- Title
- The exposed life: the kenōtic ecclesiology of Donald M. MacKinnon
- Creator
- Hopkins, Luke M.
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Bachelor Honours - Bachelor of Theology (Honours)
- Description
- The works of Donald M. MacKinnon offer a significant contribution to the academic examination of kenōtic ecclesiology. Stemming from the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:5b-11, the notion of kenōsis, self-emptying, understands the nature of Christ as selfless and self-denying for the sake of the Other. This paper will aim to explore how, within the kenōtic movement of the incarnation, the nature of the church, as the 'Body of Christ,' is gifted to it by Christ. It therefore may be possible to critique the ethical conduct of the church against the life and conduct of Christ. This thesis is fostered upon N.T. Wright's reading of Philippians 2:5b-11, which affirms the revelatory quality of the incarnation, by stating that Christ reveals that God is kenōtic by nature. He argues that Christ’s selflessness is the revelation of the kenōtic nature of the Trinity. This provides a foundation for contrasting MacKinnon's articulation of kenōtic ecclesiology with the explicitly Christocentric form presented by Henri Cardinal de Lubac. MacKinnon’s call to the ‘exposed life’ is a call for a paradigm shift by members of the church of how they understand themselves, each other, the nature of the whole body and their relation to Christ. Influenced by the kenōticism proposed by P.T. Forsyth and H.R. Mackintosh, MacKinnon's understanding of kenōsis develops around his understanding of theological honesty, tragedy and divine incomprehensibility. Interconnected within his oeuvre, these themes form the basis of his critique of the broad ecclesiological type MacKinnon identifies as ‘Constantinianism.’ Through his critique, MacKinnon offers a repair of Christocentric ecclesiologies and non-Christocentric ecclesiologies alike in which the place of Christ's kenōtic nature has, arguably, been misunderstood. It is hoped that this paper will demonstrate how MacKinnon’s insistence on a kenōtic raison d’etre, located in Christ, remains significant for contemporary contemplation in the struggles the whole world-wide church continues to face in the 21st Century.
- Subject
- kenosis; ecclesiology; Donald M. MacKinnon; theology; honours
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/923776
- Identifier
- uon:9816
- Rights
- Copyright 2011 Luke M. Hopkins
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Abstract | 102 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 405 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |