Why did Jesus come? The traditional argument is that he came to redeem us from sin and destroy death, and thus reverse the fall. Many have long found this unsatisfactory, because it centres human deficit, rather than divine abundance. In this study, Samuel Wells traces his notion of 'being with' right into the Trinity itself, and in dialogue with Maximus the Confessor, Duns Scotus and Karl Barth, among others, articulates a truly Christocentric theology in which God's means and God's ends are identical. In the process, Wells not only greatly expands the compass of 'being with,' showing its scriptural and doctrinal significance, but also offers a constructive account of the incarnation, cross and resurrection of Jesus that out-narrates conventional atonement theories. Wells correspondingly proposes an account of sin, evil, suffering and death that accords with this revised understanding. The result is a compelling and transformational proposal in incarnational theology.

‘In this stunning book Sam Wells mobilizes his immense powers of erudition and generativity to a breath-taking end. In his erudition Wells benefits from the sum of the Christian tradition, appealing especially to eastern Orthodox thinkers, all filtered through the work of Karl Barth. Wells’s critical work is to show that sin, evil, and the fall are not definitional for the work of Christ, but are incidental to his purpose. God’s purpose is one of full communion and community with God’s creatures. To that end, God’s own abundance functions to summon and welcome God’s human creatures. Wells has set down a marker for a fresh wave of reflection and interpretation. He shows himself to belong to the top rank of church thinkers who matter in the very long run to our life of faith. His final sentence surprises: ‘Let angel minds enquire afresh.’ Even those of us who are not angels will have our minds freshly engaged here for a very long time to come.’

Walter Brueggemann - Columbia Theological Seminary