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Spring 2015: Topics in Philosophy of Religion The Metaphysics of Christology Marilyn McCord Adams [email protected]
Session 1: Historical Background, Problem Overview Jan 21 JND Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, chs. VI, XI, XII. Sarah Coakley, “What Chalcedeon Solved and Didn’t Solve,” The Incarnation, ch.7, 143-163 Marilyn McCord Adams, “The Metaphysics of the Incarnation in Some Fourteenth Century Franciscans, in Essays Honoring Allan B. Wolter, 21-57.
Sampling Medieval Metaphysics: Duns Scotus’ Interpretation
Session 2: Union and Assumption, Supposits versus Individual Substance Natures Jan 28 Duns Scotus, Opus Oxoniense III, d.1, q.1 Allan B. Wolter, “John Duns Scotus on the Primacy and Pesonality of Christ,” Franciscan Christology, 166-181 (lat/eng on facing pages) Marilyn McCord Adams, Christ and Horrors, ch.5, 108-114
Session 3: Who, What, How Many, and by Reason of What Assume and Get Assumed? Feb 4 Duns Scotus, Op.Ox. III,d.1, qq.2-5; d.5, qq.1-2 Cf. Richard Cross, The Metaphysics of the Incarnation (Oxford UP 2002), ch.7, 156-180. William Ockham, In III Sent., q.1; Franciscan Christology, 190-201.
Session 4: Communicatio Idiomatum, Reduplication, and Other Semantic Issues Feb 11 Duns Scotus, Op.Ox. III, d.6, qq.1-2; d.7, q.1-2; d.11, qq.1-3 Cf. Richard Cross, The Metaphysics of the Incarnation, ch.5, 121-136; ch.8, 183-205. Allan Bäck, “Scotus on the Consistency of the Incarnation and the Trinity,” Vivarium 36:1 (1998), 83-107. Michael Gorman, “On a Thomistic Worry about Scotus’s Doctrine of the Esse Christi, Antonianum 84 (2009), 719-733. Marilyn McCord Adams, Christ and Horrors, ch.5, 123-128.
Varieties of Kenosis
Session 5: Background and Overview Feb 18 Bruce, McCormack, “Kenoticism in Modern Christology” Thomas R. Thompson, “Nineteenth-Century Kenotic Christology: The Waxing, Waning, and Weighing of a Quest for a Coherent Orthodoxy,” Exploring Kenotic Christology, ch.4, 74-11. Marilyn McCord Adams, Christ and Horrors, ch.4, 81-99.
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Session 6: Morris’ Analysis and Critique Feb 25 Thomas V. Morris, The Logic of God Incarnate, chs. 1-4.
Session 7: Davis’ and Feenstra’s Defenses Mar 4 Stephen T. Davis, “Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God?” The Incarnation, ch.10, 221-245. Stephen T. Davis, “Is Kenosis Orthodox?” Exploring Kenotic Christology, ch.5, 112-138. Ronald J. Feenstra, “A Kenotic Christology of Divine Attributes,” Exploring Kenotic Christology, ch.6, 139-164.
Session 8: Evans’ vs McCormack’s Formulations Mar 11 C.S. Evans, “The Self-Emptying Love: Some Thoughts,” The Incarnation, ch.11, 246-272. C.S. Evans, “Kenotic Christology and the Nature of God,” Exploring Kenotic Christology, ch.8, 190-217. Bruce McCormack, “Kenoticism in Modern Christology” (the last two pages)
Two Minds?
Session 9: Morris’ Own View Mar 25 Thomas V. Morris, The Logic of God Incarnate, chs.4-6.
Modified Word-Flesh
Session 10: Swinburne’s Metaphysical Presuppositions and Social Trinity Apr 1 Richard Swinburne, The Christian God, chs.1-8.
Session 11: Swinburne’s Modified Word-Flesh Christology Apr 8 Richard Swinburne, The Christian God, ch.9.
Appollinarian Revival
Session 12: William Lane Craig’s Rehabilitation of Appolinarius Apr 15 W.L. Craig & J.P. Moreland, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, ch.30, 597-613.
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Christ and Composition?
Session 13: Time and Incarnation Apr 22
Thomas Senor, “Incarnation and Timelessness,” Faith and Philosophy (April 1990), 149-164. Brian Leftow, “A Timeless Incarnate God,” The Incarnation, ch.12, 273-299.
Session 14: Habitus and Other Modes of Composition Apr 29 Brian Leftow, “The Humanity of God,” The Metaphysics of the Incarnation, ch.2, 20-44 Oliver D. Crisp, “Compositional Christology without Nestorianism,” The Metaphysics of the Incarnation, ch.3, 45-66. Thomas Flint, “Should Concretists Part with Mereological Models of the Incarnation?” The Metaphysics of the Incarnation, ch.4, 67-87.
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Readings: Translations of the Scotus texts from Opus Oxoniense are posted on the Sakai site. Most of the other readings for this course can be found in the following volumes: Adams, Marilyn McCord. Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Cross, Richard. The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). Davis, Stephen T., Kendall, Daniel, and O’Collins, Gerald. The Incarnation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). Evans, C. Stephen. Exploring Kenotic Christology: The Self-Emptying of God. (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2010). Marmodoro, Anna & Hill, Jonathan. The Metaphysics of the Incarnation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011). Morris, Thomas V. The Logic of God Incarnate (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1986).
Besides reading and participating in the discussions, those who take the course for credit will be expected to produce a 20-25 pp. paper on some aspect of the metaphysics of Christology. It may deal with other authors than those listed on the syllabus, however.