The early Christians saw in Jesus the focus and fulfillment of the conviction that God is with us. Over time, they learned to speak of that presence in terms of divine incarnation. That one theological affirmation raises questions for practically all other Christian beliefs. If God is incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, how does that change our understanding of God’s presence in all things? What does it mean to be human if the life of God has been so intimately joined to human life? How can we say “God is with us” when there is so much suffering and evil in the world? What do we mean by “us”? Just us Christians or all of us? Just human beings or also the whole creation? If we find life in the wider cosmos, is God with them too? Looking through the lens of the incarnation, how wide is the divine embrace?
In this volume, Anna Case-Winters demonstrates that the doctrine of the incarnation of God in Christ is not simply one belief among others; it is the cornerstone on which all other Christian convictions are built. Throughout, she carefully lays out the consequences for Christian belief and Christian life of the ancient confession that in Christ, “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
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Anna Case-Winters is Professor of Theology at McCormick Seminary. She has served the wider church in many capacities, particularly in ecumenical relations. As Chair for Christian Unity in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she exercised leadership in dialogues with Lutheran, Anglican, and Roman Catholic communions. Case-Winters has also served the global church through the work of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in many capacities through the years and is currently Moderator for Mission and Ecumenism. She is the author of God's Power: Traditional Understandings and Contemporary Challenges, Reconstructing a Christian Theology of Nature: Down to Earth, and A Theological Commentary on Matthew.