Incarnation Deep and Wide: A Response to Niels Gregersen

Abstract

This paper responds to Professor Niels Gregersen's theology of deep incarnation by doing three things. Section 1 summarizes and defines the idea of deep incarnation, with particular reference to what is intended by the key adjective “deep.” Section 2 engages Gregersen's proposal critically in relation to traditional options within the Christian doctrine of the incarnation. If Gregersen's language of “incarnation” is to be taken seriously as a proposal that is grounded in but goes beyond traditional ideas, its best chance for success lies in being as clear as possible about relationship with its traditional sources. Finally, Section 3 offers a few suggestions concerning the promise of deep incarnation for contemporary theology, especially for theology informed in part by serious engagement with the natural sciences.     

Battle Christologies as a risky act of resistance à la Jesus: A South African perspective

This study depicts African “battle Christologies” as a risky act of resistance à la Jesus, that is, concomitant of Jesus’ own life in terms of their modus operandi. Their christic features are discussed in contradistinction to the mainstream Western christological tradition. Only by probing the dynamics of power and difference inherent in the cultural appropriations of Jesus can their specific performative consequences be accurately captured. In light of the study, some methodological considerations are being offered with regard to the way in which prophetic theology should be done in post‐apartheid South Africa and the Global South in general.     

Between the Christ of Deep Incarnation and The African Jesus of Tinyiko Maluleke: An Improvised Dialogue

All differences considered, the Christ of deep incarnation and the African Jesus of Tinyiko Maluleke share at least one fundamental dimension: they both stand out as signs of God's radical embodiment in the world of creation/of African culture(s). Put crudely, while the deep incarnation theologians extend Jesus’ body into social and cosmic bodies, Maluleke locates Jesus’ body in the bodies of his fellow Africans. This study first identifies major convergences and tensions between these two christological perspectives and, second, posits that the scandal of reciprocity, seen as a characteristic feature of African christologies, can be translated into a twofold guiding principle for approaching and assessing African Christianity theologically.     

White Jesus and Antisemitism: Toward an Antiracist and Decolonial Christology

This article argues that traditional Christology is intimately bound up with a triumphalist agenda that denies Jesus’ Jewishness and is structurally antisemitic. Taking an antiracist stance, the article argues that systemic rethinking of Christianity’s theological resources is needed, which must be anti-antisemitic and antiracist. This involves reconfiguring how we take on board Jesus’ Jewishness in a post-Holocaust context and recognizing Jesus as a Jewish prophet. From this, it is tentatively suggested that rethinking the role of the Messiah involves understanding a Levinasian Messiah who does not come, but rather calls upon us to act in a Messianic role before the Other as an ethical imperative.     

The Fifth R: Jesus as Evolutionary Psychologist

The historical Jesus seems to have known about human nature as described by evolutionary psychology. He addresses the dispositions of human nature that evolutionary psychology says are central: resources, reproduction, relatedness (kinship), and reciprocity. In doing so he answers Aristotle's question, how can human beings flourish? His answer opens a window onto the divine.     

Salvation: Its Forms and Dynamics in the New Testament

Abstract : Salvation takes several forms in the New Testament, including earthly‐historical saving acts by the earthly Jesus and eschatological salvation by God's saving work in Christ. The dynamics of salvation can be considered from both anthropocentric and theocentric approaches. In the former salvation is by works, faith, or grace, but issues can be raised about each. In the latter salvation is spoken of as the act of God in Christ (a theopractic approach) or by the act of Christ on God's behalf (a Christopractic approach). Issues arise concerning canonical contexts, whether something happened at the cross effective for humanity and the cosmos, and the scope of redemption.     

Revisiting the Myth of the Historical Jesus and the Evolution of Consciousness

Hal Childs has written a solid, subtle, and courageous evaluation of the state of Jesus scholarship, focusing on a critique of the work of John Dominic Crossan. The impact of the fact that the scholars in this field are functioning within the limitations of Cartesian epistemology and ontology is addressed throughout this work, but in a subtle and respectful manner. More directly addressed is the fact that the historical Jesus cannot be discovered solely from that perspective; it requires what Childs terms a fundamentally hermeneutic, archetypal and psychological approach (2000, p. 2). The term historical is in quotes because Childs carefully distinguishes the object of the study from what we like to think of as scientific knowledge.     

Jesus, Historians, and the Psychology of Historiography: A Response to My Respondents

It is remarkable to me that my book became a part of the SBL Dissertation Series. For this I thank Walter Wink who brought the work to the attention of, Wayne Rollins. And I am thankful to Wayne Rollins for bringing the book to the attention of the right people at the SBL, most particularly Rex D. Matthews and Mark Allan Powell. I am grateful to Mark Allan Powell for promoting the process of publication so we would have a book in hand at the Psychology and Biblical Studies book review session, now over two years ago. I am very appreciative of Lewis Rambo, editor of this journal, and J. Harold Ellens, special editor of this issue, for making possible the continued discussion of these ideas.     

The Emotional Christ: Bonaventure and Deep Incarnation1

This article has the twofold aim of bringing the Christology of St. Bonaventure into dialogue with contemporary attempts to formulate an informational worldview, and with the recent theological proposal of deep incarnation. It is argued that even though Bonaventure is a pre‐modern theologian, he anticipates central aspects of a contemporary informational worldview based on differential information, structural information, and semantic information. Moreover, the article explores Bonaventure's unique combination of a “high” exemplarist Christology with a “low” Franciscan view of the humility of Christ. While Bonaventure shares seminal concerns of deep incarnation, his strong view of divine perfection prohibits him from assuming that the divinity of Christ embraces the full gamut of human emotions and anxieties related to the future.     

Science,Scripture, and the Hermeneutics of Ascension

Abstract

From the perspective of the science–religion dialogue, the ascension of Jesus represents one of the most challenging of all Christian doctrines to negotiate. It necessitates, on the one hand, the interpretation of richly allusive and diverse biblical texts, and on the other hand, the resolution of scientific and theological paradoxes at the edge of conceptualization. I suggest a possible way forward which makes use of a conversational approach informed by Gadamerian hermeneutics. This keeps the peculiarities and particularities of individual texts foremost, and allows the perspectives of science, theology and biblical studies to engage at first hand over them.     

Christ in the Limelight: Contemporary Films and Christological Discourse

The aim of this article is to show how theology can, through the medium of film, engage contemporary interpretations of Jesus’ person and work. Starting out by tracing the development taking place in films about Jesus throughout the twentieth century, the focus then moves to a theological reading of Mel Gibson's interpretation of the passion story for the twenty‐first century in his movie The Passion of the Christ.     

Quantum Theory and the Resurrection of Jesus

Abstract :  Ever since the time of Hume it has been a truism that the worldview of empirical science, and Christian assertion of the resurrection of Jesus, are antithetical to each other. Yet post‐Newtonian science, and especially quantum theory, suggests the need for a reappraisal of this truism. This reappraisal will first examine the implications of the indeterminism of the quantum world, to consider the physical possibility of Jesus' resurrection. Second, an appraisal of the historical evidence will suggest the likelihood of Jesus' resurrection. Finally, I will consider some implications of all this for contemporary Christian thought.     

A Critical Evaluation of Hal Childs' The Myth of the Historical Jesus and the Evolution of Consciousness

The purpose of Childs' book an is integration of historical criticism and analytical psychology. I share Childs' interest in analytical psychology and his concern about the way historical criticism is practiced within the Jesus Seminar. However, I consider his proposed integration to be neither necessary nor desirable, particularly if integration really means amalgamation. Rather than adopting the concerns of analytical psychology, the historical critic would do well to emulate the procedures and rules of evidence of the secular historian.     

Does Jesus Save the Neanderthals? Theological Perspectives on the Evolutionary Origins and Boundaries of Human Nature

Does Jesus save the Neanderthals? Do the Neanderthals need saving? Are they worth saving? And what about other non‐human animals? What theological sense can be made of the boundaries of human nature when considered in light of contemporary evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology? This article explores how theologians can begin to approach such questions by looking at four key areas where theological anthropology, evolutionary biology, and paleoanthropology intersect—1) human nature, 2) human uniqueness, 3) the imago Dei, and 4) the incarnation.     

The Twofold Assumption: A Response to Cole-Turner,Moritz, Peters and Peterson

Abstract

The article discusses points and perspectives offered by the four respondents to the R.J. Russell Fellow Lectures for 2013/14. Joshua M. Moritz and Ron Cole-Turner bring in new material from biblical and patristic traditions relevant for the proposal of deep incarnation. How does the concept of deep incarnation fare in relation to tradition and science? Ted Peters and Daniel J. Peterson raise questions about the compatibility between a compatibilist view of divine action and creaturely freedom on the one hand, and ideas of kenosis on the other. Which models of kenosis models are workable, and which forms of compatibilism?     

Going As Far As We Can Go: The Jesus Proposal For Stretching Genes and Cultures

The Christian perspective on morality is examined under the rubric of "being like Jesus" and the "Jesus proposal for morality." The Peace People of Northern Ireland are examples of this proposal. Among the features of Christian moral thinking that are emphasized are: Jesus' concern for the future, the transformation that the future requires, human nature interpreted in terms of how it can undergo transformation, and self-giving love as the core of this transformation. Attention is given to the ways in which Jesus both radicalized and relativized the moral conventions of his day. Dialogue with sociobology comes into play when Jesus is viewed as a proposal for cultural evolution and a kind of biocultural mutation. Gerd Theissen's scholarship on Jesus' moral perspectives is given special attention.     

The Blood of Jesus in revival theology and the contemporary Church with particular reference to the East African Revival and Roy Hession

One of the most common phrases heard in testimony, preaching, and song during the East African Revival (EAR) was the phrase ‘The Blood of Jesus Christ’. Taken from a rich biblical heritage, this phrase encapsulates a wide range of ideas concerning the work of the cross and the power of forgiveness in a believer's life. Whilst, as will be noted, the use of The Blood has been common to many revivals, this article examines especially the theology behind this phrase by looking at the most prominent of the EAR authors – Roy Hession. It investigates seven different applications of The Blood in a believer's life: The Blood as a testament that sin is forgiven, The Blood as cleansing the conscience, The Blood as victory over despair, The Blood as the remover of shame, The Blood as washing away sin, The Blood as the gateway of the Holy Spirit, and finally The Blood as the source of true fellowship. The theology of The Blood has a long history of use in the Church but it also comes with difficulties. To this end the article will investigate the legitimacy of the practice often found in Africa and some Pentecostal circles of invoking The Blood as protection against the demonic. The article closes by considering the reasons why speaking of The Blood in church can be uncomfortable yet is paradoxically of vital importance to revival.     

The Christology of St Anthony of Padua: content and method

In 1946 St Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) was declared a Doctor of the Church, recognised for his profound learning. Whereas much has been written about St Anthony, very little of it concerns his profound learning – and so it is not inappropriate to ask wherein this learning lies. Reading St Anthony reveals Christological concerns to be at the heart of his work and in this paper the author explores and clarifies his position. However, anyone looking for new and exciting Christological insights is likely to be disappointed, for St Anthony is entirely orthodox and traditional, although we should not only consider the content of his work, but his ‘method’ too. The way that the saint presents doctrine, and the inferences he draws from it, has much to be commended. Indeed, St Anthony may well be contrasted with those modern theologians who, it has been suggested, have rather lost track of what it is they are really doing.     

The Book of Job and Male Melancholia: A Bizarre Story about Hating Mother God and the Maternal Jesus,Featuring Mel Gibson

This article tells, or advocates, a bizarre story about male revenge. By drawing from literature in the psychology of religion that deals with the Book of Job and by assuming the standpoint of “cultural hermeneutics” in biblical studies, the author playfully takes up an issue identified by Donald Capps: the issue of repressed rage in male melancholia. The author takes his cue from a recent doctoral dissertation from Princeton Theological Seminary. Jacobus Hamman (2000) applies a Winnicottian analysis to the Book of Job and argues that the Book of Job can be a useful pastoral resource today in a number of ways, including his proposal for believers to direct their aggression toward God. Implicit in Hamman’s Winnicottian analysis, but never explicitly stated, is the fact that God is Mother. The plot here is how the Book of Job might lead contemporary American men to hate Mother God and the maternal Jesus, thereby aiding them in externalizing their repressed and self-directed rage. Mel Gibson stars, if only briefly, in this childish story that presses the limits of Christian theology.