The Craft of Innovative Theology. Группа авторов

The Craft of Innovative Theology - Группа авторов


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of power who can perform miracles, attract disciples, and provide moral clarity. For Elizabeth Johnson, the tradition of Sophia stresses inclusion, justice, and participation. Omniscience promises that all answers are provided. Wisdom actually invites us to a place which is more paradoxical. As Stephen Barton observes:

      The argument here is simple: conceptually, when we think about what an incarnation involves, we do not need a God-man who is able to speak every language or know the number of calories in every type of soda. Neither of these skills would disclose to us the nature of God. Such skills would just reveal a God of parlor tricks. Instead, our need is for a life from which we can learn of the love, compassion, and radical call for inclusion (see Box 2.9).

       Box 2.9

      The author has made his case. This sentence is the one you would quote if you were summarizing this argument in a publication. The reader will accept the argument if this distinction between wisdom and “cognitive knowledge” is persuasive.

      Incarnation and a Person with Down’s Syndrome

      Herein allow me a confession: much as I love Jesus, part of me wishes that instead of a Jewish male, the Eternal Wisdom had taken the form of a person with Down’s Syndrome. In my experience a person with Down’s is a much more reliable vehicle for disclosing the life of God than most other people. Their obligation to live in the present, their deep compassion and empathy, their sense of fun, and their exceptional capacity for inclusion are all built in; their very biology makes them ideal vehicles for the disclosure of God.

      Now much is made of the challenge of a male Jesus for women. The objection is simple: the experiences of men and women are distinctive; Jesus never knew the challenge of the menstrual cycle or the distinctive experience of childbirth. So how can a male Jesus be representative of all humanity?

      The standard answer is simple: to be a human one has to be a particular human. You have to be born into a family, at a certain time, or a certain gender. Although the Incarnation could have taken a variety of forms, it did need to be a form – a particular person. And the Jewishness, maleness, and first centuryness are all part of what it is to be a human person.

      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.

      Incarnation and Jesus

      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.

      Conclusion

      The question was simple: Is it possible for the Eternal Word to be made manifest in a person with Down’s Syndrome? The answer I have suggested is an overwhelming affirmative. It is indeed possible. It is possible because the classical expectation of divine omniscience in Jesus is mistaken; it is possible because we recognize that underpinning the logos language is Sophia language; it is possible because wisdom is different from knowledge of countless propositional facts; and it is possible because a person with Down’s is a complete form of humanity.

      Notes

      1 1 In many ways, this is an exercise in what Oliver Crisp would call “analytic theology” or perhaps “philosophical theology”.

      2 2 For a good discussion see Kristin Johnston Largen, Baby Krishna, Infant Christ: A Comparative Theology of Salvation (Maryknoll, NY:


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