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This article is a study of Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11, and reflects on Paul’s presentation of Christ in his incarnation as the identity which fully embodies the imago Dei. The image presented in the foundational biblical text for this article is known as the kenotic image, which serves as the catalyst towards the identity of the imago Dei, as anticipated by the biblical narrative – introduced in Genesis 1:26–27 and accomplished in the New Testament. Philippians has had a great influence on the thought of many theologians because of the significant ideas expressed in this passage. Thus, the hymn recorded in Philippians 2 is one of the great examples of the New Testament, which describes both the process and the goal of the transformation of any individual towards the formation of the imago Dei identity. Christ is presented as the perfect model of the imago Dei, and his incarnation undertook different stages or phases. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This passage, as a hymn, reflects literary, historical, and theological contexts. Its literary context considers the source, the grammatical, and the redaction criticisms; its historical context considers the historical criticism that reflects on the author, date, and recipients of this text in its original format; and its theological context reflects on the tradition and canonical criticisms. Reading this passage in these various contexts reflects a pattern for a particular identity. Hence, the imperatives found within this passage serve as the catalyst to form the identity of the imago Dei.

This article employs a Christological lens, deeply informed by Bernard J. F. Lonergan’s theology of history and soteriology, to discern the conditions necessary for all-inclusive solidarity. It highlights the twofold kenotic aspect of solidarity, addressing a gap in mainstream theological discourses that often emphasize ‘particular’ solidarity with those in need while neglecting its ‘universal’ (all-inclusive) dimension. Affirming ‘universal’ solidarity necessitates guarding against a misleading notion of neutrality and against totalization, as well as resisting a truncated understanding of intersubjectivity that is prone to group bias. After laying the foundations for understanding solidarity in light of its secular origins and Christian theological context, the article concludes that redemptive solidarity cannot exist without a christomorphic kenosis, which encompasses two incommensurable dimensions: solidarity with victims and solidarity with victimizers as potential converts (that is, as capable of metanoia). In the pursuit of transforming evil into good in history, kenotic solidarity requires prioritizing the common good over personal advantage, even to the extent of refusing to exploit what is (or seems to be) rightfully one’s own—whether privilege, possessions, or the right to strict retribution— just as Christ did when he did not exploit his equality with God to his own advantage (Phil 2:6).

The article delves into two closely intertwined notions that have increasingly taken centre stage in Gianni Vattimo’s thought since the mid-eighties: secularisation and kenosis. The significance of these themes in Vattimo’s late work is such that, it is argued, it amounts to an actual Kehre , or turn. However, akin to Heidegger, Vattimo’s Kehre is not a radical break but a shift in research and reflection towards themes that, although already present in his philosophy, have assumed more distinctly religious nuances and have progressively developed up to the point where they have formed an organic perspective. The article traces this development, commencing with the notion of secularisation to then explore its interweaving with themes of emancipation and the violence of metaphysics. It concludes with a reflection on the central role of kenosis and its significance in Vattimo’s thought.

The moral status of soldiers as agent-instruments of polities has been long debated among Christians. Recognizing soldiers’ moral vulnerability, Stanley Hauerwas has argued for a pastoral rather than a missiological shape of what Oliver O’Donovan has called evangelical counter-praxis through a Christian’s participation in war. To reframe the complications of this dilemma, this essay argues that the Christian soldier has the potential to actively witness the love of Jesus Christ through a kenotic repudiation of one’s unwillingness to kill. Through an interpretation of Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, a correspondence between the Christian soldier and the apostate-cum-martyr Fr. Rodrigues is arguable through an act of paradoxical faith in Jesus, where killing the enemy becomes an imitation of his self-emptying on the cross for the sake of others. Christian soldiers may find self-understanding, healing, and forgiveness by naming their acts truthfully with the intention to move through confession to gratitude and a deeper love for God and neighbor.

Linn Tonstad’s paper, ‘(Un)wise Theologians’, identifies a theological approach that puts pressure on its ability to handle its materiality sufficiently in a number of ways. However, following the trajectory of Tonstad’s discovery of “the deformations to which theology is susceptible in the university” and elsewhere, a supplementation is required to specify where its thesis needs more rigorous development. Firstly, the paper’s argument locates what Tonstad describes as “self-securitization and self-assertion” in a form of a subjectivity characterisable as a docility making possessive form of divine givenness, and it draws the papal encyclical Fides et Ratio into Tonstad’s critique of the theology of John Webster to make this case. Secondly, Tonstad’s appeal to the reparative mode of contextualisation necessitates a differentiation to be made between modes of what is commonly called ‘contextual theology’ since there are forms that shelter under this umbrella term that echo the subjectivity of that which Tonstad uncompromisingly critiques. Thirdly, while ‘(Un)wise Theologians’ only lightly indexes a reparative direction properly “chastened” theology, a kenotically interrogative sensibility may prove to be sufficiently capacious for the critical conduct of “theological therapy”. If so, then it can function to constantly trouble the theological in an appropriate manner without flight into a premature dematerialised fixation point.

The theology of deification in the Christian tradition is fraught with misconceptions. Although it embodies the core teaching of the faith, it is not only a neglected theme of theology, but often critiqued as a Promethean distortion of the gospel and/or a semi-Pelagian heterodoxy. Hans Urs von Balthasar, through his examination of the teachings of the early Church Fathers, presents the doctrine in its Christocentric context, emphasizing its kenotic and inherently relational character. Deification is thus revealed as an antidote to the narrowly conceived notion of “justification” as salvation, which is rooted in a juridic understanding of God’s grace. Conceived as the dynamic incorporation of the believer into the life of Christ himself, deification is rightly understood as a present, existential process and thus far more than a mere eschatological hope.

The colonization of Latin America generated a legacy of suffering and irreparable loss, subjugating peoples and cultures and perpetuating structures of oppression. This article investigates how Frida Kahlo’s life and work can be thought of from the neo-Testamentary category of “kenosis”, in the sense of self-emptying that leads to resistance and openness to transcendence. The Mexican painter’s art reflects not only her personal pain but also social marginalization, gender inequality, and the impact of colonization, becoming a visual testimony to the kenosis experienced by the Latin American people. The aim of the study is to analyze how Frida Kahlo’s art resignifies pain and suffering, transforming them into an instrument of denunciation, resistance, and reinvention of herself in the face of colonial oppression and social marginalization. Methodologically, the following paintings were selected: Unos cuantos piquetitos, Las dos Fridas, El abrazo del amor del universo, la tierra (México), Diego, yo y el señor Xólotl, La columna rota, and Diego Rivera y Frida. The theoretical approach privileges voices from the continent but also includes contributions from international scholars. The results point to Frida Kahlo’s art as a visual testimony of the kenotic experience lived by the Latin American people, a space of encounter with the divine where suffering is transformed into resistance, revelation, and hope. Her work represents a path of overcoming, breaking with the invisibility imposed by colonization and offering possibilities for liberation and affirmation of cultural and spiritual identity.

This article explores the concept of the death of God in Hegel's philosophy and its implications for his political thought. It argues that Hegel's notion of the death of God involves a Christological kenotic sense of self-emptying, which extends beyond his philosophy of religion to impact his entire philosophical system, including politics, given that Hegel considers that the state consists in the march of God. The paper aims to interpret Hegel’s stance on the death of God as kenotic and its integration into his system, with the purpose of addressing how this kenotic structure manifests in concrete conceptions of the state. Specifically, it examines the enigmatic figure of the Hegelian monarch as a kenotic-political figure. Finally, it concludes that Hegel's political thought consists of a political theology of kenosis, which is more concerned with the divestment of power rather than a plenipotentiary paradigm.

The result is an elaboration of a theory of ethics different from the two dominant modern conceptions: Foucault's ethics of the self and Levinas's ethics of the other. Against the two dominant ethical paradigms of continental philosophy-Emmanuel Levinas's ethics of the Other and Michel Foucault's ethics of self-cultivation-The Self-Emptying Subjecttheorizes an ethics of self-emptying, orkenosis, that reveals the immanence of an impersonal and dispossessed life \"without a why.\" Rather than aligning immanence with the enclosures of the subject,The Self-Emptying Subjectengages the history of Christian mystical theology, modern philosophy, and contemporary theories of the subject to rethink immanence as what precedes and exceeds the very difference between the (human) self and the (divine) other, between the subject and transcendence. By arguing that transcendence operates and subjects life in secular no less than in religious domains, this book challenges the dominant distribution of concepts in contemporary theoretical discourse, which insists on associating transcendence exclusively with religion and theology and immanence exclusively with modern secularity and philosophy. The Self-Emptying Subjectargues that it is important to resist framing the relationship between medieval theology and modern philosophy as a transition from the affirmation of divine transcendence to the establishment of autonomous subjects. Through an engagement with Meister Eckhart, G.W.F. Hegel, and Georges Bataille, it uncovers a medieval theological discourse that rejects the primacy of pious subjects and the transcendence of God (Eckhart); retrieves a modern philosophical discourse that critiques the creation of self-standing subjects through a speculative re-writing of the concepts of Christian theology (Hegel); and explores a discursive site that demonstrates the subjecting effects of transcendence across theological and philosophical operations and archives (Bataille). Taken together, these interpretations suggest that if we suspend the antagonistic relationship between theological and philosophical discourses, and decenter our periodizing assumptions and practices, we might encounter a yet unmapped theoretical fecundity of self-emptying that frees life from transcendent powers that incessantly subject it for their own ends. Dubilet is a very lucid writer who does an excellent job of explaining philosophically sophisticated material without oversimplifying.Recovers a major but neglected concept drawn from Paul's letters, that underlies theories of subjectivity across a wide range of Western thought, from medieval mysticism to Hegel, to Bataille, confounding the conventional religious/secular divide.

This study analyses the theological debates surrounding the Servant Songs in the Book of Isaiah, with particular attention to the fourth song, as interpreted in medieval Jewish literature. These passages, fundamental to both Jewish and Christian tradition, became a central focus of controversial dialogue in medieval Spain. Through a systematic analysis of Hebrew commentaries, the article examines key theological issues that emerge in these debates: the universal mission of Israel, the meaning of suffering, the concept of kenosis in Pauline theology, and the doctrine of original sin. Jewish exegetes such as Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Moses Ha-Kohen of Tordesillas, and Abravanel offered critical responses to Christian claims, often proposing alternative readings based on Hebrew philology and rational anthropology. The study highlights how these exchanges contributed to a deeper understanding of divine justice, human action, and incarnation, while emphasising the importance of precise theological language in interreligious dialogue. Some anthropological and metaphysical questions briefly addressed here point to new lines of research. Ultimately, the Servant Songs reveal themselves as a privileged space for theological reflection and manifest the enduring resonance of prophetic revelation.