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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Ian A. McFarland
Affiliation:
Emory University's Candler School of Theology
David A. S. Fergusson
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Karen Kilby
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Iain R. Torrance
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Ian A. McFarland
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
David A. S. Fergusson
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Karen Kilby
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Iain R. Torrance
Affiliation:
Princeton Theological Seminary
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Summary

Ubiquity The doctrine of the ubiquity (or omnipresence) of the human nature of Jesus is a feature of Lutheran theology that derives from M. Luther's teaching that Christ is present in the consecrated elements of the Eucharist in both his divine and human natures. Luther argued that restricting the real presence to the divine nature violated the Christology of Chalcedon, according to which both natures are united in Jesus' person without division or separation. In short, Luther maintained that to have Christ in his divinity only was not to have Christ at all, since the Christ is always the Word made flesh (John 1:14). In order to account for Christ's simultaneous presence in both natures in heaven (see Ascension and Session) and at an indefinite number of geographically separate celebrations of the Eucharist on earth, however, his human nature had to share the omnipresence characteristic of the divine nature (see Attributes, Divine).

Though Luther sometimes referred to medieval Scholastic distinctions between various modes of presence to justify his claims, he preferred to defend his position by appeal to biblical texts rather than through metaphysical speculation. Later Lutheran theologians grounded the omnipresence of Christ's human nature in the Christological doctrine of the communication of attributes (communicatio idiomatum).

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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References

Gritsch, E. W. and Jenson, R. W., Lutheranism: The Theological Movement and Its Confessional Writings (Fortress Press, 1976).Google Scholar
Schmid, H., Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Augsburg Publishing Press, 1961 [1899]).Google Scholar
Rasor, P., Faith Without Certainty: Liberal Theology in the 21st Century (Skinner House, 2005).Google Scholar
Robinson, D., The Unitarians and the Universalists (Greenwood Press, 1985).Google Scholar
Berkouwer, G. C., The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 1956).Google Scholar
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Sanders, J. F., No Other Name: An Investigation into the Destiny of the Unevangelized (Eerdmans, 1992).Google Scholar
Noonan, J. T., The Scholastic Analysis of Usury (Harvard University Press, 1957).Google Scholar
Noonan, J. T., A Church That Can and Cannot Change (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005).Google Scholar

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