God Draws Near: Rethinking the Biblical Theology of Mission - Paperback

by Collin Cornell (Author)

In God Draws Near, Old Testament expert and missiologist Collin Cornell challenges conventional thinking about the theology of mission. The prevailing paradigm has been of a single grand story encompassing creation, fall, and redemption. The understanding of God's mission that follows is that of rescue or repair. In the first part of the book, Cornell interacts with and critiques this line of thinking, pointing out how it influences our interpretation of the canon of Scripture, our view of Israel, and even how we view Christ and his incarnation. These problems have consequences for mission practice.

Cornell then offers a new model for the biblical theology of mission, recentering it on God's purpose to draw near to creatures out of love and delight. The Song of Songs provides a key inspiration. Cornell argues that rather than being linear, the Bible is geometric, flowing outward from God's presence in the tabernacle in the Old Testament and in Christ in the New. This perspective honors God's relationship with Israel and keeps Christ at the center of God's work in the world.

God Draws Near will be of use to students, pastors, mission workers and educators, and interested lay readers. Even those who disagree with Cornell's approach and conclusions will need to grapple with his critiques and proposals.

Back Jacket

"A fresh way to support the church's witness to a new missional era"

Challenging the prevailing paradigm for biblical theology of mission, this book offers a new model that centers on God's purpose to draw near to humanity in fellowship.

"Cornell upsets--rightly, in my view--the heretofore dominant approach to biblical theology of mission that has centered on repair, which has some real merits but also unavoidable and rather profound demerits. He dismantles the repair approach definitively, offering us something far better in its place: a paradigm centered on communion with a superior understanding of the entire (geometric!) Bible as support."
--Brent A. Strawn, Duke University

"Cornell eloquently and prudently warns us of the dangers of theologies of mission that exclusively focus on the dramatic-narrative nature of the canonical framework of scripture. He rightly highlights and insists that God's ultimate desire is restored in intimate communion with his people. A welcome contribution to the ongoing discipline of missional hermeneutics."
--Christopher J. H. Wright, international ambassador, Langham Partnership

"With great clarity Cornell moves the reader beyond a focus on the diachronic narrative of God's mission of repairing the world and toward a multilayered interpretation of scripture and a mission of communion."
--Kirsteen Kim, Center for Missiological Research, Fuller Theological Seminary

"In this well-written and well-argued book, Cornell returns to a classic question of medieval theology: Is there a good to the Incarnation greater than that of repairing the damage of original sin? In the Song of Songs and the story of the building of the Tabernacle Cornell finds his answer: the desire of God to draw the human person near to himself."
--Gary A. Anderson, University of Notre Dame

"Cornell has written a wonderful piece of critical and constructive theology that can positively transform how we understand what the Bible is all about. An impressively learned and original work."
--Kendall Soulen, Emory University

"In this daring and creative book, Cornell calls into question the standard reading of the biblical narrative in missional theology. His bold proposal offers a fresh way to support the church's witness to a new missional era. Theologians, missiologists, and practitioners should sit with Cornell's argument."
--Edwin Chr. van Driel, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Author Biography

Collin Cornell (PhD, Emory University) is assistant professor of Bible and mission at Fuller Theological Seminary in Houston, Texas. He is the author of two books on divine aggression and the editor of Divine Doppelgängers and The Incomparable God by Brent Strawn. He also cotranslated K. H. Miskotte's Biblical ABCs.