Participation in Christ

This scholarly work by Professor Adam Neder offers a thorough exploration of "participation in Christ" as an important theological idea in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics.  Neder's study attempts to clarify what Barth means when he says that humanity as a whole, and human beings individually, participate in Jesus Christ.  For Barth's revelation, election, creation, reconciliation, and redemption all take place in Christ, and their meaning and content may only be rightly comprehended in Him.  The very being of all humanity is objectively included in the being of Jesus Christ, and each individual is likewise subjectively realized in Him.  In these acts of inclusion and realization, the creature is incorporated into a depth of fellowship that is nothing less than participation in the being of God.  Statements such as these are the heart of Barth's theology.  Neder's work explores the ways in which union with Christ is a pervasive theme in Barth's work and what its implications are for understanding Christian faith and life.