Mortal Remains
Polar Composites
by S. M. Hutchens
In the December 23, 2016 New York Times online Opinion Pages, Peter Wehner, a member of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, wrote a piece titled "Humanizing Jesus," in which he did his Christmas best at bringing the Lord down to earth for the consumption of the people—a pious exercise, to be sure, for the teaching of the Christian faith is that this was precisely and literally what he came for. This struck some of my correspondents, however, as a suspicious operation, for many of us have spent a good deal of time in our churches attempting to save the Lord of heaven from being treated as common earth—Jesus our ol' buddy, the best guy we know, qualified above all others for the honorary presidency of the Possum Lodge International.
There have always been opposing, and I think necessary, tendencies in the church to emphasize the Lord's exaltation or humiliation. Both answer to reality and human need. Where one impulse is felt to be lacking, the other tends to assert itself. Where the refulgently fearsome King is emphasized, the gentle and approachable Jesus follows; in the wake of Pius IX, Thérèse of Lisieux; in the home of the powerfully ordered Puritan spirit, all sorts of subjective arrangements with Jesus.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on christianity from the online archives
30.6—Nov/Dec 2017
on Benedict XVI on the Fairest of the Sons of Men by Michael Martin De Sapio
8.4—Fall 1995
The Demise of Biblical Preaching
Distortions of the Gospel and its Recovery by Donald G. Bloesch
31.1—January/February 2018
on Taking the Measure of the Deserving & the Undeserving Poor by Martin Bordelon
more from the online archives
31.1—January/February 2018
on Ragnarök, an Extreme Weather Event & the Paths to Conversion by Timothy J. Burbery
30.5—Sept/Oct 2017
The Critical History Before, During & After Martin Luther by James Hitchcock
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
