In this groundbreaking work, John Hick refutes the traditional Christian understanding of Jesus of Nazareth. According to Hick, Jesus did not teach what was to become the orthodox understanding of him: that he was God incarnate who became human to die for the sins of the world. Further, the traditional dogma of Jesus' two natures--human and divine--cannot be explained satisfactorily, and worse, it has been used to justify great human evils. Thus, the divine incarnation, he explains, is best understood metaphorically. Nevertheless, he concludes that Christians can still understand Jesus as Lord and the one who has made God real to us. This second edition includes new chapters on the Christologies of Anglican theologian John Macquarrie and Catholic theologian Roger Haight, SJ.
This is a second and revised edition of John Hick's much discussed book first published twelve years ago. He claims that Jesus himself did not teach what was to become the orthodox understanding of him; that the dogma that he had both a divine and a human nature is incoherent and unintelligible; that divine incarnation is a metaphorical idea; that its literal construal makes Christianity the only religion to have been founded by a God in person, and thus uniquely superior to all others, a belief which has done so much harm in the world; that instead Christians should take Jesus as the one who has made God real to us and challenged us to live in God's presence. The new material now added shows how two major contemporary theologians, one Anglican and the other Catholic, face these problems and arrive at many but not all the same conclusions.
The doctrine of the Incarnation lies at the heart of Christianity. But the idea that 'God was in Christ' has become a much-debated topic in modern theology. Oliver Crisp addresses six key issues in the Incarnation defending a robust version of the doctrine, in keeping with classical Christology. He explores perichoresis, or interpenetration, with reference to both the Incarnation and Trinity. Over two chapters Crisp deals with the human nature of Christ and then provides an argument against the view, common amongst some contemporary theologians, that Christ had a fallen human nature. He considers the notion of divine kenosis or self-emptying, and discusses non-Incarnational Christology, focusing on the work of John Hick. This view denies Christ is God Incarnate, regarding him as primarily a moral exemplar to be imitated. Crisp rejects this alternative account of the nature of Christology.
The case for a bigger, more complete picture of reality in which a fifth, spiritual dimension plays a central role Many of us today are all too willing to accept a humanist and scientific account of the universe which considers human existence as a fleeting accident. The triumph of John Hick’s gripping work is his exposure of the radical insufficiency of this view. Drawing on mystical and religious traditions ancient and modern, and spiritual thinkers as diverse as Julian of Norwich and Mahatma Ghandi, he has produced a tightly argued and thoroughly readable case for a bigger, more complete, picture of reality in which a fifth, spiritual dimension, plays a central role. ‘Essential reading for anyone concerned with spirituality in the modern world’ Professor Keith Ward, University of Oxford Erudite, provocative and deeply moving, Hick’s persuasive narrative will prompt all curious readers to re-examine their own spiritual horizons.‘This stimulating book opens up many fundamental issues that must concern everyone. It deserves to be widely read. ‘ Expository Times ‘Learned, lucid and engaging, easy to read and easy to applaud for its sheer clarity of style and its breadth of interest, even when one disagrees with it!’ Anvil
Everyone, Christians included, knows what it’s like to feel isolated and alone. We’ve all wondered if anyone really understands us or truly cares about our lives. The good news is that we aren’t alone, and the gospel tells us why: Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to be forever united with his people—to be one of us. In fact, he has so united himself with us that the Bible says we are literally “in” him. Far from being alone and lost, the Incarnation changes everything for the Christian. Writing with everyday readers in mind, Elyse Fitzpatrick fleshes out the practical implications of our union with Christ and gives us confidence that we are not alone in this approachable and applicable devotional book.
Biblical stories are metaphorical. They may have been accepted as factual hundreds of years ago, but today they cannot be taken literally. Some students in religious schools even recoil from the "fairy tales" of religion, believing them to be mockeries of their intelligence. David Tacey argues that biblical language should not be read as history, and it was never intended as literal description. At best it is metaphorical, but he does not deny these stories have spiritual meaning. Religion as Metaphor argues that despite what tradition tells us, if we "believe" religious language, we miss religion's spiritual meaning. Tacey argues that religious language was not designed to be historical reporting, but rather to resonate in the soul and direct us toward transcendent realities. Its impact was intended to be closer to poetry than theology. The book uses specific examples to make its case: Jesus, the Virgin Birth, the Kingdom of God, the Apocalypse, Satan, and the Resurrection. Tacey shows that, with the aid of contemporary thought and depth psychology, we can re-read religious stories as metaphors of the spirit and the interior life. Moving beyond literal thinking will save religion from itself.
The Art of God Incarnate proposes that visual art is a good way to think of how the incarnation--the central truth-claim of Christianity--can be said to reveal the divine. In the book of Genesis, the human being, fresh from the hands of the Creator, is the image of God in the temple of the world. In an environment of distorted images the prophets sought to make visible by symbolic gestures the divine attitude toward Israel, as well as looking forward to a new divine intervention to redeem history and transfigure human lives. For the New Testament faith, this transforming intervention has come about through the restoration of the divine image in man. Jesus Christ is the true and living icon of the Father and the model from whose radiance human beings generally can be re-fashioned. Despite the anti-iconic legislation of the Hebrew Bible, it was inevitable, therefore, that under the New Covenant a visual art would make its appearance, since God had now made himself visible in his humanized Son. During the iconoclast crisis which shook the Eastern Roman Empire, it was the achievement of the later Greek fathers to spell out this claim doctrinally. Modern aesthetics can throw further light, especially by way of phenomenology and semiotics, on how an artwork can be a communicator of meaning and truth. Finally, there is the question of how human beings are to make their own this revelation of God in the visual realm. In the Latin tradition, especially among the monastic teachers of the twelfth century, the biblical theme of man made in the divine image and likeness was used to speak of how people can be changed by the fresh resources that revelation provides. Through growth in charity they themselves can become saints, "images" of God.
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion provides a broad overview of the topics which are at the forefront of discussion in contemporary philosophy of religion. Prominent views and arguments from both historical and contemporary authors are discussed and analyzed. The book treats all of the central topics in the field, including the coherence of the divine attributes, theistic and atheistic arguments, faith and reason, religion and ethics, miracles, human freedom and divine providence, science and religion, and immortality. In addition it addresses topics of significant importance that similar books often ignore, including the argument for atheism from hiddenness, the coherence of the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, and the relationship between religion and politics. It will be a valuable accompaniment to undergraduate and introductory graduate-level courses.
