This translation of the New Testament attempts to deepen the reader's understanding of the Bible, by seeking a way between the strictly literal and contemporary idiom, so that something of the spirit working in the early Church can become part of the reader's modern experience. The translator was inspired both by sacramental language used in his works as a priest and by Emil Bock's translation of the Gospels into German. Madsen, like Bock is convinced that the living wisdom of the Gospels needs uncovering. He seeks to recover the overtones and subtleties of the ancient language to bring out the hidden depths of meaning.

The question of the cosmic reality of Christ is central to modern Christian awareness. We see lively debate about Christ's nature in relation to the earth and creation, not only within the church itself but also in more speculative areas of thinking and feeling, such as creation spirituality and the New Age movement. The works of Teilhard de Chardin and Fritjof Capra have stimulated many to think spiritually about the created world and the part of humankind in its evolution. These issues were also illuminated by Rudolf Steiner in his Christology which placed the Incarnation at a pivotal point of earthly evolution.