ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Emmanuel Levinas as my primary interlocutor inspiration in addressing deep incarnation Christology and providing the framework I use to re-imagine theology. This chapter focuses on Levinas’ philosophy of religion, his idea of God, and his engagement with the idea of divine incarnation. As Levinas is my principal inspiration and interlocutor throughout the book, this chapter explores the foundational ideas I take from Levinas to construct my critique and re-imagination of deep incarnation. This chapter outlines the basics of Levinas’ philosophy of religion through an exploration of his insistence that ethics is not only first philosophy, but also potentially serves as first theology. Grounding his idea of God in concrete, face-to-face encounters with the vulnerability of human bodies, Levinas proves a useful dialogue partner for deep incarnation theologians and religious naturalists who insist that divinity is not simply mediated through the world but, in a sense, identical with it. Because there are certain obstacles to a straightforward use of Levinas to inform Christology or an ethic open to the more-than-human, I also wrestle with some problematic aspects of Levinas’ philosophy and offer a way past these issues so that Levinas may be responsibly but critically employed in Christological construction. By the end of the chapter, the theoretical scaffolding for the specific doctrinal discussions in later chapters is firmly in place.
