This book raises in a new way a formerly central but recently neglected question in systematic theology: what is the divine motive for the incarnation? Throughout Christian history theologians have agreed that God's decision to become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ was made necessary by humanity's fall from grace. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, the incarnation would not have happened. This position is known as "infralapsarian." In the 19th and 20th centuries, however, some major theological figures championed a "supralapsarian" Christology, arguing that God had always intended the incarnation, independent of "the Fall." Edwin van Driel offers the first scholarly monograph to map and analyze the full range of supralapsarian arguments. He gives a thick description of each argument and its theological consequences, and evaluates the theological gains and losses inherent in each approach. Van Driel shows that each of the three ways in which God is thought to relate to all that is not God DL in creation, in redemption, and in eschatological consummation DL can serve as the basis for a supralapsarian argument. He illustrates this thesis with detailed case studies of the Christologies of Schleiermacher, Dorner, and Barth. He concludes that the most fruitful supralapsarian strategy is rooted in the notion of eschatological consummation, taking interpersonal interaction with God to be the goal of the incarnation. He goes on to develop his own argument along these lines, concluding in an eschatological vision in which God is visually, audibly, and tangibly present in the midst of God's people.

Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life looks at both ends of the telescope: the unfathomable reaches of cosmic space and the excited stirrings within the human psyche. It takes a scientist to explain what we are looking at. It takes a theologian to understand who is doing the looking. This book's scientific authors update readers on astrobiology's search for extraterrestrial life. Theologians add to the science a theological analysis of the place of space in understanding God's creative work, the prospects of sharing God's creation with extraterrestrial neighbors, and the question of whether one or many incarnations are required for cosmic redemption. Finally, these scholars lay the foundations for an ethic of space exploration. This book introduces a comprehensive astrotheology with an accompanying astroethic.

This is the first book to apply Bavinck's theological anthropology to contemporary theological issues. Sutanto provides a sustained close reading of Herman Bavinck's contributions to theological anthropology and positions him in conversation with current and historical dialogues on embodiment, revelation, affect theory, phenomenology, the cognitive science of religion, ethics, race, covenant, and the beatific vision. Sutanto explores the holistic character of Bavinck's vision of humanity, suggesting ways in which his theological anthropology cuts across several potential binaries in contemporary discourse, between affect and reason, body and soul, animality and religiosity, unity and diversity, and between a this-worldly or other-worldly eschatology.

The theological and philosophical works of C. S. Lewis were grounded in the argument from reason. As such reason is a form of revelation that predates nature and relates to the divine: the Word of God, Christ the Logos. These essays provide some understanding of the essentials to Lewis's philosophical theology, that is, the essentia, "in the highest degree." Lewis's corpus can seem disparate, but here we find unity in his aims, objectives, and methodology, a consistency that demonstrates the deep roots of his philosophical theology in Scripture, in Greek philosophy, patristic and medieval theology, and in some of the Reformers, all framed by a reasoned discipline from a perceptive and critical mind: method and form; content and reason--for the glory of God. Here is the essentia of Lewis's thinking. From an analysis of reason, through a theoretically unified proposition for atonement, to the evidence of Christ as the light of the world across human endeavors and religions, to a doctrine of election, to an understanding of Scripture, to "the Philosophy of the Incarnation" (as Lewis termed it,) through fundamental arguments with various modern/liberal theologians, we find evidence for the actuality of the incarnation: the divinity of Christ.

What would biology look like if it took the problem of natural evil seriously? This book argues that biological descriptions of evolution are inherently moral, just as the biblical story of creation has biological implications. A complete account of evolution will therefore require theological input. The Dome of Eden does not try to harmonize evolution and creation. Harmonizers typically begin with Darwinism and then try to add just enough religion to make evolution more palatable, or they begin with Genesis and pry open the creation account just wide enough to let in a little bit of evolution. By contrast, Stephen Webb provides a theory of how evolution and theology fit together, and he argues that this kind of theory is required by the internal demands of both theology and biology. The Dome of Eden also develops a theological account of evolution that is distinct from the intelligent design movement. Webb shows how intelligent design properly discerns the inescapable dimension of purpose in nature but, like Darwinism itself, fails to make sense of the problem of natural evil. Finally, this book draws on the work of Karl Barth to advance a new reading of the Genesis narrative and the theology of Duns Scotus to provide the necessary metaphysical foundation for evolutionary thought.

In Supralapsarian Christology and the Progressive Work of Christ: Christus Dominus, Thomas G. Doughty Jr. produces a fresh theological narrative presenting the work of Christ progressively. Through both biblical and systematic theological lenses, Christus Dominus explains how the incarnate Son of God accomplishes multiple benefits for humanity and the cosmos. This model articulates a supralapsarian motivation for the incarnation of divine-human co-dominion but also accounts for the infralapsarian motivation of atonement for human sin. In doing so, Christus Dominus demonstrates that supralapsarian Christology is compatible with objective approaches to atonement, showing also how penal substitutionary atonement fits within the more holistic motif of Christus Victor. This book addresses weaknesses in infralapsarian Christologies which deem the incarnation primarily contingent on the human fall into sin. By exploring God’s creation intentions and his faithfulness to realize those intentions in the incarnate Christ through eschatological promises, Christus Dominus encapsulates the biblical revelation relating the work of Christ to humanity’s progressive vocation. Then, by drawing on the strengths of recent work of Christ frameworks, the author systematically arranges an objective atonement model within that progressive work of Christ. Christus Dominus thus upholds the unique necessity of the crucifixion within a supralapsarian Christology as the incarnate Christ’s work progressively unfolds.

Theologians working in theological anthropology often claim that Jesus reveals what it means to be "truly human," but this often has little impact in their actual account of anthropology. ReSourcing Theological Anthropology addresses that lack by offering an account of why theological anthropology must begin with Christology. Building off his earlier study on how key theologians in church history have understood the relationship between Christology and theological anthropology, Cortez now develops a new proposal for theological anthropology and applies it to the theological situation today. ReSourcing Theological Anthropology is divided into four sections. The first section explores the relevant Christological/anthropological biblical passages and unpacks how they inform our understanding of theological anthropology. The second section discusses the theological issues raised in the course of surveying the biblical texts. The third section lays out a methodological framework for how to construct a uniquely Christological anthropology. The final section builds on the first three sections and demonstrates the significance of Christology for understanding theological anthropology by applying the methodological framework to several pressing anthropological issues: gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and death and suffering X

This scotistic study in analytical theology presupposes Conciliar Christology and aims at a more profound understanding of two vital and connected Christian doctrines: Christology and atonement. Guus H. Labooy describes Duns Scotus’s analysis of the incarnation and defends penal substitution with the aid of Scotus’s analytical tools.

The conflict between the natural sciences and Christian theology has been going on for centuries. Recent advances in the fields of evolutionary biology, behavioral genetics, and neuroscience have intensified this conflict, particularly in relation to origins, the fall, and sin. These debates are crucial to our understanding of human sinfulness and necessarily involve the doctrine of salvation. Theistic evolutionists have labored hard to resolve these tensions between science and faith, but Hans Madueme argues that the majority of their proposals do injustice both to biblical teaching and to long-standing doctrines held by the mainstream Christian tradition. In this major contribution to the field of science and religion, Madueme demonstrates that the classical notion of sin reflected in Scripture, the creeds, and tradition offers the most compelling and theologically coherent account of the human condition. He answers pressing challenges from the physical sciences on both methodological and substantive levels. Scholars, pastors, students, and interested lay readers will profit from interacting with the arguments presented here.

Scholars of Karl Barth's theology have been unanimous in labeling him a supralapsarian, largely because Barth identifies himself as such. In this groundbreaking and thoroughly researched work, Shao Kai Tseng argues that Barth was actually an infralapsarian, bringing Barth into conversation with recent studies in Puritan theology.