CROWNED with GLORY and HONOR

A Chalcedonian Anthropology

MICHAEL A. WILKINSON

STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

Crowned with Glory and Honor: A Chalcedonian Anthropology

Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology

Copyright 2024 Michael A. Wilkinson

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Print ISBN 9781683597308

Digital ISBN 9781683597315

Library of Congress Control Number 2023944884

Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Claire Brubaker, Erin Mangum, Abigail Stocker, Mandi Newell

Cover Design: Fanny Palacios

CONTENTS

Foreword by Stephen J. Wellum

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction to Chalcedonian Anthropology

Part 1: Christological Anthropology: Principles and Practice

1. Biblical Warrant for Defining Human Being in Christ

2. Epistemological Warrant for Defining Human Being in Christ

Part 2: Chalcedonian Christology: Historical Warrant for Defining Human Being in Christ

3. Pre-Chalcedonian Ontology

Establishing the Person-Nature Distinction

4. Chalcedonian Ontology

Extending the Person-Nature Distinction

5. Pro-Chalcedonian Ontology

Clarifying a Person-Nature Christology

Part 3: Chalcedonian Anthropology: Warranted Theological Conclusions

6. Defining the Human Being of Christ

7. Defining Human Being in Christ

8. Clarifying Human Being in Christ

Conclusion: The Glory and Honor of Chalcedonian Anthropology

Bibliography

Subject & Author Index

Scripture Index

FOREWORD

Discussion of Christological anthropology is quite common in current treatments of the nature of humans, and rightly so. Given that our Lord, the divine Son, has assumed our human nature and by his finished work glorified it, what it means to be truly human must be seen in light of him. Minimally, then, as Joshua Farris notes, Christological anthropology is the study of who we are through the study of Christ.1 Or, as Marc Cortez states: “In its most basic form, the fundamental intuition of a christological anthropology is that beliefs about the human person (anthropology) must be warranted in some way by beliefs about Jesus (christological).”2 In these analyses, there is much that is valuable and important. But there is also something missing, something that Michael Wilkinson’s groundbreaking “Chalcedonian anthropology” seeks to remedy.

What exactly is “Chalcedonian anthropology?” It is the view that the person-nature ontology of Christology must also be applied to our understanding of humans with sufficient analogical adjustments. In Wilkinson’s language: ...