Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology Crowned with Glory Honor

This book approaches human ontology through Christology by looking to the Chalcedonian Definition and its Christology. Chalcedon confesses the man Jesus to be the divine person of the Son subsisting in a human nature. A Chalcedonian anthropology extends Jesus's person-nature constitution to define what it means to be human. Jesus defines what it means to be human. The field of theological anthropology is at a standstill, mired in debate between dualist and physicalist perspectives on body and soul. In Crowned with Glory and Honor: A Chalcedonian Anthropology, Michael A. Wilkinson argues that the man Jesus is the way forward. Anthropology should be centered around Jesus. God the Son incarnate is true man, like us in all things except sin. Wilkinson approaches human ontology through Christology by looking to the Chalcedonian Definition and its Christology. Chalcedon confesses the man Jesus to be the divine person of the Son subsisting in a human nature. A Chalcedonian anthropology extends Jesus's person-nature constitution to define what it means to be human. A human being is a human person subsisting in a human nature. We are more than body and soul because Jesus is so much more. Jesus defines what it means to be human. What are we as human beings? That question might seem simple and obvious, until you start trying to answer it. The church has always had a default teaching on human ontology, but not an orthodox confession. And the current debate regarding the "what" of human being seems to be locked in a stalemate between dualist and physicalist perspectives on body and soul, which is unable to provide a foundation to address the deeply anthropological issues of our day. In Crowned with Glory and Honor: A Chalcedonian Anthropology, Michael A. Wilkinson departs from the current debate and argues that our human being is defined by the incarnation of the divine Son as the man Jesus Christ. While there is a growing recognition that Christology should inform anthropology, the key to Wilkinson's argument is the analogical extension of Christ's person-nature constitution as confessed in the Chalcedonian Definition. Christ alone is fully God and fully man. Yet a fundamental analogy exists between him and each of us because Christ is the paradigm for all things universally human. Wilkinson demonstrates that we have biblical, epistemological, and historical warrant for defining human being in Christ. Scripture gives us good reason to expect a constitutional correspondence between the man and mere man. A robust Christological method helps us explore that correspondence with care. And Chalcedon gives us the terms and concepts that we should extend from Christ's human ontology to ours. Such a "Chalcedonian anthropology" offers a foundation and framework for an orthodox anthropology. Defining human being in Christ would allow the church to answer the anthropological questions of our day with the help of a rich Christological tradition. And formulating a biblical-theological correspondence between Christ's human ontology and ours holds promise for greater consistency and cogency at the intersection of Christology, anthropology, and soteriology.