In The Widening Circle, Graham Tomlin suggests that 'Priest' is much more than a term to describe certain Christian ministers - it is a vital category for understanding God's way of blessing his world. Jesus Christ is the only and true 'High Priest'. His priestly ministry consists of mediating between God and the world, perfecting that very creation, and then offering this perfected creation back to the God from whom it came. Yet this very ministry is enacted through others. As we explore how this priesthood of Christ has an impact on everyday life, we discover the human race is chosen to play a priestly role between God and Creation. The Church is then called out to be a kingdom of priests, enabling humanity to fulfil its divine calling. And, finally, the minister himself or herself - experiencing as Christ did, both strands of priestly reality, the mundane and the heavenly, the routine and the remarkable, the normal and the numinous - is called to enable the rest of the Church to play its distinct part. In each case, the part is the means by which the whole becomes all that it is intended to be, in an ever widening circle of divine blessing.

Graham Tomlin

Cover page

Title page

Imprint

Dedication

Epigraph

Preface

Introduction

1. The priesthood of Christ: descent

2. The priesthood of Christ: ascent

3. Priesthood questioned

4. The priesthood of humanity

5. The priesthood of the Church

6. The priesthood of ministers

7. Priestly leadership

Epilogue: The widening circle

Notes

References

__In The Widening Circle, Graham Tomlin explores an exhilarating new approach to priesthood.__

The author suggests that 'Priest' is much more than a term to describe certain Christian ministers - it is a vital category for understanding God's way of blessing his world.

This world was made for joy: the joy of God and the joy of Creation. But to know that joy, the world needs the divine blessing that is focused in Jesus Christ, the only true High Priest. His priestly ministry consists of mediating between God and the world, perfecting that very creation, and then offering this perfected creation back to the God from whom it came. Yet this very ministry is enacted through others.

As we explore how this priesthood of Christ has an impact on everyday life, we discover that the human race is chosen to play a priestly role between God and Creation. The Church is then called out to be a kingdom of priests, enabling humanity to fulfil its divine calling. And, finally, the minister himself or herself - experiencing as Christ did, both strands of priestly reality, the mundane and the heavenly, the routine and the remarkable, the normal and the numinous - is called to enable the rest of the Church to play its distinct part.

In each case, the part is the means by which the whole becomes all that it is intended to be, in an ever widening circle of divine blessing, so that the world might know the joy for which it was created.

Outlines a new approach to priesthood, suggesting that we only begin to understand what a 'priest' is once we have understood what priesthood is theologically and biblically - God's way of blessing the world.

The Widening Circle outlines a new approach to priesthood, suggesting that we only begin to understand what a 'priest' is once we have understood what priesthood is theologically and biblically - God's way of blessing the world. The key ideas of the book are (1) that Christ is the 'true High Priest' - he is therefore our clue to understanding the nature of priesthood; (2) that the priestly ministry of Christ consists of two parts - MEDIATION (mediating God to us and us to God) and ENABLING (enabling us and all of creation to reach its divine destiny, to be a true reflection of the glory of God); and (3) that priesthood is therefore the way God blesses the world, by choosing a part to be the means of blessing the whole. He chooses humanity to care for and bless the earth, Israel as a priestly nation to bless the world, and the church as his means of blessing the rest of humanity.

The Revd Dr Graham Tomlin is Dean of St Mellitus College and Principal of St Paul's Theological Centre, Holy Trinity Brompton, London. He served in a parish in Exeter before becoming Chaplain of Jesus College, Oxford in 1989 and Vice-Principal of Wycliffe Hall in 1998. Among his publications are The Prodigal Spirit (SPTC/Alpha, 2011), Spiritual Fitness (Continuum, 2006) and The Provocative Church (SPCK, 2014), now in its fourth edition. Graham is married with two children.

Widening Circle

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Widening Circle

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