ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the contemporary theological context in which my concerns are raised: deep incarnation Christology. This chapter explores the paradigm of deep incarnation Christology both in contemporary scholarship and its twentieth-century roots. I trace an intellectual genealogy of the idea from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to the present, with particular attention to the work of Niels Henrik Gregersen, the central figure in modern discussions of deep incarnation insofar as he pioneered the idea and has developed the idea more than any other. This chapter provides the reader with a standard interpretation of deep incarnation that I critically embrace, re-imagine, and radicalize in Chapters 4–6. Beyond a general description, I focus specifically on the potential anthropocentric tendencies in deep incarnation Christology and why I wish to eschew this perspective. I end with a discussion of parallel historical debates to show that discussions today have a much deeper history that continues to play out. To this end, I draw an analogy between Nickolas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno to illustrate the historical continuity and importance of wrestling with the God/world relationship in the Christian tradition. By the end of the chapter, the contemporary conversation surrounding the Christ/world relationship is clarified and the problems in need of further discussion are clearly established,preparing for detailed doctrinal discussions in later chapters.
