{"id":1476,"date":"2016-04-08T20:09:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-09T00:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1476"},"modified":"2016-04-08T20:09:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-09T00:09:46","slug":"the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html","title":{"rendered":"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Young Messiah <\/em>(TYM<\/em>) is a film at once entertaining and endearing. An admittedly fictionalized imagining of Jesus as a seven year-old boy, this movie\u2019s treatment of its subject matter is eminently respectful.<\/p>\n

Not everyone feels this way, however.<\/p>\n

Dave Armstrong, a \u201cprofessional Catholic apologist,\u201d concedes in Patheos<\/em><\/a> that \u201cthere are several aspects of [the] development<\/em> of the human knowledge of Jesus\u2026that are legitimate and perfectly orthodox [.]\u201d It is, though, un<\/em>orthodox and, hence, il<\/em>legitimate to depict Christ as \u201cgrowing into\u2026<\/em> awareness\u201d of His identity, for the Church has affirmed for centuries that, from conception, Jesus knew that He was God<\/em> (italics added).<\/p>\n

Armstrong quotes Neil Madden who, writing at Conservative Review, <\/em>makes the following remark:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019The Young Messiah\u2019\u201d depicts Mary and Joseph as having more knowledge about Jesus\u2019s true nature than He does. This is a problem. If Jesus was always God, begotten and not made, surely wouldn\u2019t an omnipotent God know who he was as he was learning and growing in preparation for His mission here on Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Armstrong doesn\u2019t seem to notice it, he and Madden are actually making two distinct points. Armstrong\u2019s point is that Jesus, in His humanity<\/em>, knew that He was God from the time that He was conceived. Madden, on the other hand, refers to Jesus in His divinity. <\/em><\/p>\n

Doubtless, this controversy stems from nothing less than the mystery<\/em> of the uniquely Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, the doctrine that God became a human being in Jesus: Christ is \u201ctrue God and true man,\u201d fully divine and fully human.<\/p>\n

Two replies to TYM\u2019s <\/em>critics are in the coming.<\/p>\n

First, if Neil Madden is correct that Jesus, being \u201can omnipotent God\u201d must have always known His own identity \u201cas he was learning and growing in preparation for His mission here on Earth,\u201d then there would\u2019ve been no \u201clearning<\/em> and growing<\/em> in preparation\u201d for that mission, for \u201can omnipotent God\u201d would\u2019ve had already<\/em> known all <\/em>that could be known about everything<\/em> and anything.<\/em><\/p>\n

On the other hand, if the \u201comnipotence\u201d of Christ in His divinity<\/em> is compatible with Christ in His humanity <\/em>coming to learn and grow in some<\/em> matters, then it is, in principle, compatible with Christ as fully human<\/em> coming to learn and grow in all<\/em> matters.<\/p>\n

Secondly, unlike Madden, Armstrong alludes to Christ in His humanity, Christ at conception. <\/em> Yet even here it is a mistake to think that if Christ knew from conception that He was God that He could not <\/em>have grown into an awareness of His identity.<\/p>\n

The two propositions do not necessarily contradict one another\u2014as long as \u201cknowledge\u201d isn\u2019t construed in an unduly shallow sense.<\/p>\n

From at least the time of Plato throughout the centuries until Freud and beyond, a great many thinkers (and non-thinkers alike) have been of the mind that knowledge can be explicit and implicit, conscious and un<\/em>conscious. Examples abound to suggest that this position has something going for it.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, what is known as \u201cthe principle of non-contradiction,\u201d the principle that a thing can\u2019t be and not be in the same respect and at the same time, that \u201c(A) and (non-A)\u201d must <\/em>be false. Though most people outside of philosophy and logic classes have never heard of this principle, everyone knows it, for it is the most fundamental law of all thought.<\/p>\n

Students must \u201cgrow into an awareness\u201d of the principle of non-contradiction. And yet they\u2019ve known <\/em>it all of their lives.<\/p>\n

If knowing could consist in human subjects growing into an awareness of (at least some of) what they already implicitly know, then how much more fitting would such an approach be regarding the God-Man? Consider: As God, Christ would had to have known all things from eternity. As a man, Christ would have to have grown and developed like all humans\u2014even if that knowledge was already in Him from conception.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, TYM\u2019s <\/em>portrayal of Jesus as learning His divine identity from Joseph and Mary is compatible with the position that, in His divinity,<\/em> He always knew His identity. It\u2019s also compatible with the idea that Christ, in His humanity<\/em>, knew His identity from conception.<\/p>\n

The only position that the thesis of TYM <\/em>obviously contradicts is the thesis that Jesus, in His humanity, <\/em>or from conception, <\/em>was fully conscious <\/em>of his divine nature, for if this thesis was true, then it would\u2019ve indeed been logically impossible for Jesus to have grown into <\/em>a consciousness of His identity.<\/p>\n

The Young Messiah <\/em>doesn\u2019t deviate at all from theological orthodoxy when it comes to the question of Jesus\u2019s knowledge of His own divine identity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Young Messiah (TYM) is a film at once entertaining and endearing. An admittedly fictionalized imagining of Jesus as a seven year-old boy, this movie\u2019s treatment of its subject matter is eminently respectful. Not everyone feels this way, however. Dave Armstrong, a \u201cprofessional Catholic apologist,\u201d concedes in Patheos that \u201cthere are several aspects of [the]…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Young Messiah (TYM) is a film at once entertaining and endearing. An admittedly fictionalized imagining of Jesus as a seven year-old boy, this movie\u2019s treatment of its subject matter is eminently respectful. Not everyone feels this way, however. Dave Armstrong, a \u201cprofessional Catholic apologist,\u201d concedes in Patheos that \u201cthere are several aspects of [the]…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-09T00:09:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics","og_description":"The Young Messiah (TYM) is a film at once entertaining and endearing. An admittedly fictionalized imagining of Jesus as a seven year-old boy, this movie\u2019s treatment of its subject matter is eminently respectful. Not everyone feels this way, however. Dave Armstrong, a \u201cprofessional Catholic apologist,\u201d concedes in Patheos that \u201cthere are several aspects of [the]…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html","og_site_name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","article_published_time":"2016-04-09T00:09:46+00:00","author":"Jack Kerwick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html","name":"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-09T00:09:46+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-09T00:09:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/04\/the-young-messiah-a-response-to-its-critics.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Young Messiah: A Response to its Critics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/","name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jack Kerwick","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5","name":"Jack Kerwick","description":"I have a Ph.D. in philosophy from Temple University, a master's degree in philosophy from Baylor University, and a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religious studies from Wingate University. I teach philosophy at several colleges in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jackkerwick.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/author\/jkerwick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1477,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476\/revisions\/1477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}