Christian Perfection

by P.T. Forsyth

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Genres: Theology

158 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2010

About the author

Peter Taylor Forsyth, Scottish theologian.

From The Soul of Prayer book description:
P. T. Forsyth is sometimes described as an English pre-cursor to Karl Barth. He was born in 1848 to a Scottish family of humble origins and later in life attended Aberdeen University, where he graduated with first-class honours in classical literature in 1869. In 1876 he was ordained and called to minister in Shipley, Yorkshire. In his early ministry in the Congregational Church, Forsyth fought orthodoxy and sought for the right to rethink Christian theology and pursue liberal thought. In 1878, however, Forsyth experienced a conversion from, in his own words, "being a Christian to being a believer, from a lover of love to an object of grace." A profound awareness of pastoral responsibility was awakened which radically altered the the course of his ministry. His conversion thrust him from the leadership of liberalism to a recovery of the theology of grace. Quickly, he became one of the better-known figures in British Nonconformity. In 1894, he received a call to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where he preached his famous sermon, "Holy Father" in 1896. In 1901, he accepted a position as principal of Hackney Theological College, London where he remained until he died in 1921. Over his lifetime Forsyth published 25 books and more than 260 articles. He is often credited with recovering for his generation the reality and true dimensions of the grace of God.(

Reviews

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning for some time to read a book by Forsyth, as I've often enjoyed the references to him by other authors. So this is my first book from this Author. Whilst this is not an easy read, it is very much a worthwhile one. Forsyth is far better at handling the English Language than I am - and I often found that I had to re-read a sentence or paragraph to properly get what was being said. I have had at times a similar "problem" with some of Lewis' works. In fact, I found that reading this book aloud helped me to better grasp what was being said.

Whilst this was written at the end of the 19th Century, it is still very applicable today. The Author deals well with the whole area of Christian Perfection, of what it means to be Righteous because of Christ's death and resurrection. In fact, this is a good, and reasonably short, book on the Atonement and what that means to the daily life of the Christian. Naturally, some of the imagery and language is a little dated - but I didn't find that an issue. I prefer a stronger emphasis on a life of Repentance (being Lutheran does that) than the Author presents - however I still enjoyed his use of language, which swept me away at times :)

[Alasdair Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some remarkable insights alongside some potentially dangerous ambiguities. Admirable emphasis on the fact that we find our perfection in the fact that we are now, in one sense, perfectly related to the Father through faith in Christ alone. Forsyth does also recognise that we are by no means complete and that, in another sense, we will not be finally perfect until we are glorified. He does, however, arguably minimise the sense to which we are being perfected by the Holy Spirit's work in us and ought to be demonstrating that if we have truly been brought into such a relationship by faith in Christ. This is perhaps a fault of emphasis rather than intent.