Christianity Today Award of Merit

Best Book of Spirituality—Academic, from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore

Evangelicals are known for their emphasis on conversion. But what about lifeafter conversion and beyond justification?

Desperately needed is a comprehensive theology of the Christian life from beginning to end, along with the means of formation and transformation. In Called to Be Saints, Gordon Smith draws on a distinguished lifetime of reflecting on these themes to offer us a theologically rich account of our participation in the life of Christ.

Both profound and practical, this book is a trinitarian theology of holiness that encompasses both justification and sanctification, both union with Christ and communion with God. Smith unfolds how and why Christians are called to become wise people, do good work, love others and enjoy rightly ordered affections.

If holiness is the ongoing journey of becoming mature in Christ, then there is no better guide than Smith. Christians in every walk of life will find this a rich resource for learning what it means to "grow up in every way . . . into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).



Gordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Institutional Intelligence, Called to Be Saints, and Your Calling Here and Now.



Introduction

Chapter 1: Called to Be Saints: The Need for a Compelling Theology of Holiness

Chapter 2: Union with Christ

Chapter 3: Holy People Are Wise People: An Invitation to Sapiential Holiness

Chapter 4: Called to Do GoodWork: An Invitation to Vocational Holiness

Chapter 5: Learning to Love: An Invitation to Social Holiness

Chapter 6: Joy and the Ordering of the Affections: An Invitation to Emotional Holiness

Appendix A: Congregations and Transformation: The Church and the Call to Spiritual Maturity

Appendix B: Christian Higher Education: A Passion for Wisdom and Spiritual Transformation

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index