Kristus och människan. Om inkarnationen och kärleksbegreppet

Abstract

In this article I discuss how to understand the relationship between God and human beings in the light of different understandings of the doctrine of incarnation and of different concepts of love. As a starting-point, I analyse Anders Nygren’s differentiation between agape and eros, and criticise his preference for agape. The problem with agape is its unilateral quality, which reduces humanity to passivity and does not do justice to the embodied existence of human beings. Although not directed primarily against Nygren’s conception, two recent feminist christological contributions by Cristina Grenholm and Anne-Louise Eriksson emphasize the importance of human activity as well as human embodiment for a satisfactory contemporary christology. While I agree with these suggestions, I would want to supplement these feminist christologies with a more ontological reflection on the relationship between God and human beings. Thus I suggest that a more <erotic theology>, such as Rowan Williams’, might be of help toward understanding this relationship without denying neither God’s initiative nor the activity of human beings. I argue, finally, that this would lead to a more fruitful understanding of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ as well as, of the human response to this divine action.