CUR DEUS HOMO?

 

Outline Of Argument

 

I:                      The attempt at demonstrating the necessity of the Incarnation

 

II:                     Unbelievers’ objections concerning the condescension of God

but: (i) the humility and humiliation of God

magnify God’s grace

(ii) it is appropriate for an act of

disobedience to be put right by an act of supreme obedience

 

III:                  The inappropriateness of God’s rescuing humankind through deputing human or angel instead of humbling himself

 

IV:                    The three-fold imprisonment from which humankind needs to be redeemed:

(i) the enslavement of sin

(ii) the just anger of God

(iii) the power of the devil over sinners

 

V:                     The question of the devil’s rights over humankind

 

VI:                    The humility of God and the impassibility of God

 

VII:                  The apparent injustice and unreasonableness of God’s delivering up the Just Son

 

VIII:                 Sin and satisfaction

 

IX:                   The (im)possibility of redressing the disorder with the assistance of angels

 

X:                     Satisfaction as both the making good of a failure and the assuaging of affront or insult

 

XI:                   God’s resolve to fulfil his purposes for us is not a constraint upon God but rather a self-imposed necessity

 

XII:                  The role of recompense in God’s salvation

 

XIII:                 The mode of the Incarnation