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God Takes our Place: A Religious‐Philosophical Approach to the Concept of Stellvertretung
Author(s) -
Gestrich Christof
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0025.00162
Subject(s) - incarnation , blame , philosophy , reflexive pronoun , theology , event (particle physics) , epistemology , christian theology , social psychology , psychology , physics , quantum mechanics
What does it mean to say, theologically, that God takes our (human beings') place ( Stelle )? In himself becoming human (the incarnation), does God enter into joys and needs, into the possibilities and the limitations of the human, in such a way as to take them all to himself? Or does he, specifically, take the blame of all people? Or only that of those who believe? Or is it something else again that is meant? What does it mean to say that ‘God stands up for us’ is the event of salvation – a claim which the church has in mind with its central dogma of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ? How is human Stellvertreten , occurring in different forms, connected with the divine Stellvertreten ? What does the word ‘ Stelle ’ (of humans) mean at all?