Abstract
As Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary, the author has engaged deeply in dialogues with the natural sciences, ecofeminism, and the place of Reformed theology in ecumenical relations. Her theological method is grounded in the revisionary metaphysics of process-relational philosophy by which she addresses modern objections to Christian convictions. In this work, she argues that a cosmic understanding of the Incarnation of God in Jesus the Christ puts the relations of God with creation, humanity, Christianity, and other religions, and (possibly) extra-terrestrial intelligent life into dynamic new perspectives.
At the heart of the book is an analogy between a panentheistic understanding of God in relation to the cosmos and Incarnational Christology, that “God was in Christ.” Panentheism means, “God is in all things and all things are in God” (35). God as conceived by process philosophy is always already immanent in matter, organisms, societies, and bodies, yet transcends them by luring all into new possibilities. Christians find in the human figure of Jesus the ground of our vision of God as relational (Trinity), embodied (Incarnation), compassionate (Christ feeds, heals, forgives, and saves), creative suffering (the Cross), and the source of hope for the suffering cosmos (Resurrection). God was totally present in Jesus (Incarnation), but Jesus’ life did not limit or exhaust the totality of God (Resurrection). In Christ “we see one who is ‘wholly’ divine without claiming he is ‘the whole’ of the divine” (136).
In brief, what process philosophy imagines conceptually about God's interactive relations with the cosmos, the Christian conviction of Incarnation portrays graphically in a particular human life whose story inspires others to follow Jesus and discover a more inclusive vision of God. Christ is the great exemplar of God's incarnational activity in the world and the model for what humankind may become as “created co-creators” with God. This theme opens the way for her to reexplore the atonement theory of Christ as our moral exemplar in his life and crucifixion: “In the cross, the first word is solidarity—Jesus with us in our sin and suffering and our experiences of God-forsakenness” (134).
Some objections to Incarnational Christology originate from importing concepts of God (as absolute, self-sufficient, beyond all change and suffering, powerfully controlling all things) into conjunction with the figure of Jesus (as embodied human, relational, self-giving, humiliated, crucified). These theistic concepts generate contradictions. If we begin from the analogy of panentheism to Incarnation, we are on a clearer path to a more coherent Christology. We can also reconsider the early Christian doctrine of theosis, that God became human so that we might become divine, which means to live in union with God. Case-Winters builds on this analogy to affirm God's incarnational presence in nature, human bodies, others who are beyond Christianity, and even intelligent alien species. This lays the foundation for ecofeminist ethics, the work of anti-racism, disability theology, interreligious dialogue, and affirmation of cosmic exploration.
This revisionary Christology will generate many fruitful questions for students of theology and for readers beyond process-relational theology: if the Incarnation is Christianity's prime example of how God is already in all things as Creator, why not worship “the little Christ” (Luther's phrase) in each person and being? The author rejects pantheism's notion of the divinity of the cosmos and the metaphor of the world as the body of God (37). For there to be true relationship between the world and God, there must be room for otherness and freedom. God can be creatively involved and immanent in the world without being reduced to it, which is modeled for us in the Incarnation.
What are we to make of the eschatological promises, that ultimately God will triumph over evil and death, if a process-relational God can lure and inspire but not control free creatures? Here she wagers on God in Christ inspiring our hope without end-time guarantees. God's all-powerful love “is never defeated by evil but overcomes it moment by moment, judging and transforming as the world's current states are received into the divine life” (198). This shifts the question of evil and suffering back upon us as God's “created co-creators” called to live in union with God in Christ: how are we resisting the evils humankind have unleashed?
The audience for this book includes courses in Christology, the doctrine of God, theology and science, and eco-theology. Given the synthetic nature of the book, it may also be useful in capstone courses seeking to integrate philosophy, theology, and ethics.