Jacob and the Night of Faith

“Perichoresis is one of the most ancient descriptions of the divine life, and its popularity has exploded in recent theology. Yet this is the first high-quality, systematic treatment of the ‘divine dance’ that I have seen in decades. Gregory Gorsuch has chosen the right authors and topics to both explain and draw the reader in to the magic of this concept. After understanding perichoresis, you will never do theology in quite the same way again.”


―Philip Clayton, author of Adventures in the Spirit





“This is first a brilliant and exquisitely detailed exploration of intellectual developments across the disciplines as related to Christian visions of perichoresis. Yet, in setting these developments in dialogue with theological perspectives, Gregory Gorsuch also opens new and challenging vistas of possibility—both in theology and beyond. This is essential reading for anyone concerned with moving beyond the metaphysics of self-contained entities.”


—Kenneth J. Gergen, senior research professor of psychology, Swarthmore College





“Taking the plunge of love into freely evolving relationships with our fellow beings and with our ultimate Sponsor prompts a rethinking of reality, meaning, truth, divinity, person, relationship, community, time, eternity, and faith. Gregory Gorsuch fearlessly follows the ‘logic of spirit’ in exploring this conceptual landscape and refining the arguments of Christian theology accordingly.”


—Steven G. Smith, professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies, Millsaps College





“Conversations in first theology have been mostly percolating under the radar the last two decades even as theologies of the Third Article have gained momentum. The analogia spiritus proposed here brings these together in a compelling way via a robust theology of perichoresis that also serves to orient us toward a fully perichoretic theology. Gorsuch invites us all to reconsider how our beliefs and practices—among so many other binarily formulated theological concepts—are both distinct and yet mutually informative and transformative when the Spirit has the first word!”


—Amos Yong, professor of theology and mission, Fuller Theological Seminary





Seldom have I read a dissertation as sophisticated in its conceptual analysis as well as creative in its probing and original contribution to contemporary theological issues.


—Ray S. Anderson, Fuller Seminary





Most striking was [Gorsuch’s] ability to join theology into conversation with other intellectual disciplines in a way that allowed for mutual illumination, without permitting any one side to dominate the interaction. The thesis brought together an impressive array of non-theological disciplines, in order to explore their potential resonance with theology around his central theme of modes of relationality. He showed an astonishing ability to empathise with and ‘inhabit’ the logical and conceptual world of each and an impressive maturity in avoiding simplistic reductions of each to some common language.


—Alistair McFadyen, University of Leeds





His capacity for rigorous reflection has appeared in a number of philosophical and theological papers . . . where he shows considerable flair for well-informed original thought. His eventual writing and research will inevitably be well-informed and potentially ground breaking for theology and the several cultures which it addresses.


—James E. Loder, Princton Theological Seminary





Greg’s dissertation was without doubt the most creative thesis I have supervised—and the most challenging. It is an essay in pneumatology that treats the way in which the Holy Spirit interacts with the human spirit . . . Yet it is also an essay in postmodernity, the relation of theology to human developmental psychology, and the relation of time to eternity. Essentially, it’s an attempt to bring some of Kierkegaard’s insights into the nature of authentic faith to bear on contemporary theology. . . . He has an infectious enthusiasm for the connections he sees between thinkers, and even between disciplines. He is especially interested in the convergence between quantum physics, psychotherapy, and theology, having as they do the common theme of “relationality,”


—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, University of Edinburgh (currently at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)