Made Like the Maker: Christian Ethics Vol. 2 (Library of Early English Protestantism)

“Can a seventeenth-century Anglican parson and poet, who has been called “one of the sanest men who ever lived,” speak to our Silicon Valley-induced technological malaise? With philosophical clarity regarding the risks and rewards of modern gadgetry, Colin Redemer answers with a resounding yes. Traherne is here rescued from the wearying admiration of English departments and hurled into the most pressing issue of our time. The result, in Redemer’s words, is a recovery of Christian freedom—freedom from our fears, but also from our false hopes that perhaps this next human creation will set things right.'"
- Matthew J. Milliner, Wheaton College

Christian ethics challenges us to embody divine virtues, fulfilling the command to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” and to “love one another as I have loved you.” But how can flawed humanity reflect the incomparable Wisdom, Righteousness, and Goodness that are the essence of the Divine? How can the creatures align with their Creator?

In this insightful and enriching second volume of his Christian Ethics, Thomas Traherne delves deep into these divine paradoxes. He probes the realms of wisdom, righteousness, goodness, holiness, justice, mercy, faith, and hope, delineating how, through divine grace, we can be re-molded into the image of our Creator, imitating Christ and so finding true happiness.

This modernization by Colin Chan Redemer invites contemporary readers to rediscover this underappreciated masterpiece, navigating it without the barriers of archaic language. The edition is enriched by an illuminating introductory essay, “The Spiritual Technology of Christian Poetics.” This essay exposes the connections between philosophy, poetry, technology, and the God of Jesus Christ, providing readers with a profound understanding of Traherne’s harmonious blend of theology and anthropology, and of virtue ethics and Christian practice as a form of spiritual devotion.