God Takes our Place: A Religious-Philosophical Approach to the Concept of Stellvertretung

What does it mean to say, theologically, that God takes our (human beings') place (Stelle)? In himself becoming human (the incarnation), does God enter into joys and needs, into the possibilities and the limitations of the human, in such a way as to take them all to himself? Or does he, specifically, take the blame of all people? Or only that of those who believe? Or is it something else again that is meant? What does it mean to say that ‘God stands up for us’ is the event of salvation– a claim which the church has in mind with its central dogma of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ? How is human Stellvertreten, occurring in different forms, connected with the divine Stellvertreten? What does the word ‘Stelle’ (of humans) mean at all?     

The projective process: inferences derived from structural analysis.

It is hypothesized that projection is an organizational process involving a synthesis of psychological functions which results in a response which in uniquely representative of a class of important psychological experiences. Implications of this interpretation are discussed.