Incarnation-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux - Essay Example

Religion and Theology ical Christology II Incarnation-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 A.D Incarnation basicallyexplains the coming into being of the second person of the Trinity who is God the son. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and he became human or flesh by being conceived in the Mary’s womb. Mary in this case is thus referred to as the Theotokos or God –bearer. The meaning and fundamentals of the trinity were thus taught through the understanding of the New Testament by the orthodox Christians, those who mainly adhere to the council of Chalcedon. It has been quite complex to define the trinity as can be seen through varied explanations or reviews of the word. This is evident as seen in the clarification of the meaning of one of the articles in the Nicene-Constanti-nopolitan Creed “he became flesh… and was made man.” (Kereszty, 263). Early theologians therefore had a task of explaining how Jesus Christ could be the son of God; born to man and God himself at the same time. As seen in the article, Christians are taught to confess one and the same Son Jesus Christ who is same in divinity and humanity. Jesus Christ is thus truly God and truly man. We therefore need to acknowledge Jesus Christ in two natures (physis), that is the son and the same time God himself. This is Chalcedonian definition of the Trinity, which is rather a synthesis of some of the best elements in the Antiochene and Cyrillian tradition. The definition of the trinity has also been influenced by the western theology and doctrines of Tome of Flavian. Theologians of middle ages like Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 AD), followed on the beliefs of the trinity and teachings of Jesus but shifted from the traditional view of redemption from Objective to Subjective (Kereszty, 267) . Salvation- Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109 A.D.) Aside from the belief in Trinity, Christians also believe in eternity, which is life after death. This implies that humans believe that at the end there will be judgment, followed by punishment or reward at the end. This belief grew from the theology of the New Testament which based its origins on the death (crucifixion) of Christ (Kereszty, 269). This brings the question why crucifixion was necessary in the first place. In his great work Cur Deus Homo (why God became man), Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109 AD) raises the question why God became man (Kereszty, 272). This he does in an effort to explain why Jesus had to die for our sins. He further points out the importance of incarnation and the death of Jesus which was necessary to help preserve the order of the Universe given that humans had sinned. To explain meaning and importance of incarnation to Jews and Muslims, Anselm asserted that it was best means through which God could show mercy through Justice for the sins of Humans. Manifesting himself through God the son and the crucifixion was a voluntary satisfaction for human injustice of sin. Crucifixion thus makes humans know that there is punishment for sins which helps them act righteously. According to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, humans tend to have a union with Christ in an effort to seek redemption for their sins. Humans may get swallowed in worldly pleasures and in most cases avoid looking at their distorted souls. They start the process of conversion when shaken up by God’s call. We always seek the truth by knowing what the right thing is in the first place. Humans therefore often seek redemption after acknowledging their miseries and realizing that it’s only through mercy and grace that they can be saved (Kereszty, 265) Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Hypostatic Union (Person/subject) Hypostatic union defines the union of two natures; the divine and human nature. St. Thomas Aquinas examines that in the union, the person is an individual subject which has got intellect and is free who is a master of his own acts. He further points out that the person is the primary subject that bears all attributes in any way to its being and is in itself incommunicable to other subjects. This explanation thus stresses on the notion of person which is already held by mankind’s common sense. The person personality is therefore not only found in men but also in Angels and analogically in God. In God, this unity is explained in the trinity. It also follows that Jesus is a person although he has two egos, one being human and the other divine (Kereszty, 265) . By incarnation, God himself becomes man, which means that man is assumed to take the nature of God joined by the hypostatic union. According to the hypostatic union, it follows that whatever can be predicted of the nature of man can be predicted of the nature of God. This is why we can predicate the immortality of Christ as God and his mortality as man (Kereszty, 273) . St Thomas Aquinas’ hypostatic unity helps us understand the nature and purpose of Christ in the incarnation. When we solely refer to Christ as man, it means that he is a person and this would imply that they are two persons; one human and one divine. However, when referring to Christ as this man is God, we actually mean that he is actually God, for the word man here means this person Martin Luther’s communicatio idiomatum Even though he accepts the Christological teachings of his predecessors such as Nicea, Chalcedon and Ephesus, Martin Luther’s interests focuses more on what the person of Jesus Christ means for us, but not on the metaphysical questions (Novello, 128). His views on the drama of redemption distort some of the common truths of the church’s Christological traditions. First he looks at the Christological councils of the patristic age and examines that they teach nothing new but instead they defend the biblical doctrines of the Christ; the human and divine nature of Christ as one person and that Mary is the mother of God. However, his explanation of the meaning of communicatio idiomatum which is the mutual prediction of properties of both natures shows that he misunderstands the doctrine of the councils. In particular he fails to understand the communicatio idionmatum in that he fuses both natures of Christ (Kereszty, 284) In his understanding, the death of Christ on the cross would have meant the death of the divine. Therefore he sees this as impossible; (God did not suffer) and therefore his interpretation would mean that the death of Christ on the cross did not result to the salvation of humankind. In his theme of the exchange, Luther explains how Jesus the divine suffers in exchange of our sins. He further points out that due to this exchange, God the judge becomes the judged. However he does not understand that Christ the son takes a human nature in the incarnation including our sins, and therefore when he dies he dies as Christ the son and not in his divine nature (Kereszty, 287) . He develops the theme of exchange one-sidedly in terms of sin and justice and looks at it as a dramatic struggle. Jesus only died for humans, and this does not mean that in taking our sins he was evil and that he warranted hell as Luther’s thoughts suggest. The dimension of exchange of sin is also brought out in the sinner or human being. That once a person believes or has faith that Christ is the savior of his life, he takes the righteousness of Christ and in exchange, Christ takes away his sin. According to this thought therefore, Luther is seen as purporting that such righteousness is “alien” since it is Christ’s but not humans. Luther’s distortions makes God appear unjust in condemning Jesus to the sins that belong to humans, while extending gratitude to us sinners. His exchange theory could therefore easily distort the meaning of redemption because he looks at it one sided- in terms of sin and justice. John Calvin Calvin agrees with the traditional doctrines of the church with regard to the human and divine nature of Christ. He thus emphasizes the transcendence of God which he extends to Christ’s human nature. He asserts that no one would merit our salvation, had Christ been opposed to the suffering. It is therefore through God’s mercy that he manifests through Christ’s meritorious works (Kereszty, 292) . Calvin develops his Christology on Christ the mediator. He points out that due to their sinful nature, humans see God as an enemy and tries to escape from him. Jesus therefore comes in between to try and reconcile humans to God (Kereszty, 296) . In reconciling us with God, Jesus connects with us in three different ways; as a prophet, a king and as a priest. After ascension he completes his work on earth by sending his holy spirit into our hearts. He therefore becomes a prophet by not only teaching us his word outwardly through the church but also into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As a King, he rules by making humans accept his word in faith. His rules and teachings endow us with gifts of the Holy Spirit and prepare us for eternal life. He rules not only over the faithful but also over the realm of Satan. As a priest, he offers to sacrifice through his death which offered satisfaction to god and removed the guilt of sin from humankind. Liberal Protestant theology This was the period that followed the great reformers, and is the period of protestant scholasticism. Theologians, mainly of the seventeenth century systematized and simplified the thoughts of reformers; mainly those of Luther and Calvin (Kereszty, 296) In their redemptive work of Christ in the teachings of Luther and Calvin, they mainly emphasized on the theory of penal substation, neglecting the redemptive works of the two reformers (Ottati, 22). The theory of penal substitution that attributed the suffering of Christ and clear injustice on the part of God was easily rejected and became an easy target when enlightenment came to attack protestant theology. The Liberal Protestants were among others, Kant, Hegel, Bultmann, and Schleiermacher. Kant He had a goal of discovering and expounding the religion that is rationally justifiable. He emphasized practical reason, that which investigates moral obligation (Kereszty, 298). In his understanding, Kant believes that not even Christ’s human righteousness is sufficient enough to be emulated and thus he emphasizes that no human being can be redeemed by someone else (Ottati, 165). He therefore rejects all forms penal substitution or satisfaction for the guilty by the innocent. Hegel Hegel’s philosophy focuses on trinity and on the cross. He refutes the rationalistic theology enlightenment and the basing Christianity to morality (Kereszty, 303). Hegel conceives God as the Supreme Being and that God is not emptiness but a Spirit. He further terms this existence as an absolute idea and that God manifests himself through humankind. Human beings on the other hand also know themselves through God. Bultmann He believed that the stories, language and view of the world in the New Testament were totally mythological (Kereszty, 313). He viewed such stories as Christ being born to the Virgin Mary, the miracles as well as rising and ascension to heaven as mythical and lack credibility to the modern person. He therefore proposes demythologization of such myths to the modern intellectual person. Schleiermacher He attempted to show that religion is neither ethics nor metaphysics and distanced himself from theories of Kant and Hegel which explained religion in terms of morality and philosophy. In his first major work, he views religious experience as one with “a sense of taste for the infinite” (Kereszty, 308). He later reformulates the religious experience as the feeling of absolute dependence on God in his work The Christian Faith. He points out that it is only Jesus in his human nature who could become the perfect worshipper of God the Father (Kereszty, 310). Works Cited Kereszty, Roch. Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology. New York: Alba House, Revised and Updated Edition, 2002. Novello, Henry L. Was there a Lutheran Metaphysics?: The interpretation of communicatio idiomatum in Early Modern Lutheranism. London: Ashgate, 2005. Ottati, Douglas F. Theology for Liberal Protestants: God the Creator. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2013. Read More