Originally Posted by
Akoue
Fair question. I'll take another crack at it and see if I can be clear this time!
I've been thinking a lot about the Incarnation as itself a sort of text. Here's what I have in mind: Scripture is a text that we read and study because it has things to teach us that we feel it is important to learn. So we ask ourselves questions about, say, a particular passage: What does this mean? What am I supposed to learn from this?
I've been thinking about the Incarnation in a similar way: What does the Incarnation itself say, what is it teaching me (or trying to teach me) about the relation between the human and the divine. In the person of Jesus, the human and the divine are one, but still distinct. My question, the thing that is especially on my mind at the moment, has to do with what this fact, the fact of the coming together of the human and the divine in Christ, teaches us about the relation of the human and the divine in general. (By "in general" I mean, other than in the specific case of Jesus of Nazareth.)
It is my view that all of Scripture, every episode and, indeed, every word is deeply meaningful, that Scripture is more than its surfaces. So we can look at the Incarnation in the light of what it tells us about Christ and his mission. But I think that, in addition to that, it is also telling us something about all of us. It is itself a lesson, or a teacher, in its own right.
So I am thinking about what I have to learn from the Incarnation, from the fact of the Incarnation, of the coming together of the human and the divine in Jesus. And I am trying to concentrate for the moment on what I, or we, have to learn from this about our own relation to the divine, both in this life and in the life to come. What is the relation of these two natures in the rest of us? I opened with Chalcedon in order to set some kind of framework in place--well, that and because I am also interested in Chalcedon and people's thoughts about it--a framework for thinking about the different kinds of relation, and intimacy, of the human and the divine.
My question, then, isn't a terribly precise or well-defined one, alas. Rather, I was trying to elicit your thoughts--or even just your musings--about this. I've found that you and I often think about things differently, but not so differently that I just can't see where you're coming from. In fact, though I may disagree with you I genuinely like what you have to say--even when I don't completely agree with it. And this is why I have sought to elicit your thoughts on the matter. They aren't likely to be my thoughts, but then, that's the point. Whether I find myself in agreement with you at the end of the day, I am confident that thinking about what you have to say will pay its own dividends.
So, you know, I'm basically using you! Actually, you're just an interesting interlocutor who has a different perspective from my own. And seeking out different perspectives is an indispensable part of learning.
Does this help? I hope this helps.
