Читать книгу The Craft of Innovative Theology. Argument and Process онлайн

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However, it is also recognized that the fact that Jesus was male does not mean and cannot mean that women are not complete full forms of humanity. So the first reason why this exercise matters is simply this: it is important for Christian theologians to stress that people with special needs are complete and full forms of humanity. We recognize that it is a contingent fact that the Incarnation took the form of a first-century male and not a logically necessary one. In the same way that God could have been incarnated as a woman, so I am arguing God could have been incarnated as a person with Down’s Syndrome (see Box 2.10).

Box 2.10

At this point, the author links this argument to the wider argument of incarnational possibilities. The point is made that the Incarnation of God in the form of a male Jew was contingent, not logically necessary. This means that the Incarnation could have taken a different form.

Election is a mystery. It was the Jewish people who were chosen; it was Mary the mother of Jesus who gave birth to the Christ. Jesus was able-bodied; Jesus was male; and Jesus spoke Aramaic and was heavily shaped by a Jewish apocalyptic worldview. One important purpose of this exercise is that once one recognizes that conceptually God could have taken the form of a person with Down’s, then we can liberate our study of the New Testament and let Jesus be Jesus.