Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/810

* CHRISTOLOGY. 712 CHRISTOPHER. person resultcil from the union of the natures, it could not be understood till the natures of which it was composed were understood. The human- ity of Christ is, therefore, the full human per- sonality, with full self-consciousness and self-de- termination. The divine nature is unchangeably the same, performing all its divine offices after the incarnation as before, and possessing all its divine attributes, it is omnipotent and omui- scieut. But the humanity is neither of these; and hence the divinity cannot impart itself com- pletely to the humanity, and can, of course, less to the child Jesus than to the man. Hence the incarnation is viewed as the gradual imparlation of the Logos to the man Jesus, increasing with his dcveloinnent, and perfect only after the as- cension. This view seems to fail because it leaves us with only a man in whom Uod dwelt, and not with divinity and humanity in the unity of one person. Hence the second theory, that of the "kcnosis," begins at a dillerent point, at the one person of Clirist, which person the Kenotics make to be the eternal Logos of God. This person takes upon himself humanity, and makes it so his own that its experiences become truly his experiences. He enters into all its development as his own development, so that his consciousness is a truly human consciousness, while it is still the con- sciousness of the divine element in Christ. This can only be as the divine limits himself to the capacities of the humanity which he assiunes. The theory of the kenosis therefore teaches that the eternal Logos, by a conscious divine act of self-limitation, 'emptied' himself of his divine form of existence and took u])on himself the human form of existence (Phil. ii. 7). Tlius, while He was in essence unchanged. He did not have in e.xereise, and hence not in conscious pos- session, the divine attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, etc., but exercised the absolute power and knowledge under the limitations of His human form of existence. The unity of the person of Christ is thus secured because into it nothing enters of the divine which so far tran- scends the human as to be irreconcilalile with it, and it is the unity of the divine self-conscious- ness. This theory is growing in favor with men of conservative and ehurchly tendencies; but it cannot be said yet to have fully established it- self even among them. The possibility of such a self-limitation of the divine has not been made indisputably clear. The last theory, if it can be called such, is that of Ritschl. " Weary of all the long onto- logieal disputes of the centuries. Kitsclil .sought to render them all unnecessary by a strict limita- tion of theology to that which is of 'interest' to men, that is, that which furthers the religious life. While he held, therefore, to the divinity of Christ in the true sense, he refused to attempt the explanation of its consistency with IHs hu- niiinity, regarding it as great a mystery as the consistency of the divine government with human freedom. In Christ we have fJod. That is enough. Whether He pret'xistcd or not. and what the na- ture of the Trinity is, arc questions which do not 'interest' us. If we knew all about the pre- existencc of Christ, it would rather separate Him from us than render faith in Him easier or more sincere. The kenosis is 'romancing.' It explains the incrediltle by the more incredible. We must give up definitely the two natures and all attempts to unite them. In the true human- ity of Clirist we hav^ God. How, we do not know. This view, which falls in with the ten- dencies of the times to deny the miraculous and supernatural and to seek simidicity, is also spreading rapidly among the more radical theo- logians. i5ut it scarcely seems to oiler substance enough to prove a linal resting-place for any one. The future lies in the hands either of Chalcedon better ex])lained, or of puie humanitarianism. lilULiociiiAi'llY : Dorner, llistorij of the Doc- trine of the Person of Christ (Stuttgart, 1845- 50); ShaS, Creeds of Christendom (t!lh ed.. New York and London, ISUO) ; llefele, Cunziliengc- schichte (Freiburg, 1873-79); Hamaek, />0(7»ieH- geschichte (Freiburg, 1893). For the Lutheran Christolog}' : Krauth, The Conservative lieformti- tion and Its Theology (Philadelphia, 187'2) ; and Schmidt, Doctrinal Theology of the Evanyclieal Lutheran Church, translated by Jacobs and Hay ( Philndelpliia, 1875). For Dorner, consult his aiaub(nslrhrc,o.n. ( Berlin, 1875-81 ), On the Kenosis consult Gcss, Chrisii Person und Werk (3 vols., Basel, 1870-87) ; Thomasius, DoymatiK- (Erlangen, 1852-01) ; Frank, System der ehrist- lichen ^Vah7-heit ((Jiitersloh, 1885-86) ;■ Bruce, The Uumiliation of Christ (London, 1881); Powell. Principle of the Incarnation (London, 1890). On Ritsehl, his own Kechtfertigung und Versohniiny. Vol. HI. (Bonn, 1888, 1889); J. Orr, The Uitschlian Theology and the Evan- gelical Faith (London, 1897) ; A. J. Swing, The Theology of Alhrccht liitschl (New York, 1901). CHRISTOPHE, kres'tof, Henri ( 1707-!8'20). A negro King of Haiti. He was born a slave in the island of Grenada, purchased his freedom, and settled in the French portion of Haiti, it would seem, either as a butcher or a plantation over- seer. In the insurrection against the Fri'iu-h he gained fame as one of the ablest lieutenants of Toussaint L'Ouverture. He held out bravely against General Leclerc for some time in 1802, and, after laying down his arms, took part with Dessalines in the successful rising of 1803. During the short-lived Government of Dessalines, who was slain by a military conspiracy in 1800, Christophe was general-in-chief of the Haitian Army. In February, 1807, he was appointed President of Haiti for life. A republic being about the same time organized at Port-au-Prince, with Potion at its head, a protracted civil war ensued. In 1811 Christophe was proclaimed King of Haiti, by the name of Henry L, and was crowned June 2, 1812. By his power and skill Christophe wa.s enabled to counteract the at- tempts made by France to regain its authority in the island. His avarice and cruelty led to an insurrection, which was aided liy General Boyer, who had succeeded Potion in 1818. The rebellion spread to the capital and Christophe's deposition was proclaimed at the head of the troops. Deserted bv his bodv-guard and his nobles, he shot himself October's, 1820. He left a code of laws, which he called the Code Henri, in imitation of the Code Napolf'on. Consult: Ilozard, Santo Domingo, Past and Present: with a Glance at Haiti (London, 1893) : ]Iadiore, Histoire de Haiti (Port-au-Prince, 1897). See H.MTI. CHRIS'TOPHER, Saikt. A saint of (he Ro- man Catholie and (ireek churches. He is sup- posed to have suffered martyrdom about the