The logic and language of the incarnation : towards a Christology of identification (original) (raw)

of Thesis This thesis provides an examination of the contemporary discussion of incarnational language as its receives classical expression in the formulations of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. with a view to developing an incarnational account based on God’s identification with desus of Nazareth. With this in view consideration is given to a number of contemporary defences of the logic of Chalcedon viewed as a literal statement of identity. It is argued that such defences fail in that they carry over the tensions inherent in Chalcedon unresolved into their own positions. From this conclusion consideration is given to the criticism that incarnational language is not literal but metaphorical. This is agreed, but an argument is offered to show that metaphors can refer and bear cognitive information and as such are capable of conceptual articulation. It is further argued that there is an important class of metaphors which are ’theory-constitutive’ such that the theoretical claims...