The Incarnation and Human Personhood
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Seventeenth-century Philosopher and Physician John Locke’s (1632-1704) views of person and personal identity have influenced secular thinking for over three hundred years, the twenty-first century being no exception. More and more people now think of traits and intellectual or cerebral capacity when thinking of humans and what makes each of them a person. Many in the Christian church have also fallen into this type of thinking. This article takes the reader on an etymological, historical, and biblical journey of that elusive word person and how its meaning was formed, particularly through the Christological conflicts and discussions of the early church. Knowing how historic orthodox Christianity molded and shaped its view of the person when it came to the Trinity and particularly the two natures in Christ can put us on solid footing when it comes to person and personhood, and this can help shape our views of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and other life issues.
Downloads
Article Details
References
Allison, C. FitzSimons. The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy. Harrisburg, PA; New York: Morehouse Publishing, 1994.
Atkins, Kim, ed., Self and Subjectivity (Malden, Massachusetts; Oxford, UK; Victoria, AU: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
Arndt, William, Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition, Revised and Edited by Frederick William Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Baieri, Joh. Guilielmi. Compendium Theologia Positivae, vol. 3. Edited by C. F. W. Walther. St. Louis: Luth. Concordia-Verlag, 1879; Reprint Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Emmanuel Press, 2005.
Behan, David P. “Locke on Persons and Personal Identity.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 9, No. 1 (March 1979).
Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherlischen Kirche, Die. Elfte Auflage. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992.
Bettenson, Henry, ed. Documents of the Christian Church, Third Edition. Edited by Chris Maunder. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Brown, Harold O. J. Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1984.
Calum. The Image of God, Personhood and the Embryo. London: SCM Press, 2017.
Carlson, John W. Words of Wisdom: A Philosophical Dictionary for the Perennial Tradition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.
Chemnitz, Martin. The Two Natures in Christ. Translated by Jacob A. O. Preus. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971.
Chemnitii, Martini. De Duabus Naturis in Christo. Francofvrti & Wittebergae: Sumptibus Haeredum D. Tobiae Maevii, & Elerdi Schumacheri, MDCLIII. Reprinted in Doctor Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, De Coena Domini, De Duabus Naturis in Christo, Theologiae Jesuitarum. Chelsa, MI: Lutheran Heritage Foundation, 2000.
Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, The 2.2 in The Apostolic Fathers, Volume 1: 1 Clement, II Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Didache, Barnabas, ed, and trans. Bart D. Ehrman (Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, UK: Harvard University. Press, 2003)
Ferguson, Sinclair B. and Packer, J.I., eds. New Dictionary of Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
Fortman, Edmund J. The Triune God: A Historical Study on the Doctrine of the Trinity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972.
Fugentius, De Fide, seu De Regula Verae Fidel, Ad Petrum, Liber Unus (PL 65: 698d-699a). (Patrologia Latina. Edited by J.-P. Migne. 217 vols. Paris, 1884-1864).
Gerhard, Johann. On the Person and Office of Christ. Translated by Richard J. Dinda. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009.
Gerhardi, Iohannis. Loci Theologici, Tomus Primus, Locus Quartus. Berolini: Sumtibus Gust. Schlawitz, 1863.
Gorman, Michael. Abortion and the Early Church, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
Hägglund, Bengt. History of Theology, Fourth Revised Edition, Translated by Gene J. Lund. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2007.
Heine, Ronald E. Classical Christian Doctrine: Introducing the Essentials of the Ancient Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Housset, Emmanuel La vocation de la personne: L’histoire du concept de personne de sa naissance augustinienne a ̀ sa rede ́couverte phe ́nome ́nologi ́que. (Paris: PUF, 2014) (French Edition). Kindle.
Ignatus of Antioch. In Gerald G. Walsh, “The Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch,” The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Francis X. Glimm, Joseph M.-F. Marique, and Gerald G. Walsh, vol. 1 of The Fathers of the Church. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1947.
Jaeger, Lydia. “Christ and the Concept of Person.” Themelios 45, no. 2 (2020).
John Damascene, “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.” In St. Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus, Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Translated by S. D. F. Salmond, vol. 9b. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1899.
John of Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa 3 (PG 94: 985c & 988a. Patrologia graeca. Edited by J.-P. Migne. 162 vols. Paris, 1857-1886).
Johnson, Douglas W. The Great Jesus Debates: Four Early Church Battles about the Person and Work of Jesus. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.
Just, Arthur A., Jr. Luke 1:1-9:50 in Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1996.
Kamitsuka, Margaret D. Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019.
Kavanaugh, John F. Who Count As Persons?: Human Identity and the Ethics of Killing. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2001.
Kelly, J. N. D. The Athanasian Creed. London, UK: Adam and Charles Black, 1964.
Kelsey, David H. “Personal Bodies: A Theological Anthropological Proposal.” In Personal Identity in Theological Perspective. Edited by Lints, Richard; Horton, Michael S. & Talbot, Mark R. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006.
Kistemaker, Simon J. and Hendriksen, William. Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 15, New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1953–2001.
Kleinig, John W. Hebrews in Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2017.
Kolb, Robert; Wengert, Timothy J. and Arand, Charles P. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Köstenberg, Andreas J. John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004.
Lake, Kirsopp, ed. The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press & London, UK: William Heinemann LTD, 1912, 1975.
Lampe, G. W. H., ed., “θεοτόκος ,” A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford, UK: At The Clarendon Press, 1961).
Liddell Henry George and Scott, Robert. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and Augmented by Henry Stuart Jones, Roderick McKenzie, et. al. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1996.
Lee, Dorothy. Flesh and Glory: Symbolism, Gender and Theology in the Gospel of John (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002.
Leupold, H. C. Exposition of the Psalms. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1959.
McGrath, Alister. Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.
Meilaender, Gilbert. Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020.
Miklavcic, John Janex and Flamen, Paul. “Personhood Status of the Human Zygote, Embryo, Fetus,” The Linacre Quarterly 84, no. 2 (2017).
Mueller, Steven P., ed. Called to Believe, Teach, and Confess: An Introduction to Doctrinal Theology, vol. 3 in Called by the Gospel. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005.
Muller, Richard A. Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms: Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985.
Nestorius, “Nestorius’s First Sermon Against the Theotokos.” In The Christological Controversy, Translated and Edited by Norris, Richard A., Jr. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1986.
Olson, Roger E. Counterfeit Christianity: The Persistence of Errors in the Church. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Olson, Roger E. The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.
Pieper, Francis. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953.
Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to S. Luke, International Critical Commentary. London: T&T Clark International, 1896.
Ratzinger, Joseph. “Concerning the Notion of Person in Theology.” Communio 17 (Fall 1990): 439-454.
Rolnick, Philip A. Person, Grace, and God. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.
St Gregory of Nazianzus, “The First Letter to Cledonius the Presbyter.” In On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. Edited by John Behr. Translated by Frederick Williams and Lionel Wickham. Popular Patristics Series. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002.
St. Maximus of Turin, “Sermon 5: On the Birthday of Saint John the Baptist,” in The Sermons of St. Maximus of Turin, Edited by Walter J. Burghardt and Thomas Comerford Lawler, Translated by Boniface Ramsey, vol. 50, Ancient Christian Writers. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Newman Press, 1989.
Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The History of Creeds, vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1878.
Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The Greek and Latin Creeds, with Translations, vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890.
Schaller, John. Biblical Christology: A Study in Lutheran Dogmatics. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1981.
Scott, Graham A. D. “Abortion and the Incarnation.” In Journal of the Evangelical Society 17, no 1 (Winter 1974).
Spaemann, Robert. Persons: The Difference between ‘Someone’ and ‘Something’. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Thieke, James. “Science, Religion, and Human Identity: Contributions from the Science and Religion Forum.” Zygon 57, no. 3 (September 2022).
Torrance, Thomas F. The Being and Nature of the Unborn Child. Lenoir, NC: Glen Lorien Books, 2000.
Torrance, T. F. Test-Tube Babies: Morals—Science—And the Law. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1984.
Walters, James S. What is a Person?: An Ethical Exploration. Urbana; Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
Wand, J. W. C. The Four Great Heresies. London: A. R. Mowbray & Company, 1955.
Zizioulas, John D. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985.