The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism What is the Incarnation?
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Christology
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Publication Year
1962
Publisher
Volume
24
Pages
174
Tags
Description
The rationalist Ernest Renan once wrote: "Christ is not impeccable; He conquered the passions we forever fight." The quotation aptly illustrates the confusion concerning the nature of Christ, the God-man, a confusion which Francis Ferrier shows to have been the main source of heresy from Nestorius and Apollinarius to the agnostics of today.
Christ was subject to the natural pains of humanity, hunger, thirst, fatigue, death, but He had no internal disorders within His soul, which would make sin possible. The human will of Christ could choose nothing other than what God willed.
Struggle between the divine and human wills in Christ could, and did, take place in the Garden of Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass by; only as thy will is, not as mine." But because the two wills were morally one, though metaphysically different, Christ necessarily and freely saw and chose the absolute good of the Father's will over secondary or created good.
In addition to two wills, Christ had two different sources and kinds of knowledge, empirical and infused. He knew the world as a man of His time might know it, but as God, He knew the secrets of nature, time, and eternity. Why He did not choose to utilize all His knowledge and whether He always had the Beatific Vision before Him are two further questions the author discusses.
Francis Ferrier was born on December 7, 1916 at Poiters, France. He has higher degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and Literature. In 1956, he published his first articles in Ecclesia and L'Union. At present, he is chaplain of a high school in the city of Niort.
What is the Incarnation? was translated from the French by Edward Sillem.
This is Volume 24 under section II: The Basic Truths.
Taken from the inside flaps.
Christ was subject to the natural pains of humanity, hunger, thirst, fatigue, death, but He had no internal disorders within His soul, which would make sin possible. The human will of Christ could choose nothing other than what God willed.
Struggle between the divine and human wills in Christ could, and did, take place in the Garden of Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass by; only as thy will is, not as mine." But because the two wills were morally one, though metaphysically different, Christ necessarily and freely saw and chose the absolute good of the Father's will over secondary or created good.
In addition to two wills, Christ had two different sources and kinds of knowledge, empirical and infused. He knew the world as a man of His time might know it, but as God, He knew the secrets of nature, time, and eternity. Why He did not choose to utilize all His knowledge and whether He always had the Beatific Vision before Him are two further questions the author discusses.
Francis Ferrier was born on December 7, 1916 at Poiters, France. He has higher degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and Literature. In 1956, he published his first articles in Ecclesia and L'Union. At present, he is chaplain of a high school in the city of Niort.
What is the Incarnation? was translated from the French by Edward Sillem.
This is Volume 24 under section II: The Basic Truths.
Taken from the inside flaps.
Number of Copies
1
