The Great Unspoken in Jewish-Christian dialogue is Jesus’s conception. It’s a topic avoided even by many who accept his resurrection. This book tackles the issue. Did Jesus exist before Bethlehem? Who was mysterious Melchizedek? What does Psalm 110 really say? How far do the variant genealogies of Matthew and Luke really make sense? Was Mary a peasant or a princess? And what are the options for Jesus’s paternity? Just how Jewish was he really? Just as the author’s Messiah ben Joseph examined the ancient origins of the sacrificial Messiah promised to Joseph, so Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word looks at the origins of the Zadokite Messiah. BACK COVER REVIEWS David Mitchell’s Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word is a fascinating read. While its title seemingly rehearses well-trodden paths that need no further attention, that presumption could not be more misguided. The author is deeply conversant in the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Second Temple Jewish literature, Rabbinic writings, and early Christian and Patristic texts. All are brought into service to offer intriguing solutions to various difficulties arising from the Davidic (and priestly!) genealogies of Joseph and Mary and the relationship of Jesus to Melchizedek and the Angel of the Lord. Readers will find this a rewarding study. Michael S. Heiser, PhD (Hebrew Studies, Wisconsin) Bestselling author of The Unseen Realm Executive Director and Professor, Awakening School of Theology Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word brings readers on an eye-opening journey through Old and New Testament texts, genealogies, and extra-biblical sources ancient and modern to probe the core question distinguishing Christianity from other faiths: is Jesus God in the flesh? With meticulous attention to detail, David C. Mitchell applies his exegetical acumen and extensive expertise in second temple and Rabbinic literature to uncover the remarkable breadth of the Bible’s testimony about the Messiah and its long history of discussion. Erudite, witty, and eminently readable, this volume will enlighten, challenge, and inspire as it reveals how deep and wide are the Bible’s messianic promises fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Dr Adam D. Hensley, Australian Lutheran College, University of Divinity Author of Covenant Relationships and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter

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Most theologians believe that in the human life of Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter God. Yet how the divine and human come together in the life of Jesus still remains a question needing exploring. The Council of Chalcedon sought to answer the question by speaking of one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in divinity and also perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly a human being. But ever since Chalcedon, the theological conversation on Christology has implicitly put Christs divinity and humanity in competition. While ancient (and not-so-ancient) Christologies from above focus on Christs divinity at the expense of his humanity, modern Christologies from below subsume his divinity into his humanity. What is needed, says Ian A. McFarland, is a Chalcedonianism without reserve, which not only affirms the humanity and divinity of Christ but also treats them as equal in theological significance. To do so, he draws on the ancient christological language that points to Christs nature, on the one hand, and his hypostasis, or personhood, on the other. And with this, McFarland begins one of the most creative and groundbreaking theological explorations into the mystery of the incarnation undertaken in recent memory.

"New edition, revised, with a letter of St. Athanasius on the interpretation of the Psalms added as an appendix." Includes bibliographical references.

An exploration of three of Augustine's central texts, the De Trinitate, the De Doctrina Christiana, and the Confessions elucidate the principles of Augustine's theology of language. This is done in a systematic manner, which previous scholarship on Augustine has lacked. Augustine's principles are revealed through a close reading of these three core texts. Beginning with the De Trinitate, the book demonstrates that Augustine's inquiry into the character of the human person is incomplete. For Augustine, there is a void without reference to the category of human speech, the very thing that enables him to communicate his theological inquiry into God and the human person in the De Trinitate. From here, the book examines a central work of Augustine that deals with the significance of divine and human speech, the De Doctrina Christiana. It expounds this text carefully, showing three chief facets of Augustinian thought about divine and human communication: human social relations; human self-interpretation using scripture; and preaching, the public communication of God's word. It accepts the De Doctrina Christiana as laying theoretical foundations for Augustine's understanding of the task of theology and language's meaning and centrality within it. The book then moves to Augustine's Confessions to see the principles of Augustine's theology of language enacted within its first nine books. Augustine's conversion narrative is analysed as a literary demonstration of Augustine's description of human identity before God, showing how speech and human social relations centrally mediate God's relationship to humanity. For Augustine, human identity properly speaking is ‘confessional'. The book returns to the De Trinitate to complete its analysis of that text using the principles of the theology of language uncovered in the De Doctrina Christiana and the Confessions. It shows that the first seven books of that text, and its core structure, move around the principles of the theology of language that the investigation has uncovered. To this extent, theological inquiry for Augustine - the human task of looking for God - is bound up primarily within the act of human speech and the social relations it helps to compose. The book closes with reflection on the significance of these findings for Augustinian scholarship and theological research more generally.