| the_birth_of_god.docx |
Here, the empirical findings of depth psychology can offer a viable model of how it is that Jesus could be ignorant, grow in knowledge, etc., but also remain all of His omni-attributes.
Historically, depth psychology, from a German term (Tiefenpsychologie) coined by Eugen Bleuler, has come to refer to the ongoing development of theories and therapies pioneered by Pierre Janet, William James, C. G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Adler. Depth psychology explores the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious and includes both psychoanalysis and Jungian psychology.
According to depth psychology, the human psyche (the forces that influence thought, behavior, and personality) is not exhausted by its conscious elements such as sight, memory, reasoning, and the like. The human psyche also contains a well-spring that constantly influences and interacts with our conscious, known as the unconscious. The unconscious contains thoughts that are not directly accessible to ordinary introspection, but are supposed to be capable of being "tapped" and "interpreted" by the conscious mind.
Thus, Jesus was fully divine, (omniscient, omnipotent, and the like with respect to the unconscious part of His psyche; this was the emptying, or kenosis of God); but with respect to Jesus' conscious waking life, (H)he was fully human in intellect, temptation, will, reasoning, and like; and thus capable of being ignorant, growing in knowledge, etc. The beauty of this model of the incarnation is that it allows us to make sense of how it is Jesus could have a divine self-understanding (know He was God), without sacrificing the reality of (H)his human vocation as prophet, Messiah, and personal embodiment of YHWH. That is, Jesus' unconscious was incapable of being accessed by introspection, but (H)his unconscious was "tapped," or "interpreted" by (H)his conscious mind without turning the incarnation into a farce.
This idea is largely borrowed from the work of William Lane Craig (Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview).
Historically, depth psychology, from a German term (Tiefenpsychologie) coined by Eugen Bleuler, has come to refer to the ongoing development of theories and therapies pioneered by Pierre Janet, William James, C. G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Adler. Depth psychology explores the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious and includes both psychoanalysis and Jungian psychology.
According to depth psychology, the human psyche (the forces that influence thought, behavior, and personality) is not exhausted by its conscious elements such as sight, memory, reasoning, and the like. The human psyche also contains a well-spring that constantly influences and interacts with our conscious, known as the unconscious. The unconscious contains thoughts that are not directly accessible to ordinary introspection, but are supposed to be capable of being "tapped" and "interpreted" by the conscious mind.
Thus, Jesus was fully divine, (omniscient, omnipotent, and the like with respect to the unconscious part of His psyche; this was the emptying, or kenosis of God); but with respect to Jesus' conscious waking life, (H)he was fully human in intellect, temptation, will, reasoning, and like; and thus capable of being ignorant, growing in knowledge, etc. The beauty of this model of the incarnation is that it allows us to make sense of how it is Jesus could have a divine self-understanding (know He was God), without sacrificing the reality of (H)his human vocation as prophet, Messiah, and personal embodiment of YHWH. That is, Jesus' unconscious was incapable of being accessed by introspection, but (H)his unconscious was "tapped," or "interpreted" by (H)his conscious mind without turning the incarnation into a farce.
This idea is largely borrowed from the work of William Lane Craig (Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview).
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