ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the compelling contemporary case for viewing divine embodiment as a bridge between modern scientific materialism and traditional Christian transcendence. For Aristotle and Plato, God is perfect. And, perfection by definition is unchanging; for, if something perfect changes it ceases to be perfect. Thus, if God is perfect then God is also changeless. And, since material changes, God being changeless is also immaterial. Such tidy logic coupled with scriptural passages such as "God is spirit" have anchored the Christian theological tradition. In short, classical theism posits a totally transcendent God who is wholly other, "absolutely simple, immaterial, nonspatial, nontemporal, immutable, and impassible". Stephen H. Webb believes it is Joseph Smith's revelations that offers the Christian world a theological path forward in the face of scientific-based understandings. Although many Christian theologians are not willing to admit the scientific challenge to traditional theism, the Mormon conception of an embodied God lays the groundwork for future work in this field.
