Partaking in Divine Nature: Deification and Communion

`In this clearly written and informative book, Paul Collins dispels two myths that surround the notion of deification: that it is the property of Eastern Orthodox Christians and that it is inherently individualistic. Collins demonstrates definitively that the metaphor of deification has structured the Christian imagination of the entire Christian tradition, `East' and `West', and that it is necessarily a communal and relational reality with cultural and political implications. He advances the discussion on deification in a way that will impact how Churches understand and relate to each other and to the world.' Aristotle Papanikolaou, Fordham University, New York, USA

`Paul Collins does a wonderful job of presenting a florilegia of authors and traditions towards elucidating a modern appropriation of a theology of theosis. He creatively builds upon a complementarity of approaches, of what it means to become holy and transfigured by divine grace, by drawing upon early church traditions, Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity, and their rootedness in the Scriptures, with a view to showing how deification is at once personal, yet ecclesial and cosmic' Jaroslav Z. Skira, Regis College, University of Toronto, Canada

`Collins has made great efforts to bring theological insights from Eastern - Patristic and modern - sources in dialogue with Western theology, and is now applying the same method in a new book on the metaphor of deification. Collins is aware that Orthodox Christianity tends to consider itself as the only legitimate heir of the doctrine of deification. One of the more innovating aspects of this book is the author's retrieval of fragments of a theology of deification in the West in the work of particular scholastic and medieval theologians and of the early modern mystics. I hope that this book may reach a wide audience, not only of theology students but also of many other readers who want to find inspiration in their quest for a meaningful life.' Peter De Mey, Faculty of Theology, K.U. Leuven, Belgium

Paul M. Collins is a priest in the Church of England, and Reader in Theology at the University of Chichester, UK.