What happens to the Christ and the doctrine of salvation?
Can these basic Christian concepts be for use in ecological Christianity? Much has been made in Christianity of the concept of “incarnation”, or “God in human flesh”. The Fourth Evangelist uttered a very daring thought when he wrote, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. It was certainly too much for orthodox Jews and Muslims to accept. Now we have to ask whether or not it was too much for Christians also. Orthodox Christianity could not take the daring thought of the Evangelist to its logical conclusions. In their battle against the Gnostics who wanted to reject the human and fleshly Jesus, believing all physical reality to be evil, the Christians affirmed the true humanity of Jesus. Nevertheless they severely restricted the doctrine of the incarnation. It happened only once and in one man. Thus Jesus was no longer seen to represent the new and redeemed human species. He remained the mediator and saviour. Eventually even he was believed to have left the flesh behind and be raise