The Virgin Birth According to Temple Christology

Book excerpt: The Virgin Birth According to Temple Christology builds an exegetical, theological, and catholic case for understanding Jesus’ incarnation as an act of divine temple construction. It attempts to explain that Jesus-the-temple had to have a virgin mother because of Jesus’ unique status as the temple of God who was “made without human hands.” This study answers the call to reintroduce the nexus between Christology and typology as they were originally bound together by theologians such as Athanasius of Alexandria. Unfortunately, for most of church history, Christology and typology have gone their separate ways. This divergence is so stark that the imagery and words of scripture have lost their voice in the context of Christian dogmatics. David H. Wenkel demonstrates that a typological study of biblical persons, events, and institutions can increase our understanding of Jesus, especially of his virginal conception. Thus, this study is a resource for a wide range of Christian traditions.