Many people are saying they find attractive the vision of God\u2019s providence I call, \u201cessential kenosis.\u201d This view says God lovingly gives the gifts of freedom, agency, self-organization, being, and law-like regularities to creation. Because God\u2019s nature is first and foremost love that self-gives and other-empowers, God cannot override, withdraw, or fail to provide these gifts to creation.![\"Snow](\"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Snow-in-Cascade-300x200.jpg\")
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While many get excited thinking through what essential kenosis entails, a few will say, \u201cBut what about those times in the Bible that God does <\/em>control others entirely?” I typically respond, \u201cI don\u2019t know of any passages. What do you have in mind?\u201d<\/p>\n Some will talk about God\u2019s initial creation of our universe and say \u201cThe Bible says God created out of absolutely nothing: creation ex nihilo.\u201d I usually respond by noting that the Bible does not say this. In Genesis 1, the Spirit hovers over the deep when creating. And no passage in the Bible explicitly affirms creation from nothing. (I offer an alternative creation doctrine in a recent Theologies of Creation<\/em>, recently published by Routledge.)<\/p>\n Others will point to Jesus\u2019 resurrection as an example of God entirely controlling. I reply that the Bible does not say God acted unilaterally to raise Jesus from the dead. We have assumed unilateral determination for resurrection when reading the text. Most biblical miracles explicitly point to creaturely cooperation as essential. None that I know explicitly say miracles occur by God acting alone. Consequently, it seems plausible that Jesus\u2019 body and spirit would cooperate with God\u2019s desire to resurrect. (I address this issue in my book, The Nature of Love<\/em>)<\/p>\n Be It unto Me<\/strong><\/p>\n The third example some people will give for God exerting total control is the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. God must have acted alone to become incarnate in this special way, they say.<\/p>\n But in response, I point out that Mary\u2019s conversation with the angel says otherwise. When the angel announces God\u2019s plans for a Holy Spirit conception, Mary agrees to the plan. \u201cBe it unto me,\u201d she says in approval. The virgin Mary is a paradigm for what it means to cooperate with uncontrolling love.<\/p>\nMary is a paradigm for what it means to cooperate with uncontrolling love. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n Theologians often focus on whether Mary actually engaged in sexual intercourse with a human. Some theologians think the Holy Spirit conception is a historical event. Others say the point theological: Jesus is a special incarnation of God. It doesn\u2019t matter if Mary did or did not engage in sexual intercourse. Besides, ancient people would not have known that Mary\u2019s egg contributes \u00bd of Jesus\u2019 chromosomes.<\/p>\n Cooperation with God Is Essential<\/strong><\/p>\n In my new book, The Uncontrolling Love of God<\/a><\/em>, I argue in greater detail what it means to say God is essentially kenotic and expresses uncontrolling love. These ideas are crucial for solving both the problem of evil and the problem of randomness. Many thoughtful readers discover that creaturely cooperation is also central to essential kenosis. When creatures fail to cooperate or when they cooperate poorly, evil occurs. When creatures cooperate well, God\u2019s reign of love \u2013 the kingdom of God \u2013 is established. Jesus Christ is our paradigm for what full cooperation with God looks like. But God calls us all, in fact all creation, to respond well to the call to love.<\/p>\n Saying that God\u2019s love is uncontrolling, therefore, is not just the key solving the problem of evil and of randomness. It is also the key to our living life well. We have an essential role to play in God\u2019s providential plans.<\/p>\n As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I think it appropriate to give Mary a nod of approval and a word of thanks. Her cooperation was essential to God\u2019s incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. While God gets the glory, Mary deserves our words of appreciation too.<\/p>\nWhile God gets the glory, Mary deserves words of appreciation too. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cBe it unto me,\u201d says Mary, the mother of Jesus. She speaks in response to the Spirit\u2019s plans for a special incarnation. And in her consent, Mary becomes a powerful example of what it means to cooperate with God\u2019s uncontrolling love. Biblical Support for Essential Kenosis Many people are saying they find attractive the vision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[424,434,433,432,431,430,429,428,427,426,425,15,423,422,421,420,419,418,59,52,34,26],"yst_prominent_words":[4550,4559,4558,4557,4556,4555,4554,4553,4552,4551,1021,4549,4548,4547,4546,4470,1259,1153,1149,1070],"class_list":["post-3256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open_and_relational_theology","tag-advent","tag-conceived","tag-conception","tag-ovum","tag-egg","tag-sexual-intercourse","tag-mary-mother-of-jesus","tag-virgin-birth","tag-jesus-of-nazareth","tag-uncontrolling-love","tag-bethelehem","tag-thomasjayoord","tag-be-it-unto-me","tag-holy-spirit-conception","tag-holy-spirit","tag-christmas","tag-tom-oord","tag-virgin-mary","tag-jesus","tag-problem-of-evil","tag-thomas-oord","tag-uncontrolling-love-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3256"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Oord](\"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Oord-Uncontrolling-Love-of-God-200x300.jpg\")
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