvin's Concept of the Law by Dr. I. John Hesselink
The Present and the Past by Richard J. Ginn
The Way of Theology in Karl Barth
Seasons of the Heart by Sara Henderson Hay
The Subjective Eye
Gladstone: The Making of a Christian Politician by Dr. Peter J. Jagger
On This Rock by Donald G. Miller
The Theology of Electricity by Ernst Benz
The Tondrakian Movement by N.V. Nersessian