The Metaphor of God Incarnate ~ by John Hick

The Metaphor of God Incarnate: Christology in a Pluralistic Age ~ by John Hick, 2005, religion

John Hick refutes the traditional Christian understanding of Jesus of Nazareth. According to Hick, Jesus did not teach what was to become the orthodox understanding of him: that he was God incarnate who became human to die for the sins of the world. Further, the traditional dogma of Jesus' two natures--human and divine--cannot be explained satisfactorily, and worse, it has been used to justify great human evils. Thus, the divine incarnation, he explains, is best understood metaphorically. Nevertheless, he concludes that Christians can still understand Jesus as Lord and the one who has made God real to us. This second edition includes new chapters on the Christologies of Anglican theologian John Macquarrie and Catholic theologian Roger Haight, SJ.

Because Jeffrey Small mentions John Hick as one of the writers who inspired his novel The Breath of God, I moved this book up in the TBR stack to read during the Spring Reading Thing 2012.  I studied Hick in college, but we read only articles by him.  Although I've had this book at least two or three years, I read only the first chapter before putting it aside to finish other books, not for lack of interest, but simply because I got sidetracked.  Now's the right time.