Holiness: Divine and Human

Holiness is divine ownership; holy objects belong to God. This book tests the hypothesized conception of holiness across an array of doctrinal loci include theology proper, the God-world relation, the imago Dei, justification, atonement, sanctification, and liturgical theology.

Holiness might seem like a simple concept. Yet, when one compares the array of objects that are called “holy” in the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian New Testament, there may seem to be no points of similarity between God, humans, time, land, temple accoutrements, etc. However, in this book, James M. Arcadi hypothesizes a unitary account of the definition of holiness. What unites holy objects, Arcadi argues, is divine ownership. Holy objects belong to God. In application to God, this motif has profound implications for how one conceives of God and the God-world relation. In application to humans, this book argues that the ownership theme unfurls new insights on a range of doctrinal loci including the doctrines of the imago Dei, justification, atonement, sanctification, and liturgical theology. Bringing biblical studies in conversation with contemporary analytic philosophy, this book offers an analytic systematic theology of holiness.