Accountability to God

The word 'accountability' is often used without much thought being given to what precisely it means. It is especially common in Christian circles, where there is frequent talk about being accountable to God, yet, still, without a clear grasp of this word. Accountability to God proposes, develops, and analyses two concepts of accountability as both a condition and a virtue. It also engineers these concepts to make them particularly apt for thinking about (1)accountability to God and (2) other relationships of accountability that exist under God. In its first part, the book builds a theological and general case for its particular views of accountability. In its second, it engages in the constructive work of developing a theology of accountability in relation tothe doctrines of the Trinity, participation in Christ, the Fall, the fear of God, reconciliation, baptism, repentance, faith, and conversion. In developing this theology, Torrance interacts with a number of major theologians, such as the Apostle Paul, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Karl Barth. He also extensively engages with contemporary work in analytic philosophy, systematic theology (including analytic theology), biblical studies, and psychology. By bringing a diverse range of scholarship into discussion, Accountability to God is the first book to focus specifically on what it means to be accountableto God. It thereby proposes a more positive, constructive, and theologically apt way to think about accountability.

Andrew B. Torrance is a senior lecturer in theology at the University of St Andrews. Prior to becoming a lecturer, he held a research fellowship at the University of St Andrews for which he ran the programme, Scientists in Congregations Scotland. He received his PhD from the University of Otago, where he wrote a dissertation on Søren Kierkegaard's and Karl Barth's theology of conversion.