Christ as incarnate Word does not...

Christ as incarnate Word does not ‘exercise an influence’ on finite agents like that of ordinary finite causal agencies, nor does he introduce extra causal factors into the finite world or simply initiate a tradition of teaching and speculation...the effect of Jesus’ life is both historical, in the sense that there comes to be a community with certain distinguishing marks, and theological, initiating a new set of human possibilities, a new creation (2 Cor. 5.17). The theological claim is that in the movement – the ‘culture’ if you will – that has its traceable historical roots in Jesus of…