Thesis (Th. M.)--Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-93).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract.. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-93).

Thesis (M.A.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 26).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract.. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-93).

Thesis (M.A.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 26).

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät I--Zürich--Universität, 1992.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Theologie--Basel, 1977. / Bibliogr. p. 233-241. Index.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie--München--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 355-373. Index.

This thesis examines the doctrine of the incarnation with particular attention to the implications of this doctrine for a theological understanding of human/nonhuman relationships. To do so, it is guided by two driving questions: Why did God become human in particular in the incarnation?, and what are the implications of the humanity of Christ for the way in which Christian theology construes the human/nonhuman relationship? Each chapter is guided by these questions, and seeks to find and test the answers given by four major theologians from the Christian tradition: Anselm of Canterbury and sin, Gregory of Nyssa and the image of God, Maximus the Confessor and the human constitution as microcosm, and Karl Barth and the human calling to be a representative covenantal partner. Through the use of the guiding questions, and engagement with these four theologians and their respective answers, three theses are developed over the course of the dissertation. First, that God’s motivation for the incarnation extends beyond the human to include the nonhuman creature. Of the various reasons put forward throughout this thesis, each of them is shown to include the nonhuman animal in some way. Second, that God became human in particular due to the unique human calling to be a representative creature. In arriving at this conclusion, various viewpoints are considered and ultimately rejected as being sufficient to account for God’s will to become human in particular. Third, the unique human calling of representation is shown to carry with it ethical implications for humans with regards to nonhuman animals. Given the human calling of representing creation to God, and God to creation, there are necessary ethical implications which such a calling has for what it means to be human.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Brown / The <italic>Cur Deus Homo</italic> (CDH) of Anselm of Canterbury is one of the most well-known and yet controversial works in the Anselmian corpus. Anselm's audacious effort to prove the necessity of the Incarnation has been met with varying levels of skepticism and critique in the intervening centuries. Critics of Anselm have taken aim particularly at the language that Anselm used in the CDH, commonly asserting that the key terms of the argument were derived primarily from the feudal society that surrounded Anselm as he wrote. The contention is then usually made that Anselm's usage of such terminology betrays a mindset so entangled in feudalism as to render the whole work ineffective as a work of Christian theology. Only in recent years have serious efforts been made to examine the theological roots of Anselm's thought process in the CDH. In this work, I examine the language that has been so maligned in recent years and I build on recent trends in Anselm scholarship to argue that his language is not so much feudal as it is scriptural and patristic. By analyzing Anselm's use of &ldquo;honor,&rdquo; &ldquo;justice,&rdquo; &ldquo;debt&rdquo; and &ldquo;satisfaction,&rdquo; I argue that Anselm was more concerned with maintaining consistency with his own work and with scriptural and patristic sources than with the feudal or juridical nature of his social context. I conclude by highlighting the ways in which Anselm accomplished his stated purpose in the CDH and provided a unique perspective on the Incarnation and Atonement that stands on its own as a turning point in the history of Christian theology. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.