podcast 324 – Dr. Jc Beall – The Contradictory Christ – Part 1

In this first part of our discussion Dr. Jc Beall from the University of Notre Dame explains some of the motivations behind his suggestion that Christ should be understood as “a contradiction” (i.e. a being about whom some logically contradictory statements are true).

We focus our discussion on what seem to be two implications of divinity and humanity. It seems that an absolutely perfect being, a fully divine being, must thereby be impeccable – such that in principle he can’t sin. Whereas it seems that a genuine human being must thereby be peccable – such that in principle one could sin. So then if Christ is both divine and human, he must be both impeccable and peccable. But could anything be both?

Many within the tradition suggest various ways to get around this and other apparent contradictions, ways in which a divine and human Christ could be contradiction-free after all. In this episode Dr. Beall explains why he doesn’t accept any of these consistency-preserving theories about Christ.

Topics include:

Dr. Beall’s theological and academic background.
What the Council at Chalcedon in 451 teaches about Christ.
Dr. Beall’s view of the “ecumenical” councils, and their authority relative to Scripture.
Some reasons why it is important to think that Jesus is fully divine.
Why Dr. Beall doesn’t accept Dr. Timothy Pawl’s strategy for making a human and divine Christ consistent.
Why not just say that “Christ-as-divine is incapable of sinning, while Christ-as-human is capable of sinning”?
Why not just say that “Christ is impeccable-as-divine and that Christ is peccable-as-human”?
Why isn’t a “compositional” understanding of the two-natured Christ the best solution here?
Why doesn’t some “kenosis theory” show how it is consistent to say that Christ is both human and divine?