Author: Robert Stackpole

Publisher:

Published: 2019-06-06

Total Pages: 750

ISBN-13: 9780991988075

A Milestone in Ecumenical TheologyRoman Catholic theologian Robert Stackpole reaches into the heart of the Anglican tradition and finds within that heritage a rich and fruitful way of understanding the doctrine of the Incarnation - a way that needs to be rediscovered by Anglicans themselves, and by the wider Christian community. In The Incarnation: Rediscovering Kenotic Christology, Stackpole offers a comprehensive defence of the Kenotic Theory, rooted primarily in the way that theory has developed within the Anglican tradition since the early twentieth century. This is the notion that in the Incarnation, the divine Son of God, without ceasing to uphold and guide the universe as the universal Word, by a voluntary act restrained the exercise of some of his divine attributes at a particular time and place in human history, limited himself to an historical human consciousness, and human faculties of knowledge and action, and thereby experienced all the joys and sorrows, sufferings and struggles of human life as Jesus of Nazareth. This Kenotic Theory is shown to be not only coherent in itself, but also remarkably powerful in its impact on the wider pattern of Christian belief. Above all, Stackpole focuses on its implications for God's identification with human suffering, for the doctrine of the saving work of Jesus Christ, and for the social witness of Christianity. In short, he makes the case that this incarnational heritage is a special gift that Anglican Christianity can make to the enrichment of the faith of all Christians in our ecumenical age.A founding member of "The Fellowship of Catholics and Evangelicals," Stackpole also draws deeply on Evangelical reflections on the Cross, and Anglican and Roman Catholic understandings of the Trinity, resulting in a remarkable ecumenical synthesis of Christology for our time. Robert Stackpole (BA Williams; M.Litt. Oxford University; STD The Angelicum, Rome), formerly an Anglican priest, has been Director of the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy since 2000. From 2002-2012 he was also Associate Professor of Theology at Redeemer Pacific College in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is the author of numerous books and web articles, including Jesus, Mercy Incarnate (Marian Press, 2000), Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI (Marian Press, 2009), and The Papacy: God's Gift to All Christians (The Chartwell Press, 2015).