ABSTRACT
With this chapter, we come to the heart of Grosseteste’s theological vision. While the (modified) ‘whole-Christ’ motif as the subject matter of theology embraced a number of essential theological topics, its very reason of existence as a subject was grounded in the historical event of the Incarnation. As I have noted, this orientation produces a tension between the subject as a universal principle (as a subject of a science was supposed to be) and the singular, contingent acts within human history.1
Grosseteste does not consider this tension to be of any major concern (and in fact he makes no mention of it), but it is significant to note that his Christological writings attempt to present the universal and the particular as working in tandem. It is in fact the very person of Christ in which these two opposites come together, for the Incarnation has both a soteriological and cosmic role to play in his theology. Recent scholarship has carefully presented the cosmic aspect of Grosseteste’s Christology under the rubric of the ‘absolute predestination of Christ’.2 My aim here is to complete the account of Grosseteste’s Christology, and to explain how Christ’s saving work aligns with his cosmic role.
