Divine Becoming: Rethinking Jesus and Incarnation
Overview
Despite the feverish pace of publishing in historical Jesus studies, biblical scholars and theologians have not notably progressed in addressing the meaning and significance of the figure of Jesus in ways credible for contemporary persons.
In this creative and insightful work, Charlene Burns seeks to understand the significance of Jesus and his incarnation through the category of participation. The central theological claims in the traditional concept of incarnation are anchored and illumined by Jesus’ particular ability for empathy, sympathy, attunement, and entrainment. This notion, derived from the psychological research of Daniel Stern, allows Burns to show that incarnation—the capacity to participate in the life of others—is present not only in Jesus but to some extent in all people and in all religions. It further illumines features of God’s Trinitarian life and our lifelong journey into God (deification).
In the Logos edition, this valuable volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Scripture citations link directly to English translations, and important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
- Tackles many aspects of Christology
- Explores a myriad of highly contested and debated topics in relation to the divinity of Christ
- Analyzes the impact of Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and incarnation
- Was Jesus God?
- Jesus and Incarnation
- The Capacity for Incarnation
- A Road Map
- Integrating Theology and Culture
- The Question of Incarnation
- The Many Incarnations of God
- Incarnation in a Christian Key
- A Short History of Christology
- From Nazareth to Chalcedon
- Deification, Incarnation, and the Energies of God
- Western Revisions of the Chalcedonian Paradigm
- Conclusion
- The Empathic, Relational God
- A Mutable God
- God’s Fellowship with Humanity
- The Empathic, Relational Human
- Developmental Psychology and Selves in Infancy
- Cosmic Sympathy: Entrainment and Altruism in Nature
- Drawing Near to a Theological Anthropology
- The Incarnation as Participation
- Jesus the Man: Fully Human
- Jesus as Symbol: Fully Divine
- The Incarnate God
- Jesus as Christ: Fully Human and Fully Divine
- Participation in Good and Evil
- Creating Compassionate Community
- Learned Compassion in Buddhism
- Sin and Evil in Participatory Creation
What Charlene Burns attempts to answer in Divine Becoming is surely one of the knottiest contemporary Christological puzzles: how can orthodox Christology be understood, that is, made persuasive, really internalized, deeply appropriated? She does so by a creative and credible use of psychological analysis (of empathy and sympathy), showing that God and the human belong together, not only in Jesus, but in all of us. This book will be, I believe, at the center of future Christological discussion.
—Sallie McFague, Emerita Carpenter Professor, Vanderbilt University
Divine Becoming is a beautifully articulated and carefully reasoned book, conversant with the classical theological tradition. Charlene Burns creatively incorporates interdisciplinary research into the human phenomena of entrainment, attunement, and altruism to interpret the meaning of incarnation. Where divine empathy meets the human capacity for self-transcendence on behalf of others, there deification occurs like unto Jesus.
—Craig L. Nessan, academic dean and professor of contextual theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary
- Title: Divine Becoming: Rethinking Jesus and Incarnation
- Author: Charlene P. E. Burns
- Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
- Publication Date: 2001
- Pages: 208