The Historian and the Theologian: On the Role of New Testament Studies in the Christologies of McCormack and DeHart

Abstract

Two recent works of Christology attempt to bridge the gap between systematic theology and biblical studies by engaging historical research about the Bible in a constructive way: Bruce L. McCormack’s The Humility of the Eternal Son: Reformed Kenoticism and the Repair of Chalcedon and Paul J. DeHart’s Unspeakable Cults: An Essay in Christology. McCormack seeks to repair Chalcedon by drawing on what he takes to be the correct reading of Paul’s Christ Hymn in Philippians. Drawing on recent scholarship from Paula Fredriksen, Paul Holloway, and Matthew Novenson, this article shows that another reading is possible, one that conflicts with McCormack’s reparative project. McCormack’s effort to avoid speculation fails, since his argument depends on presupposing certain metaphysical claims about the Bible. DeHart’s work offers a different model of engaging biblical studies, one that avoids speculation in McCormack’s sense but engages in reconstructive historical speculation as a constructive thought experiment. DeHart’s project relies, however, on a Catholic ecclesiology, in which the incarnation is an ongoing process of cultural and cultic imagination. The conclusion proposes an alternative approach that builds on McCormack’s actualistic ontology and DeHart’s embrace of critical historical research without assuming the validity of the Nicene-Chalcedonian tradition.