The Metaphysics of the Incarnation

The growth of both philosophy of mind and cognitive science has developed our understanding of the human mind in ways that just a few decades ago were unthinkable. As ideas from philosophy of mind begin to cross over into philosophy of religion, there is renewed interest in questions about the divine mind, about how it might relate to a human body, and about whether incarnation itself might be articulated with the conceptual tools offered by the current research developments in thephilosophy of mind. This book offers original essays by leading philosophers of religion representing these new approaches to theological problems such as incarnation. The doctrine of incarnation - that Jesus Christ was God become human - has always been one of the most central and distinctive features of Christianity. Similar doctrines about divine humans can be found in other religions, from the claims to divinity made by ancient kings and emperors to the concept of avatars in Hinduism. But many people regard the notion that a human being could also be divine as unjustifiable or incoherent, and none of the many attempts to articulate it philosophically hasearned general acceptance. The authors explore, from a variety of different viewpoints, whether any metaphysically rigorous and coherent model of incarnation can be defended today. Their aim is to give readers a clearer sense not only of the problems and possible new solutions associated with incarnation itself, but of how the notion of incarnation may be fitted in to wider current debates in philosophy.

Anna Marmadoro is Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy, University of Oxford

Jonathan Hill is Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy, University of Oxford

1. Introduction, Jonathan Hill
2. The humanity of God, Brian Leftow
3. Compositional christology without Nestorianism, Oliver Crisp
4. Should concretists part with mereological models of the incarnation?, Thomas Flint
5. Drawing on many traditions: an ecumenical kenotic Christology, Thomas Senor
6. The metaphysics of kenosis, Stephen Davis
7. Hylomorphism and the incarnation, Michael Rea
8. The coherence of the Chalcedonian Definition of the incarnation, Richard Swinburne
9. The incarnation and unity of consciousness, Joseph Jedwab
10. Vehicle externalism and the metaphysics of the incarnation: a medieval contribution, Richard Cross
11. The extended mind in ontological entanglements, Anna Marmadoro
12. Multiple incarnations and distributed persons, Robin Le Poidevin