Election, Atonement, and the Holy Spirit' is an examination of the doctrines of election and atonement in Karl Barth's 'Church Dogmatics', taking up Barth's own challenge to his reader to surpass his argument and offer a better typological interpretationof the cultic texts. Barth's radical re-working of Calvin's doctrine of election is one of the most important developments in twentieth-century theology. Christ synthesizes for Barth a particular dialectic: the binary structure of God's Yes of election and God's No of rejection. The book's central question - how can Jesus simultaneously be both the elected and the rejected (CD II/2), acting as both the judge and the judged (CD IV/1)? - is followed by an exploration of the roles of the Holy Spirit and human freedom in God's electing and saving action. Although commentators acknowledge Barth's innovation in this area but also identify problems with his approach, few have offered what David Ford has called a correction 'from within' Barth, using Barth's ownmethod. Using the concept of Existenzstellvertretung, this critique of Barth's exegetical justification for the doctrines offers an alternative exegesis that not only provides this much-needed correction, but also immerses the reader in a fresh engagement with Scripture itself.

This book is about how the Christian actually became a Christian. The 'process' is Marc's focus. How does God take the Chosen from the womb to salvation then into His eternal bosom? The classic position of Election and Predestination is made plain; forcing the reader to address the alternative, Man's free-will choice to be 'saved' or not. Can these two positions be reconciled? No, not really. The Lord assured Moses: I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, Exodus 33:19. Moses was to experience a limited 'theophany, ' what the Greek Orthodox call a 'theosis, ' the physical presence of God, Himself, equivalent to - 'My goodness.' It is God's very 'Goodness' the New Testament saint knows to be the indwelt Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of Christ Jesus, Himself, God Himself. Paul cites the Exodus passage in Romans to demonstrate to the body of Christ that God by His sovereignty elected each believer to be His own, that we did not elect ourselves to be God's. And one Saint asked, "Why write about such things that have been covered for hundreds of years?" True. But more recently much about God's sovereignty has been covered over. Christian modernity has adapted as the author once did to a new Evangelicalism. Whereby, some first truths have been buried so deep that when they are unearthed they appear to be a foreign theology to the present generation of Evangelical believers. Marc affords the saint the information necessary to actually understand how he or she actually got saved! Marc presently lives in Orlando Florida where he pastors Blessed Fellowship Orlando, an outreach ministry of Orlando Prayer and Worship Center, Senior Pastor Roy Futch.