The Incarnation of the Lord (1902 Briggs), book
The Incarnation of the Lord (1902) is a book by Charles A. Briggs.
Abstract
"A series of six sermons tracing the unfolding of the doctrine of the incarnation in the New Testament.... The sermons contain nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine, yet they give the Biblical supports of that doctrine in those new relations and new lights which modern Biblical science furnishes" (ix).
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The work of the Charles Briggs demonstrates the desire on the part of many ecclesiastically minded scholars of his generation to couple biblical support for the Incarnation with the techniques of modern biblical science. Yet with that being noted, Briggs makes an unprecedented move. In a six-part sermon series, he sketches how the idea of the Incarnation evolved throughout the corpus of the New Testament. Thus for Briggs, "It was not in the circle of the twelve that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ first appeared," but rather through the gradual unfolding of the thought of the apostle Paul throughout his various epistles where the inchoate forms of this doctrine first begin to emerge (183). Since the twelve disciples knew the human Jesus intimately, and Paul did not, it was difficult for the former, but easier for the later to begin to develop incarnational language. After closely examining the Pauline corpus, Briggs then traces the further development of this doctrine from the pastorals to Hebrews to the Gospel of John and finally to the Johannine Epistles. Although Briggs equivocates on whether or not the historical Jesus understood himself to be a divine, pre-existent being, he clearly argues that the doctrine of the Incarnation achieves its climactic apogee within the Gospel of John. As can be seen, Briggs inaugurated a completely novel approach in two main respects. First, unlike many of his predecessors, Briggs did not start with the assumption that the doctrine of the Incarnation was explicitly stated in the earliest of documents of the New Testament. Instead, he unabashedly used historical-critical methods to trace the evolutions of this doctrine throughout the corpus of the New Testament. Second, in contrast to many of the previous scholars that we have examined, the original means by which Briggs delivered his scholarly findings was in the form of a homily. Consequently, with this unprecedented move, Briggs defied the modern dichotomy of faith versus reason and proved that the life of the mind and the life of faith are not necessarily mutually exclusive arenas. ~Deborah Forger
Editions and translations
Published in New York, NY: Charles Scribner's, 1902.
Contents
"A series of sermons tracing the unfolding of the doctrine of the incarnation in the New Testament."
- Intro
- I. Son of Man from Heaven
- II. The Son of the Father
- III. Born of a Woman under the Law
- IV. The Self-Impoverishment of the Lord
- V. The Kenosis
- VI. The Epiphany of our Saviour
- VII. Made Like Unto His Brethern
- VIII. The Advent of God
- IX. The Word Made Flesh
- X. Born of the Virgin