The Myth of God Incarnate
Encyclopedia
The Myth of God Incarnate is a book edited by John Hick
and published by SCM Press
in 1977. James Dunn
, in a 1980 literature review
of academic work on the incarnation
, noted the "well-publicized symposium entitled The Myth of God Incarnate, including contributions on the NT
from M. Goulder and F. Young, which provoked several responses". Two years later, in another literature review, R. T. France
commented that "theology dropped out of the headlines again, until in 1977 the title, if not the contents, of The Myth of God Incarnate revived public interest". In the 21st century, The Daily Telegraph
2005 obituary for contributor Maurice Wiles
(father of Andrew Wiles
) described the book as "a highly controversial volume of essays".
The controversy prompted a sequel, Incarnation and Myth: the Debate Continued (1979), edited by Michael Goulder
, another contributor to the original volume.
In the preface to the book, the contributors start by describing their "clear" perception that Christianity has always been a changing and diverse "movement", quoting T. S. Eliot
—"Christianity is always adapting itself into something which can be believed". They also explain that they are "convinced" that growing knowledge of Christian origins leads to accepting that Jesus was ... 'a man approved by God' for a special role within the divine purpose", but that later Christian conceptions of him "as God incarnate, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity" were a "mythological or poetic way of expressing his signficance for us." The contributors also mention that: "we have met together for discussion five times during the last three years, and we now offer the results in the hope that they will stimulate a wider discussion both inside and outside the churches."
, the relationship between the authority and inerrancy of the Bible
, and the relationship between incarnation and the virgin birth of Jesus. In each case, abstract doctrines have been so associated with concrete applications, that denials of the concrete applications have historically been seen as denials of the abstract doctrines, hence heresies. However, with the eucharist in particular, Reformation
theologians affirmed a meaningful understanding of the eucharist, despite denying the concrete application of transubstantiation
—that bread and wine physically become the body and blood of Jesus in the Roman Catholic mass
. Wiles concludes that his main question (regarding Christianity without incarnation) is not a contradiction but a proper question, just like the Reformation question regarding a eucharist without transubstantiation.
("one of a number of ways in which Christians thought and spoke of Jesus"). He proposes that it is no longer reasonable, to "the main body even of convinced believers", to speak in such terms as the NT writers, which presume what moderns do not, namely "supernatural divine intervention ... as a natural category of thought and faith".
Wiles offers an additional argument for the necessity of questioning the actuality of the incarnation, by expressing dissatisfaction with the intelligibility of (b) historical formulations of incarnational doctrine: "Are we sure that the concept of an incarnate being, one who is both fully God and fully man, is after all an intelligible concept?" Although he concedes that "negative generalizations are notoriously dangerous claims to make", he ventures that "the church has never succeeded in offering a consistent or convincing picture" of how Jesus could actually be both God and man. In particular he suggests a tendency to err in favour of Jesus as divine, citing the seventh century Monothelite
controversy and E. L. Mascall
as a distinguished exemplar of the traditional view writing at the time Wiles' essay was published. Wiles concludes his grounds for the necessity of his main question by further appeal to (c) the writing of his own contemporaries. He notes that incarnation, as understood in the work of John Baker
, for example, is so far removed from the original NT usage, that "it is not genuinely the same idea that is being expressed." Wiles quotes Baker: "Jesus did not see himself ... as a divine pre-existent being from heaven".
position within Christianity, denying strict separation between the spiritual and the physical, is shared with Judaism
, which clearly has no doctrine of Jesus as God incarnate. Wiles clarifies that he is proposing a Christianity which retains a genuine broad sense of incarnation of spirituality, especially in its doctrine of creation, just without applying this too strictly to the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
The second idea, listed as (b), is "the significance of Jesus as a model for human life." Wiles observes that there has been considerable diversity in what people have considered to be lives patterned on Jesus as the standard; and that even the NT does not provide a comprehensive picture of just precisely how Jesus lived his entire life. He quotes R. H. Lightfoot
, who famously declared, "the form of the earthly no less than of the heavenly Christ is for the most part hidden from us". Even given these limitations, Wiles reflects that "on any showing to which the name of Christian could conceivably be given [Jesus'] life would remain of substantial importance to us." So, Wiles suggests, Jesus' significance as a role-model "is not directly affected by the way in which his relationship to God is understood."
Before concluding his essay, Wiles considers what he believes to be the most important traditional incarnation-related idea, transformed but retained under his new understanding. Listed as (c), it is the view that in Jesus, "God has acted decisively for the salvation of the world." He anticipates the objection that his transformation would "imply that the worship of Christ, traditional throughout the whole of Christian history, was idolatrous in character". He acknowledges that "It is at this point that the greatest difficulties are likely to be felt. Can they be met?" Although he provides no conclusive answer, Wiles stresses that his new understanding of incarnation could still provide for Jesus to "remain a personal focus of the transforming power of God in the world."
theology
book
John Hick
Professor John Harwood Hick is a philosopher of religion and theologian. In philosophical theology, he has made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology, and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he has contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious...
and published by SCM Press
SCM Press
SCM Press is a UK-based academic publisher of theology, established more than a century ago. It was purchased by Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. in 1997. In 1989 the Los Angeles Times described SCM Press as "Britain's leading theological publisher"....
in 1977. James Dunn
James Dunn (theologian)
James D. G. Dunn was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham. Since his retirement he has been made Emeritus Lightfoot Professor. He is a leading British New Testament scholar, broadly in the Protestant tradition. Dunn is...
, in a 1980 literature review
Literature review
A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic...
of academic work on the incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
, noted the "well-publicized symposium entitled The Myth of God Incarnate, including contributions on the NT
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
from M. Goulder and F. Young, which provoked several responses". Two years later, in another literature review, R. T. France
R. T. France
Richard Thomas France is a New Testament scholar and Anglican cleric. He was Principal of Wycliffe Hall Oxford from 1989 to 1995. He has also worked for the London School of Theology.-Biography:...
commented that "theology dropped out of the headlines again, until in 1977 the title, if not the contents, of The Myth of God Incarnate revived public interest". In the 21st century, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
2005 obituary for contributor Maurice Wiles
Maurice Wiles
Maurice Frank Wiles was a Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University for 21 years, from 1970 to 1991.-Miracles:...
(father of Andrew Wiles
Andrew Wiles
Sir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS is a British mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University, specializing in number theory...
) described the book as "a highly controversial volume of essays".
The controversy prompted a sequel, Incarnation and Myth: the Debate Continued (1979), edited by Michael Goulder
Michael Goulder
Michael Douglas Goulder was a British Biblical scholar who spent most of his academic life at the University of Birmingham where he retired as Professor of Biblical Studies in 1994...
, another contributor to the original volume.
In the preface to the book, the contributors start by describing their "clear" perception that Christianity has always been a changing and diverse "movement", quoting T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
—"Christianity is always adapting itself into something which can be believed". They also explain that they are "convinced" that growing knowledge of Christian origins leads to accepting that Jesus was ... 'a man approved by God' for a special role within the divine purpose", but that later Christian conceptions of him "as God incarnate, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity" were a "mythological or poetic way of expressing his signficance for us." The contributors also mention that: "we have met together for discussion five times during the last three years, and we now offer the results in the hope that they will stimulate a wider discussion both inside and outside the churches."
Overview
The contributors to Hick's collection of essays divided their work into two sections: the first examining "Christian sources"; and the second examining "the development of doctrine". In the preface, however, they note that this division is "not absolute", since sources and contemporary issues are related and discussion of either requires reference to the other.| C | Author | Position (at publication) | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maurice Wiles Maurice Wiles Maurice Frank Wiles was a Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University for 21 years, from 1970 to 1991.-Miracles:... |
Regius Professor Regius Professor of Divinity The Regius Professorship of Divinity is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge.Both chairs were founded by Henry VIII... , Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England... |
Christianity without Incarnation? |
| Part I: Testing the Sources | |||
| 2 | Frances Young Frances Young The Reverend Frances Margaret Young is Emeritus Professor, University of Birmingham, and a Methodist Minister.- Biography :Frances Young taught theology at the University of Birmingham from 1971, becoming the Edward Cadbury Professor and Head of the Department of Theology in 1986... |
Lecturer, Birmingham University | A Cloud of Witnesses |
| 3 | Michael Goulder Michael Goulder Michael Douglas Goulder was a British Biblical scholar who spent most of his academic life at the University of Birmingham where he retired as Professor of Biblical Studies in 1994... |
Tutor, Birmingham University | Jesus, the Man of Universal Destiny |
| 4 | Michael Goulder | Tutor, Birmingham University | Two Roots of the Christian Myth |
| 5 | Frances Young | Lecturer, Birmingham University | Two Roots or a Tangled Mass |
| Part II: Testing the Development | |||
| 6 | Leslie Houlden | Principal, Ripon College, Oxford Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England.-History:Ripon College Cuddesdon was formed from an amalgamation in 1975 of Cuddesdon College and Ripon Hall... |
The Creed of Experience |
| 7 | Don Cupitt Don Cupitt Don Cupitt is an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. He is an Anglican priest, heretic and an emeritus professor of the University of Cambridge, though is better known as a popular writer, broadcaster and commentator... |
Dean, Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary... |
The Christ of Christendom |
| 8 | Maurice Wiles | Regius Professor, Christ Church, Oxford | Myth in Theology |
| 9 | John Hick John Hick Professor John Harwood Hick is a philosopher of religion and theologian. In philosophical theology, he has made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology, and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he has contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious... |
Professor, Birmingham University | Jesus and the World Religions |
| 10 | Dennis Nineham Dennis Nineham Dennis Eric Nineham is a British theologian and academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford from 1969 to 1979, as well as holding chairs in theology at the universities of London, Cambridge and Bristol.-Life:... |
Warden, Keble College, Oxford Keble College, Oxford Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall... |
Epilogue |
Christianity without Incarnation?
Maurice Wiles' 10-page introductory chapter to the volume questions whether "the incarnation of God in the particular individual Jesus of Nazareth" is actually essential to Christianity, or whether there can be "a Christianity without (in this sense) incarnation?" He structures his essay in three parts which he numbers, each of which is a subquestion. Wiles' subquestions explore whether his main question "is (1) a proper, (2) a necessary and (3) a constructive question to ask."A proper question?
Regarding his first subquestion, Wiles addresses the "many ears" he expects might find Christianity and incarnation "so nearly synonymous that the suggestion of a possible 'Christianity without incarnation' will sound to them equally paradoxical and unintelligible." He explains that incarnation, in the sense in which he is using the term, is just one "interpretation of the significance of Jesus." Wiles provides three analogies from other Christian thinking to illustrate his meaning: the eucharistEucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, the relationship between the authority and inerrancy of the Bible
Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...
, and the relationship between incarnation and the virgin birth of Jesus. In each case, abstract doctrines have been so associated with concrete applications, that denials of the concrete applications have historically been seen as denials of the abstract doctrines, hence heresies. However, with the eucharist in particular, Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
theologians affirmed a meaningful understanding of the eucharist, despite denying the concrete application of transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
—that bread and wine physically become the body and blood of Jesus in the Roman Catholic mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
. Wiles concludes that his main question (regarding Christianity without incarnation) is not a contradiction but a proper question, just like the Reformation question regarding a eucharist without transubstantiation.
A necessary question?
Wiles offers, under three subheadings, three lines of argument in support of his position that "separating 'Christianity' and 'incarnation' is not merely ... admissible ... but ... inescapable". According to Wiles, the question of separation is a necessary question arising from: (a) the origins, (b) the history, and (c) contemporary affirmation of incarnational doctrine. Regarding (a) origins, Wiles contends that, "Incarnation, in its proper sense, is not something directly presented in scripture. It is a construction ..." He acknowledges that New Testament (NT) writers "talk of [Jesus] as God's pre-existent Son come down to earth." However, Wiles' views this as a manner of speechFigure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...
("one of a number of ways in which Christians thought and spoke of Jesus"). He proposes that it is no longer reasonable, to "the main body even of convinced believers", to speak in such terms as the NT writers, which presume what moderns do not, namely "supernatural divine intervention ... as a natural category of thought and faith".
Wiles offers an additional argument for the necessity of questioning the actuality of the incarnation, by expressing dissatisfaction with the intelligibility of (b) historical formulations of incarnational doctrine: "Are we sure that the concept of an incarnate being, one who is both fully God and fully man, is after all an intelligible concept?" Although he concedes that "negative generalizations are notoriously dangerous claims to make", he ventures that "the church has never succeeded in offering a consistent or convincing picture" of how Jesus could actually be both God and man. In particular he suggests a tendency to err in favour of Jesus as divine, citing the seventh century Monothelite
Monothelitism
Monothelitism is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Specifically, monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will...
controversy and E. L. Mascall
Eric Lionel Mascall
Eric Lionel Mascall OGS was a leading theologian and priest in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England. He was a philosophical exponent of the Thomist tradition and was Professor of Historical Theology at King's College London . His name was styled as E.L...
as a distinguished exemplar of the traditional view writing at the time Wiles' essay was published. Wiles concludes his grounds for the necessity of his main question by further appeal to (c) the writing of his own contemporaries. He notes that incarnation, as understood in the work of John Baker
John Austin Baker
John Austin Baker was the Bishop of Salisbury in the Church of England from 1982 until 1993.Baker was educated at Marlborough College and Oriel College, Oxford. Ordained in...
, for example, is so far removed from the original NT usage, that "it is not genuinely the same idea that is being expressed." Wiles quotes Baker: "Jesus did not see himself ... as a divine pre-existent being from heaven".
A constructive question?
To conclude his analysis of the value of questioning the actuality of the incarnation, Wiles anticipates that "some people" might "feel" that were such questioning to "lead to the abandonment of traditional incarnational doctrine, that could only be regarded as an entirely negative and destructive outcome." To help allay such fears, Wiles offers three ideas, historically highly valued in Christian traditions and associated with the incarnation, but which he argues are "not necessarily bound to the incarnation and would not therefore be eliminated from a 'Christianity without incarnation'. The first idea, listed as (a), is "the conviction that the physical world can be the carrier of spiritual value." Wiles notes that this anti-dualistDualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
position within Christianity, denying strict separation between the spiritual and the physical, is shared with Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, which clearly has no doctrine of Jesus as God incarnate. Wiles clarifies that he is proposing a Christianity which retains a genuine broad sense of incarnation of spirituality, especially in its doctrine of creation, just without applying this too strictly to the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
The second idea, listed as (b), is "the significance of Jesus as a model for human life." Wiles observes that there has been considerable diversity in what people have considered to be lives patterned on Jesus as the standard; and that even the NT does not provide a comprehensive picture of just precisely how Jesus lived his entire life. He quotes R. H. Lightfoot
Robert Lightfoot
Robert Henry Lightfoot was an Anglican priest and theologian, who was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1934 to 1949.-Life:...
, who famously declared, "the form of the earthly no less than of the heavenly Christ is for the most part hidden from us". Even given these limitations, Wiles reflects that "on any showing to which the name of Christian could conceivably be given [Jesus'] life would remain of substantial importance to us." So, Wiles suggests, Jesus' significance as a role-model "is not directly affected by the way in which his relationship to God is understood."
Before concluding his essay, Wiles considers what he believes to be the most important traditional incarnation-related idea, transformed but retained under his new understanding. Listed as (c), it is the view that in Jesus, "God has acted decisively for the salvation of the world." He anticipates the objection that his transformation would "imply that the worship of Christ, traditional throughout the whole of Christian history, was idolatrous in character". He acknowledges that "It is at this point that the greatest difficulties are likely to be felt. Can they be met?" Although he provides no conclusive answer, Wiles stresses that his new understanding of incarnation could still provide for Jesus to "remain a personal focus of the transforming power of God in the world."
See also
doctrine- Council of ChalcedonCouncil of ChalcedonThe Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
- Council of NicaeaFirst Council of NicaeaThe First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
theology
- ChristologyChristologyChristology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
- God the SonGod the SonGod the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit...
- TrinityTrinityThe Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
book
- Robinson, JAT (1963). Honest to GodHonest to GodHonest to God is a book written by the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich John A.T. Robinson, criticising traditional Christian theology. It aroused a storm of controversy on its original publication by SCM Press in 1963...
. SCMSCM PressSCM Press is a UK-based academic publisher of theology, established more than a century ago. It was purchased by Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. in 1997. In 1989 the Los Angeles Times described SCM Press as "Britain's leading theological publisher"....
.
External links
- John Hick — official personal website