God Becoming Human: Incarnation in the Christian Bible

by Reinhard Feldmeier, Hermann Spieckermann, Brian McNeil (Translator)

Overview

The incarnation—the act of God assuming mortal flesh through Jesus Christ—reveals God’s radical love for a world marked by the rebellion of the created against their creator. God becomes human to create life and restore the disrupted divine-human relationship. This doctrine is thus the theme of the Christian faith par excellence. However, the incarnation does not begin with its ultimate realization in Jesus Christ; that single event is preceded by a long history of a God who continually reunites with his people to lead them from death to life, from bondage to freedom.

God Becoming Human pursues the astonishing arc of the incarnation, chronicling the varying ways Scripture recounts the divide between God and the creatures of his likeness as well as the diverse expressions the text gives regarding the desire for reconciliation. As the expectations of an existing intermediary that can somehow bridge this gap between God and humans dwindle throughout the Old Testament, hope is increasingly placed on new forms of closeness to God. The closeness made possible by Jesus Christ receives a wide range of interpretations by New Testament witnesses and is continued by a rich chorus that culminates in the early church with the theology of the incarnation.

Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann invite readers to see that the doctrine of the incarnation, the pinnacle of the scriptural saga of redemption, reveals that God’s ultimate purpose in dealing with creation was to become human. As narrated in the story of the fall, if paradise was lost because humanity wanted to emulate God, the one reconciled with God through Christ is now given the opportunity—and challenge—to become a child of God. In accordance with the One who descended from the heavenly throne, one must precisely lower oneself and thus fully embrace one’s created humanness. It is through the flesh that the created and their creator are joined; there is no other path to unity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481313544
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Pages:	477
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.11(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Reinhard Feldmeier is Professor of New Testament, Georg-August-University, Göttingen.

Hermann Spieckermann is Professor of Old Testament at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Translator’s Note
Abbreviations
Introduction: The Aims of This Work
A. The Prehistory of the Incarnation
1 In the Beginning
The Creator and His Problematic Image
2 Mediators of God’s Nearness
3 New Figures of God’s Nearness
4 At the Point of Transition
From Death to Life
B. Conceptions of Incarnation
1 The Galilean Man of God
From the Jesus of Memory to the Christ of Faith
2 Kyrios Jesus Christos
Paul on the One Who Became Human
3 The Proclaimer as the Proclaimed
The Synoptic Tradition
4 The Incarnation of the Logos
The Johannine Tradition
5 Christ and the Christians
The Early Christian Testimony
Conclusion: The God Who Became Human—and Our Becoming Human

What People are Saying About This

After their magisterial volume on the notion of God in the Bible, Feldmeier and Spieckermann now present their view on Messianism, Christology, and Incarnation. Much more than a single author could do, the dialogue between two theologians, specialized respectively on the Old Testament and the New Testament, shows the path Biblical Theology must follow. Through all the varieties of images and the historical developments, this volume describes the path the Biblical God has gone toward humanity and its salvation. Thus, it also shows paths for us humans to become really human in view of God Incarnate. This book is a ‘must’ for any sincere theologian.

C. Clifton Black

With a formidable grasp of evidence and penetrating exegesis, Feldmeier and Spieckermann possess an uncanny knack for framing questions of Christianity’s variegated Bible in ways that elicit prolific rather than predetermined answers. In their hands scripture is never straitjacketed, but allowed to breathe. Few works of biblical scholarship can be justly deemed essential; alongside its companion volume,  God of the Living,  God Becoming Human qualifies—a true tour de force, as perfect a marriage of the history of religions and constructive theology as one could hope to find.

C. Clifton Black C. Clifton Black

With a formidable grasp of evidence and penetrating exegesis, Feldmeier and Spieckermann possess an uncanny knack for framing questions of Christianity’s variegated Bible in ways that elicit prolific rather than predetermined answers. In their hands scripture is never straitjacketed, but allowed to breathe. Few works of biblical scholarship can be justly deemed essential; alongside its companion volume,  God of the Living,  God Becoming Human qualifies—a true tour de force, as perfect a marriage of the history of religions and constructive theology as one could hope to find.

Jörg Frey

After their magisterial volume on the notion of God in the Bible, Feldmeier and Spieckermann now present their view on Messianism, Christology, and Incarnation. Much more than a single author could do, the dialogue between two theologians, specialized respectively on the Old Testament and the New Testament, shows the path Biblical Theology must follow. Through all the varieties of images and the historical developments, this volume describes the path the Biblical God has gone toward humanity and its salvation. Thus, it also shows paths for us humans to become really human in view of God Incarnate. This book is a ‘must’ for any sincere theologian.

Jörg Frey

After their magisterial volume on the notion of God in the Bible, Feldmeier and Spieckermann now present their view on Messianism, Christology, and Incarnation. Much more than a single author could do, the dialogue between two theologians, specialized respectively on the Old Testament and the New Testament, shows the path Biblical Theology must follow. Through all the varieties of images and the historical developments, this volume describes the path the Biblical God has gone toward humanity and its salvation. Thus, it also shows paths for us humans to become really human in view of God Incarnate. This book is a 'must' for any sincere theologian.

Christoph Markschies

This excellent book offers a rare pleasure: two leading German exegetes together. Feldmeier and Spieckermann have put together a helpful orientation in the jungle of scholarly debates—for example on conceptions of 'Messiah,' 'Son of God,' and 'Son of Man' or ideas of a divine child. They have again made clear that not one line of the New Testament can be understood correctly without the Hebrew Bible and the so called 'intertestamental literature.' In the book's conclusion the horizon is open to contemporary questions and the relationship between the God who became human and the becoming human of humans.

Editorial Reviews

... this book deserves a wide audience who argue about its implications for years to come. Even disagreement will testify to the value of this immensely learned and stimulating work.

Restoration Quarterly - Mark W. Hamilton

... Christian scholars, pastors, and teachers will find in this volume a responsible and relatively concise compendium of biblical interpretation. Biblical passages in Greek and Hebrew are translated for students who do not read the original languages. The authors also have provided a fruitful resource for constructive theologians who wish to be biblically grounded.

Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology - J. Scott Jackson

For scholars who are interested in the interaction between Christian theology and Christian Scripture, this is a model example of how to put the two into conversation with each other.

RBL - Donnie L. DeBord

For scholars who are interested in the interaction between Christian theology and Christian Scripture, this is a model example of how to put the two into conversation with each other.

From the Publisher