Sons in the Son: The Riches and Reach of Adoption in Christ

The doctrine of adoption has been sadly neglected for most of church history, with theologians turning their attention to it in only the past twenty years. Yet recent scholarship has focused much more on etymological and cultural considerations and pastoral concerns than systematic theological ones. Sons in the Son examines the function of this permeating familial concept in terms of Pauline thought: Christology, eschatology, union with Christ, and adoption's relationship to other soteric benefits. Drawing from a biblico-theological investigation of the adoption texts, Professor David Garner explores the way in which adoption frames Pauline soteriology and defines the central familial context of redemption in Christ Jesus. What does adoption in Christ Jesus the Son of God really mean for a Pauline conception of redemptive grace?