The Incarnation as God's First Intention: Supralapsarian Christology for Faith and Practice - Paperback

by Edwin Chr Van Driel (Author)

In The Incarnation as God's First Intention, Edwin Chr. van Driel advocates a transformative perspective on the incarnation, proposing that God's decision to become incarnate was not a response to human sin but was instead God's first and foundational intention. Engaging the historical and theological roots of this supralapsarian (before the fall) Christology, Van Driel, a leading scholar on the topic, invites readers to reconsider long-held views on God's engagement with creation.

With clarity and depth, Van Driel unpacks how understanding the incarnation as God's original purpose reshapes the doctrines of creation, election, salvation, and eschatology. His insights offer a fresh framework for the church's mission in today's world, suggesting that God's presence with us is not merely a remedy for human fallenness but, rather, God's first intention and ultimate goal for creation.

Written for students, theologians, and all who seek a deeper understanding of God's relation to the world, this book challenges readers to see the incarnation, God's dwelling among us, as God's central purpose.

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"Courageous, exegetically driven, and historically informed"

Though most Christians today would describe the incarnation as God's response to sin, Van Driel argues that the incarnation is not contingent upon anything. Rather, it is the manifestation of God's primary intention--to be with us. The Incarnation as God's First Intention makes a case for this view and explores its implications for Christian doctrine and practice.

"Van Driel presents a truly theocentric vision of the gospel that is far more exciting than the lame, anthropocentric versions the church has propagated for centuries. This is the best kind of theology--the kind that brings us to praise the living God more profoundly and humbly than we did before we read it."
--Samuel Wells, King's College London

"In this wide-ranging study, Van Driel not only makes his case for a radically supralapsarian Christology; he also works out its implications for topics ranging from the Trinity and creation to missions and everlasting life. A powerful vision of what it means to confess Jesus as Emmanuel--God with us."
--Ian A. McFarland, Candler School of Theology

"In this engaging book, Van Driel reassesses the meaning of classical Christian doctrine in light of the premise that God's first intention was to embrace human nature as a good in itself. He extols this beautiful christological idea on every page and shows how this minority tradition can reshape our understanding of the scriptural narrative, as well as of Christian belief and practice."
--John E. Thiel, Fairfield University (emeritus)

"Christian doctrines seek to go on talking about God as the Bible does to answer the questions it raises. The most famous of those may be, Would Jesus have come if we hadn't sinned? Theologians like Van Driel make careful distinctions and seem to know more about God than is quite decent. The best book about election I know of, after Wyschogrod and Barth."
--Eugene F. Rogers Jr., University of North Carolina at Greensboro (emeritus)

"In this courageous, exegetically driven, and historically informed analysis Van Driel considers what it means to rethink Christian doctrine by placing Jesus Christ at the center of the theological task. A brilliant and timely study!"
--Alan J. Torrance, University of St. Andrews (emeritus)

Author Biography

Edwin Chr. van Driel (PhD, Yale University) is the Directors' Bicentennial Professor of Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Incarnation Anyway: Arguments for Supralapsarian Christology and Rethinking Paul: Protestant Theology and Pauline Exegesis. He is the editor of What Is Jesus Doing? God's Activity in the Life and Work of the Church and the T&T Clark Handbook of Election. He is also an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).