Kenotic Christology Explained and Defended
May 12, 2021
Roger E. Olson
Kenotic Christology Explained and Defended
Throughout my career as student and professor of theology I have often talked and written about “kenotic Christology.” I have read many books about the subject, had conversations with theological proponents and opponents of it, and sought to explain it to students both in academic and ecclesiastical settings.
In brief, kenotic Christology is the idea that the Son of God, God the Son, the Word/Logos, voluntarily decided to “set aside” (or retract) his attributes of glory and power in becoming incarnate as the boy and man Jesus Christ and function throughout his life on earth as a human being, not using his attributes of glory and power or even knowing about them except through revelation from his heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.