Comfortable Words

Paul F. M. Zahl has spent his career asking what grace means and what its "comfortable words" actually do for ordinary people. This volume gathers essays written in his honor, taking up those same questions from several directions. The pieces range from literary theory and biblical exegesis to systematic theology, and together they show how widely Zahl's teaching has shaped other scholars.

The essays focus on the link between academic theology and its pastoral effect. Zahl consistently stressed the idea of "one-way love" and how it reaches people in their daily lives, and the contributors explore that connection from their own disciplines. The contributor list includes C. FitzSimons Allison, Todd Brewer, George Carey, James D. G. Dunn, Susan G. Eastman, Mark Mattes, Geiko Müller-Farenholz, Justin S. Holcomb, John D. Koch Jr., Lauren Larkin, Jonathan A. Linebaugh, Jürgen Moltmann, Heinz-Dieter Neef, J. Ashley Null, Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Dylan D. Potter, Justyn Terry, Tullian Tchividjian, Jonathan K. M. Wong, Paul F. M. Zahl, and Simeon Zahl.