Jesus Christ, Eternal God

In this groundbreaking study, Stephen H. Webb offers a new theological understanding of the material and spiritual: that, far from being contradictory, they unite in the very stuff of the eternal Jesus Christ. Accepting matter as a perfection (or predicate) of the divine requires a rethinking of the immateriality of God, the doctrine of creation out of nothing, the Chalcedonian formula of the person of Christ, and the analogical nature of religious language. It also requires a careful reconsideration of Augustine's appropriation of the Neo-Platonic understanding of divine incorporeality as well as Origen's rejection of anthropomorphism. Webb locates his position in contrast to evolutionary theories of emergent materialism and the popular idea that the world is God's body. He draws on a little known theological position known as the "heavenly flesh" Christology, investigates the many misunderstandings of its origins and relation to the Monophysite movement, and supplements it with retrievals of Duns Scotus, Caspar Scwenckfeld and Eastern Orthodox reflections on the transfiguration. Also included in Webb's study are discussions of classical figures like Barth and Aquinas as well as more recent theological proposals from Bruce McCormack, David Hart, and Colin Gunton. Perhaps most provocatively, the book argues that Mormonism provides the most challenging, urgent, and potentially rewarding source for metaphysical renewal today. Webb's concept of Christian materialism challenges traditional Christian common sense, and aims to show the way to a more metaphysically sound orthodoxy.
"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 tINTRODUCTION ; CHAPTER 1: THINKING WITH MATTER ; CHAPTER 2: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MATTER ; CHAPTER 3: BINDING MATTER, UNBINDING GOD ; CHAPTER 4: THE NEW CONSENSUS ABOUT ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND GOD ; CHAPTER 5: WHAT FLESH IS THIS? ; CHAPTER 6: MORE RESOURCES: SCOTUS, SCHWENCKFELD, AND THE TRANSFIGURATION ; CHAPTER 7: THOMAS AQUINAS ON RELATIONS, PERSONHOOD, AND MATTER ; CHAPTER 8: KARL BARTH'S CHRISTOLOGICAL METAPHYSICS ; CHAPTER 9: GODBODIED: THE MATTER OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS ; CHAPTER 10: A CONCLUSION BY WAY OF A METAPHYSICAL BEGINNING