There has been a notable, and important, shift toward attempting to better understand Christian faith and practice in terms of some kind of joint participation with God in Christ.

In Paul and Union With Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study, Constantine Campbell presents his study and case for understanding union with Christ for Protestants.

The “exegetical” part of the study featured considerations of all the various ways in which Paul spoke of being “in Christ.” The author also considers similar prepositions. Throughout the author has placed a lot of confidence in the ability to come to hard and fast conclusions regarding fine distinctions in grammatical constructions; I do not maintain the kind of faith the author does in the integrity of such exploits. Nevertheless, the author does well to show how often Paul spoke of Christian faith and practice as grounded and rooted “in Christ” in more than a merely metaphorical way.

The “theological” part of the study considered the metaphors Paul used in relation to union with Christ and grounds “union with Christ” in Protestant theology. The author would probably protest such a narrow definition of his task, but at every point possible, the author will staunchly defend his Protestant priors. His attempts to resist the plain language of Paul regarding baptism as the means by which one becomes unified with Christ in Romans 6:1-11, suggesting it is merely metaphorical, and on the basis of such an uncritical reading of 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 that almost any Christian who has encountered the passage could easily refute, was quite telling. The author even feels the need to attempt to redeem and rehabilitate “imputation” as a theological concept, even though he seems cognizant of the many arguments and challenges which are therein presented. When we can all confess “imputation” was one of those times where the Latin translation of the Greek term led to people making inappropriate conclusions - just like is insisted upon and expected in all kinds of Trinitarian doctrinal conversations - we will all be much better off.

The author is correct, and does well, to suggest Paul very much considers union with Christ, with flavors and nuances of union, participation, identification, and incorporation as fundamental in his theology and thus his explication and exhortation regarding Christian faith and practice. This is definitely a resource worth considering when trying to make sense of Paul’s theology; whether or not it becomes the kind of work to which one must make reference and to become the basis of the theological study, as the author seems to expect in his conclusions, I am not so sure. I was expecting a bit more humility and a bit better from the author, admittedly, and so the work is a bit of a disappointment in that regard.