The Humility of the Eternal Son: Reformed Kenoticism and the Repair of Chalcedon

328 Pages·2021·1.884 MB·English

by  Bruce Lindley McCormack

TheHumilityoftheEternalSon
TheChalcedonianDefinitionof451nevercompletelyresolvedoneofthe
critical issues at the heart of Christianity: the unity of the “person” of
Christ.Inthiseagerlyawaitedvolume–theresultofdeepandsustained
reflection–distinguishedtheologianBruceLindleyMcCormackexamines
thereasonsforthisphilosophicalandtheologicalfailure.Hisbookserves
as a critical history that traces modern attempts at resolution of this
problem,fromthenineteenth-centuryLutheranemphasisonKenoticism
(orthe“self-emptying”oftheSonas‘de-potentiation’)topost-Barthian
effortsthatevadetheissuebycollapsingthesecondpersonoftheTrinity
intothehumanJesus–therebyrejectingaltogetherthelogicoftheclassical
“two-natures” Christology. McCormack shows how New Testament
Christologies both limit and authorize ontological reflection, and in so
doingoffersadistinctivelyReformedversionofKenoticism.Proposinga
newandbolddivineontology,withaconvincingbasisinChristology,he
persuasivelyarguesthattheunityofthe“person”isinfactguaranteedby
theSon’sactoftakingintohis“being”thelivedexistenceofJesus.
Bruce Lindley McCormack is Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic
TheologyatthePrincetonTheologicalSeminary.
current issues in theology
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Pro-ChancelloroftheUniversityofAberdeen
DavidFergusson
UniversityofEdinburgh
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BryanSpinks,YaleUniversity
KathrynTanner,YaleDivinitySchool
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The Humility of the Eternal Son
Reformed Kenoticism and the Repair of Chalcedon
BRUCE LINDLEY MCCORMACK
PrincetonTheologicalSeminary,NewJersey
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names:McCormack,BruceL.,author.
title:Thehumilityoftheeternalson:“reformed”kenoticismandtherepairof
Chalcedon/BruceLindleyMcCormack,PrincetonTheologicalSeminary,NewJersey.
description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY,USA:Cambridge
UniversityPress,2021.|Series:Currentissuesintheology|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2020055147(print)|lccn2020055148(ebook)|isbn
9781316518298(hardback)|isbn9781009000123(ebook)
subjects:lcsh:JesusChrist–Historyofdoctrines.|Incarnation–Historyof
doctrines.|JesusChrist–Humiliation–Historyofdoctrines.
classification:lccbt198.m39842021(print)|lccbt198(ebook)|
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ForCatrionaKeyesMcCormack
For God’s Being-ever-greater [das Je-immer-grösser Gottes] is shown
precisely[indenyingHimself]inthemysteryofredemption,inwhichHe
emptiesHimselfevermore[dasJe-immer-mehr-Nichts-wird](Phil.2:7),and
inthatHeistheonewhoascendseverhigher[derJehöherAufsteigende]as
theonewhodescendsevermoredeeply[derJetieferAbsteigende](Eph.4:9).
Thus, one transcends oneself [das je-über-hinaus des Menschen] to the
degree that one descends with Him and in Him, the one who descends
everdeeper,in“service”totheevergreaterGod.
—ErichPrzywara,CrucisMysterium,48.TranslationbyJohnBetz.
Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
ProloguetoaTrilogyofWorks:OntheRolePlayed
(Historically)byDivineImpassibilityinChristological
Construction 1
Introduction:Onthe(Possible)ConsequencesofAffirmingThat
HumilityandObedienceArePropertotheEternalSon(A
ProgrammaticDescription) 9
part i a critical history of kenotic christologies
and their antecedents: an overview
1 ChalcedonandItsLegacy 27
2 DivineKenosisasEitherDepotentiationorDivestment:
TheFailureofNineteenth-CenturyKenoticismtoRepair
Chalcedon 66
3 DivineKenosisasPropertotheEternalSon:Attemptsto
RepairChalcedon 100
4 ThePost-BarthianTemptation:CollapseoftheEternal
SonintoJesusandSurrenderofanImmanentTrinityin
Protology 159
part ii returning to scripture
5 TheSelf-HumiliatingGodinPaul’sTheology(andin
Hebrews) 199
6 TheChristologicalSubjectintheSynopticsandinJohn 221
vii
viii Contents
part iii repairing chalcedon
7 TowardsaReformedVersionofKenoticChristology 249
Epilogue:LookingForward 295
SelectBibliography 297
NamesIndex 307
ConceptsIndex 311
Acknowledgments
Inthewritingofthisbook,Ihaveaccumulatedanumberofdebtswhich
shouldbe acknowledged. The occasion for the first version of this work
was the T.F. Torrance Lectures, which I delivered in St. Andrews,
Scotland in December 2007. To Thomas Torrance’s son Iain, I am
indebted for a great number of kindnesses. But my sincere gratitude is
to him on this occasion due to the fact that it was his invitation (as the
editoroftheScottishJournalofTheology)whichallowedmetogivethe
veryfirstseriesoflecturesheldinhisfather’shonor.Anditisinhisedited
seriesthatthisbooknowappears.
Theyearsthatfollowedsawtheworkofrevisionslowedduetotwomore
lectureships and a heavy PhD advisory load at Princeton Seminary. I only
seriously began with work of revising and extending my material as the
Frederick J. Crossan Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for
Philosophy of Religion. Thanks are owed most especially to Michael Rae
andSamuelNewlands,theDirectorsoftheCenter,fortheirwillingnessto
have a theologian in their midst and the friendly support they gave to my
work there. Notre Dame is a splendid place to work and I am grateful
especially to John Betz and David Bentley Hart for rich theological
exchanges and warm fellowship. Other members of the Notre Dame
facultyalsoreachedouttome.FrancescaMurphy(whowaspresentforat
least one of my Torrance Lectures while still at Aberdeen) supported my
research in kenotic Christologies even before my arrival in the Center.
Kenneth Oakes’ interest in Barth, von Balthasar and Bulgakov and
readinesstotalkaboutthemoverbeerswasmuchappreciated.Twoofmy
colleagues in the Center in particular deserve my thanks for probing
questions and suggestions: Kris McDaniel (Syracuse) and Jeff Brower
ix
x Acknowledgments
(Purdue). And to Joyce Zurawski, Administrator in the Department of
Philosophy at Notre Dame, my warm thanks for her gracious welcome
andherhelpinfindingmywayintheUniversityandinSouthBendgenerally.
ThebookwascompletedasthefirsttaskaccomplishedintheyearIam
currently spending as a Senior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp
Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald, Germany. To Dr Christian Suhm,
Academic Coordinatoratthe Kolleg and Prof. Dr. UllaBonas,Academic
Director, my thanks for their consistently warm encouragement and
support.AlsotoProf.Dr.HeinrichAssel(UniversityofGreifswald),who
encouraged me to apply for this grant and who designed a seminar (for
ordinationcandidates)specificallyonthefiguresandthemestreatedinthis
work,myprofoundthanks.
ThanksareduetoDr.MarkElliott(thenHeadofSchoolatSt.Mary’s
College,St.Andrews),whoenabledmetoworkshopanumberofmyideas
ontwoseparateoccasions–andtoProf.Dr.RinseReelingBrouwer(now
retiredMiskotte/BreukelmannProfessorofTheologicalHermeneuticsof
the Bible at the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam), who
ensuredthatmyideaswerediscussedinavarietyofforums.
A number of colleagues and friends have read portions of this work
and some have given very helpful comments: in addition to the
aforementioned John Betz, David Bentley Hart, Francesca Murphy,
Kenneth Oakes and Heinrich Assel, mention should be made of the
following: Christoph Schwöbel, Friederike Nüssel, Adam Neder,
Matthew Bruce, Chris Tilling, Joseph Scrivner and Matthew Puffer.
Joseph Scrivner also provided me with much needed scans of portions
ofworksinEnglishthatcouldnotbefoundhereinGermany.Toallof
them,mywarmthanks.
Finally (and most importantly), my debts to Alexandra Pârvan are
manyandprofoundbutoneespeciallydeservesmentionhere.Shefinally
convincedme,aftersevenyearsofsustainedcriticalengagement,thatour
“pyschologicalontology”wasindeedaversionofmetaphysics–albeitnot
the “revisionary metaphysics” to which I am customarily assigned by
certaincritics.
Dr.BeatriceRehlhasbeenmyeditoratCambridgeUniversityPress.It
was a delight to work with her. The indexes were prepared by Mr. Eric
Tuttle,PhDcandidateatPrincetonTheologicalSeminary.Heitwaswho
also did all of the reformatting of the text to bring it into conformity to
Cambridgehousestyle.
Thanksalsogotoallthemembersofmyfamily(Mary,Catriona,and
John), whohave tolerated myabsenceslargely without complaint – and