Throughout this survey of participation, the closeness of participation to mediation is often in view. By mediation, here, we mean the way in which one thing acts in or through another, or is encountered in or through another. Here this is taken up in terms of how divine action is mediated in or through creatures. This allows us to explore the way in which participatory accounts inherently line up with 'non-contrastive' account of the relation of creatures to God, here especially in the relation of creaturely action with divine action. The indescribably great difference of creatures from God underlies the intimacy of divine presence, such that the presence and action of God do not exclude the presence and action of the creature. This is explored, among other ways, in relation to divine and creaturely freedom.

In the third section of the book, a range of topics from doctrinal or systematic theology are considered, building on the survey of the first part of the book, which had dealt mainly with the doctrines of God and of creation. This chapter turns to Christology: to the doctrine of the Person of Christ and of the Incarnation, where participatory language and thinking have also been important. This is worked through in terms of a number of central contentions in traditional Christology. It also brings some less-often-considered aspects of the doctrine of Christ to the surface, such as Christ's participation in God through growth in virtues. A participatory account of Christology can bear witness to the full revelation and presence of God in, and as, Christ. This is contrasted with kenotic Christology.