Tempering the cosmic scope problem in Christian soteriology: hylemorphic animalism and Gregory of Nazianzus

Jonathan Curtis Rutledge

doi:10.1017/S0034412519000192

Tempering the cosmic scope problem in Christian soteriology: hylemorphic animalism and Gregory of Nazianzus

Jonathan Curtis Rutledge

School of Divinity

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Christian scripture provides good reason to think that Christ's redemptive work has cosmic scope (cf. Colossians 1:19–20). Explanations of how Christ's work might extend to all creation (including any sufficiently human-like extraterrestrials) have not, however, received significant sustained attention in theology. In this article, I consider two attempts to explain the cosmic scope of redemption, and after identifying shortcomings with each explanation, I offer a philosophical anthropology (hylemorphic animalism), which when combined with a principle of soteriology due to Gregory of Nazianzus provides a full explanation for how Christ's redemptive work might extend to all creation.

Original language	English
Number of pages	21
Journal	Religious Studies
Volume	First View
Early online date	26 Apr 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412519000192
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 26 Apr 2019

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© Cambridge University Press 2019. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412519000192
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Tempering the cosmic scope problem in Christian soteriology: hylemorphic animalism and Gregory of Nazianzus

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