This collection of essays, by a team of Christian philosophers, theologians, and biblical scholars, explores the viability of a kenotic account of the incarnation. Such an account is inspired by Paul's lyrical claims in Philippians 2:6-11 that Christ Jesus, though God in nature, 'emptied himself' or 'made himself nothing' by becoming human. The biblical support for such a view can be found throughout the four gospels and the book of Hebrews, as well as in other places. A kenotic account takes seriously the possibility that Christ, in becoming incarnate, temporarily divested himself of such properties as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Several of the contributors argue that this view is fully orthodox, and that it has great strengths in giving us a picture of a God who is willing to become completely vulnerable for the sake of human beings, and one that is completely consistent with the very human portrait of Jesus in the New Testament. The proponents of kenotic Christology argue that the philosophical accounts of God's nature that have led to rejection of this theory ought themselves to be subjected to criticism in light of the biblical data. Some essays test the theory by raising critical questions and arguing that traditional accounts of the incarnation can achieve the goals of kenotic theories as well as kenotic theories can. The book also explores the implications of a kenotic view of the incarnation for philosophical theology in general and the doctrine of the Trinity in particular, and it concludes with essays that examine the validity of the ideal of kenosis for women, and a challenge to traditional Christology to take a kenotic theory seriously. Book jacket.

The orthodox doctrine of the incarnation affirms that Christ is both truly divine and truly human. This, however, raises the question of how these two natures can co-exist in the one, united person of Christ without undermining the integrity of either nature. Kenotic theologians address this problem by arguing that Christ 'emptied' himself of his divine attributes or prerogatives in order to become a human being. David R. Law contends that a type of kenotic Christology is present in Kierkegaard's works, developed independently of the Christologies of contemporary kenotic theologians. Like many of the classic kenotic theologians of the 19th century, Kierkegaard argues that Christ underwent limitation on becoming a human being. Where he differs from his contemporaries is in emphasizing the radical nature of this limitation and in bringing out its existential consequences. The aim of Kierkegaard's Christology is not to provide a rationally satisfying theory of the incarnation, but to highlight the existential challenge with which Christ confronts each human being. Kierkegaard advances 'existential kenoticism', a form of kenotic Christology which extends the notion of the kenosis of Christ to the Christian believer, who is called upon to live a life of kenotic discipleship in which the believer follows Christ's example of lowly, humble, and suffering service. Kierkegaard thus shifts the problem of kenosis from the intellectual problem of working out how divinity and humanity can be united in Christ's Person to the existential problem of discipleship.

My first impression of the title Kenosis of God was that this was going to be an academic book replete with boring, complex and difficult exegetical and theological arguments. On the contrary, I found out after reading that it was very engaging, exciting and very refreshing book on Christian Theology. The major strengths of this book are [that it is] (1) thoroughly biblical, (2) historically and theologically consistent with evangelically Christianity, (3) philosophically logical and coherent, and above all (4) relevant to the Christian life. I enthusiastically commend this book not only to Bible students and academic theologians but to Christians who desire not only to know the truth of Christian Theology but its implications on the Christian life. Professor Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, PhD, Head of Postgraduate School, South African Theological Seminary The book argues that the kenosis of Jesus is not an isolated act in the history of incarnation but is embedded in the very nature of his divinity. The entire Trinity operates in kenosis, a deliberate choice to self-limitation in order to relate with one another and with the powerless. The book shows that each person of the Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, participates and works in a kenotic way in their relation to the humanity. The creator who accepts to give dominion to the people He created, Jesus who limits himself by becoming a human being and the Spirit who dwells in and works through the Church accepting the risk of being grieved by the human fallen nature. Dr. Lubunga wEhusha of the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa

The development of kenotic ideas was one of the most important advances in theological thinking in the late twentieth century. Now a diverse group of acknowledged experts brought together by the Templeton Foundation presents a stimulating interdisciplinary evaluation of these controversial ideas.

In this challenging book, rising New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole contradicts a commonly held view among biblical scholars -- that the Gospel of John is the only Gospel to give evidence for Jesus' heavenly identity and preexistence. The Preexistent Son demonstrates that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were also well aware that the Son of God existed with the Father prior to his earthly ministry. Gathercole supports his argument by considering the "I have come" sayings of Jesus and strikingly similar angelic sayings discovered in Second Temple and Rabbinic literature. Further, he considers related topics such as Wisdom Christology and the titles applied to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. Gathercole's carefully researched work should spark debate among Synoptic scholars and extend the understanding of anyone interested in this New Testament question.

In this ground-breaking study, Jc Beall shows that the fundamental "problem" of Christology is simple to see from the role that Christ occupies: the Christ figure is to have the divine and essentially limitless properties of the one and only God but Christ is equally to have the human, essentially limit-imposing properties involved in human nature, limits essentially involved in being human. The role that Christ occupies thereby appears to demand a contradiction: all of the limitlessness of God, and all of the limits of humans. This book lays out Beall's contradictory account of Jesus Christ — and thereby a contradictory Christian theology.

For decades, Sallie McFague lent her voice and theological imagination to advocating for the most important issues of our time. In this final book, finished before her death in 2019, McFague summarizes the work of a lifetime with a clear call to live in such a way that all might flourish.

The perennial questions surrounding human identity and meaning have never before been so acute. How we define ourselves is crucial since it determines our conception of society, ethics, sexuality—in short, our very notion of the “good.” The traditional Christian teaching of “deification” powerfully addresses this theme by revealing the sacred dignity and purpose of all created life, and providing a comprehensive vision of reality that extends from the individual to the cosmos. Hans Urs von Balthasar is a valuable guide in elucidating the church’s teaching on this vital subject. Following the patristic tradition, he focuses his attention on Jesus Christ, whose kenotic descent in his incarnation and passion reveals both the loving character of God and the perfection of humanity. Christ is the “concrete analogy of being” who in his two natures as God and man unites heaven and earth. It is the Trinity, however, that brings to fruition the fullness of the meaning of theosis in Balthasar’s theology. The community of divine persons eternally deifies the cosmos by embracing and transforming it into the paradigm of all reality—the imago trinitatis—overcoming the distance between the created and uncreated while maintaining and honoring their difference.

The self-emptying of Christ (kenosis) in Philippians 2 has long been the focus of attention by Christian theologians and interpreters of Paul's Christology. David E. Fredrickson sheds dramatic new light on familiar texts by discussing the centuries-old language of love and longing in Greek and Roman epistolary literature, showing that a "physics" of desire was related to notions of power and dominance. Paul's kenotic Christology challenged not only received notions of the power of the gods but of the very nature of love itself as a component of human society.

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.