A Thinker's Progress #3: Jesus, the Smartest Man Who Ever Lived (Pt 1)Today i have started combing through a journal article written by Dallas Willard. Willard is a Christian who is a professor of philosophy at USC and a reknown author and speaker. The journal article is called "Jesus the Logician." To read a printable version of the article click here.
Willard asserts that:
In understanding how discipleship to Jesus Christ works, a major issue is how he automatically presents himself to our minds. It is characteristic of most 20th century Christians that he does not automatically come to mind as one of great intellectual power . . .
As can be surmised from me labeling this post Pt 1, i have several different thoughts on this. However, for the sake of clarity (and getting some sleep) let me pose two basic questions tonight: One, when you think of Jesus, do you think of Him as someone of intelligence? I assume that we would all agree He is now in his risen state, unfettered by our temporary bodies, but what about when He was here now, in one of our bodies? Second, what was the extent of Jesus' knowledge? Did His brain, roughly the same size as yours, contain the knowledge of psyics, logical theory, oil painting, economic theories, and what the Grand Canyon looked like? Did He simply know what He had learned during His human life time? Did He even have to study?
I ask this question for two reasons. 1) It reveals one's picture of God, which has implications for how we "do" our faith, and 2) it reveals a key aspect of one's theology. What say you?
posted by derek at 12:14 AM
5 Comments:
Those are good questions. #1 -- yes, I do, but only in the last 5 years or so. #2 -- I would say that Jesus didn't know everything -- being intelligent is something different. If Newton had traveled back in time and hung out with Jesus, I'll bet Jesus would have picked up physics pretty quick, but it was unknown in the 1st cent. He had to learn, like us. He was just better at it, and more (completely) open to God's voice in spiritual matters.
Hey Chris, good to hear from you. At this point i would have to agree with you on both counts. Regarding #2 though, i think that our view only makes sense if we hold that Jesus relinquished some of His divine attributes (eg omniscience, omnipresense, omnipotence). This is what is known in theological discourse today as the "kenotic" theory. This is all well and good with me.
However, Chris, the problem i see here is that church tradition, when all the voices are taken together, speak against this view. In fact, though the view that somehow Jesus was fully God(He retained His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence) while also fully man was ratified as orthodox doctrine at the council of Chalcedon (451 AD), it has been the dominant view of the church all along.
I am not sure how you can go against this tradition, as much weight as you have given it in our past discussions. It seems to me that consistency on your part requires you to hold the classical view, where Jesus never "had to learn, just like us." The only ways out of this i can see is if a) i misunderstood what you said, b) i misunderstood the tradition,
c) i misunderstand the views.
Which, if any, is it?
Please take me holding your feet to the fire on this in the loving spirit in which i wrote it.
Blessings,
derek
I never had the impression that the kenotic (sp?) view was inconsistent with the Chalcedonian view. The kenosis is a bit of a mystery -- how does one lay aside divine attributes? But, this seems consistent with retaining the essence of deity -- being fully God. Jesus' essence (divinity) cannot change. His experience of his divinity can change. Ontologically/metaphysically, his divinity remains unaltered, but epistemologically, his awareness of it is different. This distinction helps explain why he could say on the cross, "why have you forsaken me?" It seemed to him that he was forsaken, even though it is impossible for him to separated from the trinity.
Did you get that last comment? Something went wrong.
Wow. So many big words :)
I enjoy the discussions and thoughts here derek - you really are a gifted writer/thinker. Thought I'd post so you have a link to my blog thingy too. Hope your wedding singing went well.
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