The God Who Believes: Faith, Doubt, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ
by Christian D. Kettler
Category: Religion

How does one deal with doubt? Are faith and doubt irreconcilable? Does one's understanding of God affect the answers to these questions? Christian Kettler investigates these questions from a christological perspective, drawing implications from the Scottish theologian T. F. Torrance and his doctrine of "the vicarious humanity of Christ." If we take the humanity of Christ seriously, should we not speak of the faith of Jesus as a vicarious faith, believing for us and in our place when it is difficult if not impossible to believe? How Christians know God ("Jesus Knows God for Us and in Our Place"), who God is ("Who is the God Whom Jesus Knows?"), and how to believe in God in a world of suffering and evil ("Providence, Evil, Suffering, and the God Who Believes") receive new insight in light of this christological exploration. Wendell Berry's poignant novel of a humble country barber, 'Jayber Crow,' adds an incarnational context to a discussion with important pastoral and existential dimensions. In the vicarious faith of Christ we are not left, as James Torrance cautions us, to be thrown back upon ourselves, but called to participate by the Spirit in the faith of Jesus.