{"id":2863,"date":"2007-03-21T18:26:03","date_gmt":"2007-03-21T18:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2863"},"modified":"2017-09-06T22:49:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T16:49:08","slug":"christ-and-horrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ and Horrors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

<\/p>

Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors <\/em> , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining how Christ has dealt with sin, but by starting with \u201chorrors\u201d and asking, What must Christ be and do if He is going to rescue us from the horrors of human existence. She defines horrors as experiences and evils that have \u201clife-ruining potential,\u201d things that \u201cdegrade the individual by destroying the possibility of positive personal meaning.\u201d <\/p>\n

Horror-defeat comes in three stages: a unity between a person\u2019s horror-participation and his personal beatific vision of God; healing of the \u201chorror-participant\u2019s meaning-making capacities\u201d that enables him to \u201crecognize and appropriate some of the positive significance laid down in Stage I; and \u201crecreating our relation to the material world so that we are no longer radically vulnerable to horrors.\u201d In short, to defeat horror, we need God, God incarnate specifically, and the resurrection of the dead. <\/p>\n


It\u2019s a provocative and perhaps illuminating approach, but in Adams\u2019s hands it comes at considerable cost. She begins with the claim that Divine-human relations, and human life generally, are \u201cnon-optimal,\u201d and asks why that would be the case. Her answer is that there are a number of \u201cmetaphysical mismatches\u201d that leave human beings vulnerable to horrors: a mismatch within human nature that makes human development painful, vulnerable, often botched; a mismatch between human nature and the material world; and \u201cthe enormous gap between Divine and human personal capacities . . . . What we are and what Divinity is make communication difficult and trust hard to win.\u201d <\/p>\n

This is not, she claims, gnostic. In fact, at the heart of her construct is God\u2019s love for the material world and His desire to unite with it: \u201cmatter \u2013 material creation generally \u2013 must be good because God loves it . . . . Likewise, personality must be good because God is personal. Both are good; neither is intrinsically evil. Gnosticism and materialism are both false!\u201d But then she adds: \u201cRadical vulnerability to horrors arises because human psycho-spiritual powers are not reliably great enough to achieve and sustain an appropriate functional coordination between these two dimensions of human being in a material world such as this.\u201d So, matter is good; but being material makes it difficult for us to commune with God. <\/p>\n

Despite her protests, this is a form of gnosticism; and it is a denial of the original goodness of creation. When God pronounced all things good, He wasn\u2019t merely talking about \u201cmatter\u201d as such. He was talking about the whole cosmic and human condition. That is to say: It was good that God made man vulnerable, that He made man to develop and grow through fits and starts. To protest those features of the human condition is to protest createdness. <\/p>\n

Adams wants to avoid dealing in \u201cfree will\u201d constructs, which focus on sin. Unless we are willing to attribute the horrors to God Himself (which she does: \u201cGod participates in the horrors that God has perpetuated on us!\u201d), we\u2019re not going to be able to dispense with sin, with a fall, with the contingency <\/em> of the horrors. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining how Christ has dealt with sin, but by starting with \u201chorrors\u201d and asking, What must Christ be and do if He is going to rescue us from the horrors of human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology-christology"],"yoast_head":"\nChrist and Horrors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christ and Horrors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-21T18:26:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-06T16:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Horrors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-03-21T18:26:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-06T16:49:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christ and Horrors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christ and Horrors","description":"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christ and Horrors","og_description":"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2007-03-21T18:26:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-06T16:49:08+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/","name":"Christ and Horrors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-03-21T18:26:03+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-06T16:49:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2007\/03\/christ-and-horrors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christ and Horrors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}