Edward Irving was a 19th century Scottish Theologian that held the view the humanity of Jesus was the same humanity as we all assume – that is fallen flesh. A comprehensive understanding of Irving’s position can be gleaned from his numerous writings that span several decades. The doctrine of the humanity of Jesus that was espoused by Irving became a matter of contention in 1827 when Henry Cole published a letter in response to an encounter he had had with the Rev. Irving. The matter became so contentious that both sides of the argument received significant support, each party accusing the other of heresy, and eventually Irving was expelled from the church.
The humanity of Christ is a weighty matter that requires the deepest of thought because it is central to the Christian faith and as this paper will argue has direct significance for our understanding of holiness. The purpose of this document is to provide a review of the primary and secondary literature which canvasses the main issues relating to the topic, investigates different interpretations and critically evaluates the material.
The paper will begin by outlining Edward Irving’s doctrine of the humanity of Christ. During the years of the controversy, Irving was forced to clarify his position and to refute allegations of heresy. Therefore we will commence our map of this subject during the height of the debate, however we will see that not only did Irving maintain this understanding of the humanity of Jesus throughout his career but that it is a position held by the early church father’s and therefore represents orthodox Christian doctrine.
After mapping the development of Irving’s understanding of the humanity of Jesus, we will begin to explore the arguments that come out of the different interpretations of this doctrine. In particular we will survey the contemporary issues that have surfaced and the significant implication that such a doctrine holds for our understanding of holiness.
Are you going to assume that “fallen flesh” is the condition of humanity in your paper? Or is that something you plan to investigate and argue for/against?
Thanks
Adam
Thanks for the question Adam.
I will state that what Irving meant by this is that in coming to earth Christ did not assume a human nature that was like Adam before the fall, rather it was the same condition as Adam after the fall. Therefore it was fallen, sinful, corrupt and depraved. Yet Irving also argued that Christ remained sinless.
In the paper I will have to discuss this definition as scholars such as Oliver Crisp et al, argue that it is not possible to make logical sense of the notion that Christ’s humanity was fallen.
On of the difficulties with the understanding of ‘fallen nature’ is that it does not reconcile easily with traditional notions of original sin. Therefore part of the paper will be dedicated to understanding these concepts and their related issues.
This is an interesting topic Brett. I hope it goes well. Mark Hutchinson has done some historical work on Irving. I peer reviewed an article of his a couple of years back that appeared in eOikonomia.
hi brett. this is great topic you are dealing with – it is actually something that i still coudn’t get my mind clear about.
anyway, there is a published PhD thesis by an australian: peter cass, on TFTorrance’s views, but in chapters I and II of the book, he outlined the development of the concept of Christ’s assumption of fallen human nature from Knox to Campbell. it would be a great background study for your work, since you are dealing with Scottish theology. See Cass, CHRIST CONDEMNED IN THE FLESH (Verlag, 2009).
A really interesting topic, Brett. I’d be interested in how you get on showing that the early fathers and Irving held the same views, given how use of language and understanding of key terminology has changed over the years. I’m doing my own dissertation on the eschatology of Moltmann, and have discovered that making connections between contemporary and early thought isn’t as simple as I would have hoped.
Looking forward to seeing how your work develops, and praying God’s blessing on you, your studies and your ministry as you close in on the completion of the MA.
…And thanks for being brave enough to share your work in this way.
Bests.
Thanks for the encouragement and the useful comments in relation to the research. I am looking forward to writing this up.
regards,
Brett