Homo Florens?
Cultivating Grammars of Salvation
- Theology
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
What does it mean to flourish? Human flourishing lies at the heart of the good news of the gospel, and yet contemporary theologies know not only one way of speaking about what it means to flourish. If we embed our theological grammars of flourishing in the doctrine of salvation, as the doctrine in which theological flourishing talk is arguably rooted and from which rich fruit may be borne, there is not one but various ways in which to speak about what it means to flourish. Yet what governs our speaking? Why do we speak of flourishing as we do? The various conceptions of human flourishing that are outlined in this book - piety, joy, and comfort; being fully alive, healing, and dignity; grace, happiness, and blessing - represent a collection of attempts not only to imagine human flourishing, but also to imagine ways of speaking about human flourishing. Perhaps what theology could offer to the vibrant and robust conversations on human flourishing lies exactly in the reminder to take care about how we speak about that which is truly and deeply human: our longing to flourish.
Endorsements (3)
“This book is an invitation. It invites readers to the ongoing human conversation about happiness and flourishing. Taking the form of a survey of nine well-known such discourses, it asks why we speak in these ways. It discerns three logics behind ways of imagining flourishing—faith, love, hope—yet even together they offer no final word, but merely invite readers to join this ongoing conversation about meaningful and more humane life. Is anything more important?”
“In a time when we have good reasons not to be happy with many of the discourses on happiness, Nadia Marais’s book displays a theologically sophisticated cartography to evaluate and cultivate our grammars of salvation. Through interaction with various terroirs, this in-depth study produces a well-blended proposal to speak of human flourishing in line with the good news of the gospel. Homo Florens? promises to bear rich fruit and bring readers much insight, inspiration, and joy.”
“Theologically rigorous, with extensive footnotes that reveal the scholarship that lies beneath the accessible prose, this book brilliantly weaves together the work of well-known theologians from across the globe to offer rich insights on happiness and flourishing, imbedded in Christian discourses on salvation. In this significant contribution to the Christian soteriological discussion, Nadia Marais shows why she is considered one of the most exciting voices to emerge in South African theology in recent years.”
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