A New History of Redemption: The Work of Jesus the Messiah through the Millennia

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2024 Book Award (Honorable Mention, Church History / Historical Theology / Biography)

Although Jesus's work of redemption is often viewed as a singular event, a careful examination of Scripture reveals that the Messiah began his redemptive work just after the fall and will continue it to the end of the world.

In the spirit of Jonathan Edwards's History of the Work of Redemption, distinguished theologian Gerald McDermott traces the progress of redemption throughout the Bible and Church history. This book connects the dots surrounding Israel, redemption by the Jewish Messiah, secular and sacred history, the world religions, and Jewish-Christian worship through liturgy and sacraments. It shows how Jesus as Messiah was redeeming throughout Old Testament history, and it carries that story up through the last two millennia.

McDermott contends that it is only through a historical examination of the Messiah's redemption amid the turmoil of the world and the worship of his people that one can best see God's beauty.

Gerald R. McDermott (PhD, University of Iowa) teaches at Jerusalem Seminary and Reformed Episcopal Seminary (ACNA). He was Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School for five years and taught at Roanoke College for twenty-six years. He is an Anglican priest who serves at an Anglican church in Crozet, Virginia. McDermott has written two dozen books and hundreds of articles on Jonathan Edwards, world religions, the meaning of Israel, and assorted other subjects such as race and stuttering. He has also written for Christianity Today, the Christian Century, and First Things.