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Matthew Levering

This book is the dogmatic sequel to Levering's Engaging the Doctrine of Marriage, in which he argued that God's purpose in creating the cosmos is the eschatological marriage of God and his people. . God sets this marriage into motion through his covenantal election of a particular people, the people of Israel. 

Central to this people's relationship with the Creator God are their Scriptures, exodus, Torah, Temple, land, and Davidic kingship. As a Christian Israelology, this book devotes a chapter to each of these topics, investigating their theological significance both in light of ongoing Judaism and in light of Christian Scripture (Old and New Testaments) and Christian theology. 

The book makes a significant contribution to charting a path forward for Jewish-Christian dialogue from the perspective of post-Vatican II Catholicism.

Cascade Books

Engaging Doctrine

Engaging the Doctrine of Israel: A Christian Israelology in Dialogue with Ongoing Judaism

This book is the next volume in Levering's Engaging Doctrine series. The prior volume of the series examined the doctrine of creation. The present volume examines the purpose of creation: the marriage of God and humans. God created the cosmos for the purpose of the marriage of God and his people--and through his people, the marriage of God and the entire creation. Given that the central meaning or "prime analogate" of marriage is the marriage of God and humankind, the study of human marriage needs to be shaped by this eschatological goal and foregrounded as a dogmatic theme. After a first chapter defending and explaining the biblical witness to the marriage of God and his people, the book explores various themes: marriage as an image of God, original sin as the fall of the primordial marriage, the cross of Jesus Christ and marital self-sacrificial love, the procreative and unitive ends of marriage, marriage as a sacrament, and marriage's importance for social justice and for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. Along the way, the book provides an introduction to the key biblical, patristic, medieval, modern, and contemporary thinkers and controversies regarding the doctrine of marriage.

Engaging the Doctrine of Marriage: Human Marriage as the Image and Sacrament of the Marriage of God and Creation