The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death

5 full-color plates

This dynamic, challenging, and transforming vision of Christian theology, presented in a systematic manner, invites readers to approach the mystery of Christ in the same way that the first disciples of Jesus Christ learned theology. Although the disciples had denied and abandoned the Crucified One, they came to realize, through the reading of Scriptures and the breaking of bread, that Jesus had given himself up for the life of the world, so transforming death into life, darkness into light, and flesh into word.

Beginning with the Passion narratives, Fr Behr examines how we search the scriptures to encounter Christ and thereby realize that we were created for this encounter, thus opening a profound perspective on creation, the fall, sin, and salvation history. He further explains how Christ is born in those who are born again in the Church, their "Virgin Mother," so that they become truly human, after the stature of Christ, and continue the incarnation of the Word by glorifying God in their bodies.

By returning to the approach of the early Church, this fresh study by a renowned patristic scholar offers a way out of the problems that have beset theology and scriptural study in recent centuries.

"A Christian's first concern is for truth. The Mystery of Christ provides astounding insights into thetruth, indeed the many truths, of and about God's gospel in his Son Jesus, the crucified Lord."

-Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus, St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.

"This magnificently conceived, tightly presented and argued introduction to Christian theology is brilliant...I haven't enough superlatives to do it justice."

-Rev. Dr. Andrew Louth, Professor of Patristics and Byzantine Studies, University of Durham