Incarnation

by Alister McGrath

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2006

Overview

Anglican belief and practice allows that God communicates through his Word as well as through the beauty of his works. The trick, of course, is to keep the two sources of communication in balance. Nowhere is this balance better struck than in the writings of the atheist-turned-Anglican-clergyman Alister McGrath. McGrath takes Scripture very seriously as an unshakable source of truth for belief. At the same time, McGrath recognizes that God also communicates through art and literature. McGrath draws on these two different sources to teach us more about God and about how to live in light of what he has communicated. McGrath also offers a thoroughgoing defense of God’s existence, again drawing not only evidence from Scripture but from the beauty of creation.

Illuminated by a series of fine art paintings, Alister McGrath’s new volume seeks to engage both the mind and the imagination as he explores why the Church set its faith and hope on the extraordinary, brilliant, and bold idea that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Poetry, prayer, and theological reflection are interwoven with commentary on the ideas conveyed through works such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Ecce Ancilla Domini, Jacopo Bassano’s Miraculous Draught of Fishes, and Vincent Van Gogh’s Good Samaritan.

Key Features

• Invites the reader to think of God opening a window into his being, and a door into his presence through the doctrine of incarnation
• Explores what led the church to set out its faith and hope in the idea that Jesus Christ is God incarnate
• Provides inspirational works of art to enhance the discussion

Contents

• Introduction
• The Fulfillment of Prophecy
• The Birth of the Savior
• The Calling of the Disciples
• The Teacher with Authority
• The Friend of Sinners
• The Way, the Truth and the Life
• The Incarnation: God with Us
• For Further Reading
• Illustrations

Top Highlights

“The paradox of the incarnation is that God chose to subvert human preconceptions of authority by raising to the highest place one who was regarded as utterly inconsequential and insignificant by the authorities of his day. The incarnation is about the overthrow, even the inversion, of human values—not their endorsement.” (Page 80)

“The nativity, as seen by the eye of faith, is about God choosing, out of love and compassion, to enter the dark, distant and lonely place that we call human history. Rather than summon us to meet him in the heavenly places, God chose to encounter us where we are.” (Page 18)

“Contemporary rabbinic literature had much to say about people whose jobs made them virtually incapable of keeping the law of Moses. Two groups often singled out for special (negative) comment were carpenters and fishermen: carpenters, because they doubled as undertakers and were handling dead bodies all the time; and fishermen, because they had to handle and sort mixed catches of clean and unclean fish. Both groups were incapable of observing the strict rules about ritual purity which prohibited contact with anything unclean. Yet Jesus calls precisely such fishermen, men hovering on the fringes of Jewish religious life.” (Page 26)

“From the second century onwards, commentators on the birth of Christ linked the scene with Isaiah 1:3, which speaks of the ox and the ass knowing their true master and his crib. It seems that this prophetic passage was then linked with the birth of Christ, thus reminding us that the whole of the created order is involved in the birth of Christ and the new creation which will result from his incarnation, death and resurrection.” (Page 18)

Product Details

• Title: Incarnation
• Author: Alister McGrath
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2006
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Jesus Christ › Person and offices
• Resource ID: LLS:INCARNATIONMCGRATH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:05:39Z

About Alister McGrath

Alister McGrath (Ph.D.) is a scholar and writer who is presently Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University. After his initial studies in natural science at Oxford, taking a doctorate in molecular biophysics under the supervision of Prof Sir George Radda, McGrath moved into the field of Christian theology. He was Oxford’s Professor of Historical Theology from 1999 to 2008. He then moved to King’s College London as Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education, before returning to Oxford as Idreos Professor in 2014. He also served as Gresham Professor of Divinity, a position established in 1597, from 2015-18. He retired in September 2022.

He is best known for his definitive and widely used textbooks on Christian theology and his authoritative biography of C. S. Lewis. As a former atheist, McGrath is fascinated by the interaction of faith, science, and atheism, and writes regularly on these themes. McGrath was born in Belfast in 1953, and holds both Irish and British citizenship. He lives in the Cotswolds near Oxford.

For McGrath’s website, including details of his weekly Youtube postings and videos helping you use his theology textbooks, go to alistermcgrath.net