TheincarnationofGodinJesusposesnumerouschallengesforthehistoricalconsciousness.Howdoesaparticularhumanataparticulartimeembodytheeternal?Andhowdoesthatembodimentworkitselfoutinfaithacrossthecenturies?AgulfwouldappeartostandbetweenwhatChristianssayaboutChristandthehistoricaleventofthemanJesus;indeed,thetruerealityoftheincarnationseemsunspeakable.UnspeakableCultsconsidersthenatureandpotentialresolutionoftheconflictbetweentherelativisticassumptionsofthemodernhistoricalworldviewandtheclassicalChristianassertionoftheabsolutestatusofJesusofNazarethasGod’ssavingincarnationinhistory.PaulDeHartcontendsthatanunderstandingofJesus’historyispossible,proposingamodeloftherelationofdivinecausationtohistoricalcausationthatallowstheaffirmationofJesus’divinitywithoutamiraculousruptureoftheworld’simmanentcausalpatterns.Thebookfirstidentifiesclassicarticulationsoftheconflictinnineteenth-centuryGermanthought(Troeltsch,D.F.Strauss),andthendrawsonthehistoryofreligionstosuggestpossiblerelevantmotifsinfirst-centuryculturethatmitigatetheaxiomatic“tension“betweenJesus’humanityandhisdeifiedstatusinearlyChristianity.WithacreativeappropriationofThomasAquinas,theheartoftheargumentaimstounderstandtheeternalWord’spresenceinahumanbeingasathoroughlyculturalevent,butonedependentondivinepowerconceivedasquasi-formalratherthanmerelyefficientcause.SuchanapproachundercutsanyoppositionbetweentheabsolutenessofJesusandtherelativismofhistoricism.DeHartultimatelyconfrontstheresultingchallengestotraditionalbeliefresultingfromthisproposedmodel,includingtheirremediableambiguityofJesus’“miraculous“performancesandtheconstitutivelyunfinishednatureofhishumanidentity.Ratherthantreatingtheseasscandalsofmodernconsciousness,UnspeakableCultsvindicatesthemasnecessaryaspectsofthe“offense“perenniallyconfrontingfaithintheincarnation.
