Jesus Christ, Eternal God: Heavenly Flesh and the Metaphysics of Matter
"[A]n excellent example of first-rate work." --Mormon Studies Review"Stephen Webb forces his readers to rethink the common Christian understanding of materiality. Providing fresh and bracing insight, Webb takes us on a wide-ranging tour of a forgotten dimension of the Christian tradition, utilizing sources as diverse as Karl Barth, Caspar Schwenckfeld, and Joseph Smith to recover a 'heavenly flesh Christology.' This is a ground-breaking work."---David Paulsen, Professor of Philosophy, Brigham Young University"Webb explores the radical ramifications for theology and philosophy of an ever more intensive concentration upon the metaphysical significance of the Incarnation. In doing so he audaciously unsettles some of the most deeply seated conventions of Christian doctrine in the service of a better orthodoxy. Can vexing problems in Trinitarian taxis, Christology, and soteriology be resolved by reconceiving matter and spirit no long as opposites, 'but as the very stuff, so to speak, of the eternal Jesus Christ?' Read on."--Philip G. Ziegler, Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology, University of Aberdeen"Here is a subtle and bold argument in favor of a 'heavenly flesh' Christology, one that involves pushing the limits of many great western and eastern theologians' concerns about the pre-existence of Christ as the firstborn of all creation. Webb's criticism of the apophatic tradition's prioritization of divine immateriality and simplicity, along with his dialogue with Mormon theology, draws on dogmatics, metaphysics, and the natural sciences, confronting theological complacency."---Carys Moseley, British Academy Research Fellow, School of Divinity, Edinburgh University"Jesus Christ, Eternal God is an impressive combination of history, philosophy, and theology. It's been called "ground-breaking."--Common Consent"There are good as well as bad motives for radical proposals, and Stephen H. Webb, professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College, has a good one. Christian theologians need a metaphysics that makes it possible to say what Christians must say about Jesus Christ. Isn't Jesus Christ a material being just like us? And isn't he also eternal God, as the Nicene Creed teaches? Why not put two and two together and say that God is an eternally material being? That is the gist of Webb's proposal for a 'Christological metaphysics' that takes up the task of 'rethinking matter Christologically.'...If a suffering God is what you really want, Webb's proposal is a straightforward, metaphysically low-flying way to get it."--First Things"In his learned and provocative tome,Jesus Christ, Eternal God, Stephen H. Webb plows the soil of hallowed ground. He broaches a topic that most classical theists have considered a settled question for quite some time, namely, that God is by nature the immaterial ground of being. Webb concludes, most remarkably, that matter is one of God's perfections, and for that reason, God-not just the post-incarnational second Person of the Trinity-is embodied...There is so much interesting material in Webb's book that it is impossible for any one analysis to do it justice."--Sacred Tribes Journal