From Adam to Christ

The publication of these essays in one volume--essays published separately and in diverse contexts over a period of thirty years--is something of an event. Professor Hooker is one the foremost New Testament scholars currently writing, and Paul is one of her major interests. This collection includes some of her best writing on Pauline ideas and their contemporary significance. The essays focus in particular on Paul's understanding of human redemption. The author shows that in contrast to Adam, who was created in the image of God, but who lost God's glory, Christ is the true image of God and the embodiment of his glory. Christ has achieved 'what the Law could not do' (Rom 8:3), and though the Law expressed the purpose of God and reflected his glory, its power was incomplete. Several essays, in exploring this relationship between old and new, center on the significance for Pauline theology of the notion of 'interchange in Christ,' and Professor Hooker puts forward the view that Paul's idea of participation in Christ (conveyed in such phrases as 'in Christ' and 'with Christ') is the key to understanding his Christology.