RT Article
T1 The Ontology of the Offense: Rowan Williams and Johannes Climacus on Christology and Ontology
JF International journal for philosophy of religion
VO 90
IS 1
SP 19
OP 41
A1 Spinks, Casey ca. 21. Jh.
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1764871472
AB In Christ the Heart of Creation, Rowan Williams argues that Christology as expounded by the classical tradition in Western theology holds a bounty for thinking in Christian ontology about the God-world relation. In particular, he uses the work of Søren Kierkegaard throughout to show that the relation between finite and infinite, immanent and transcendent, is not competitive, and thus there need be no metaphysical problem when holding that the incarnate God-man is both fully human and divine. This essay argues, however, that Kierkegaard’s own pseudonymous work cited by Williams holds the incarnation to be far more paradoxical and intellectually offensive than Williams allows. However, such priority of offense does not put an end to Christ’s central ontological position but rather shifts it to new directions in our thinking about theological ontology. Rather than Williams’ own conception of a cosmos in which the divine and non-divine are compatible and harmonious, Kierkegaard presents a doctrine of existence in which God and the human are in constant, dynamic engagement and in which temporal being bears ultimate primacy for Christian existence.
K1 Transcendence
K1 Incarnation
K1 Ontology
K1 Christology
K1 Rowan Williams
K1 Søren Kierkegaard
DO 10.1007/s11153-020-09785-5