Infinite Risk Theology

Could God’s Son incarnate sin? Could the tomb have remained closed? Could the story have gone differently? More precisely, could God’s Son be eternally separated from the Father’s communion and eventually die and go out of existence? Mainstream theology often argued for Christ’s impossibility to change (immutability), be separated from the triune God (indivisibility), and sin (impeccability). Consequently, there was no potential risk to his life; his death on the cross could not affect in any form his divine life. Would the cross not need, instead, a risk to be a sacrifice? Here is where the question finds its raison d'être: Could God’s Son risk his eternal existence, losing himself forever with all humankind? This question is rarely considered or often neglected in Christological debates. Ellen G. White, a woman among the most prolific nineteenth-century authors and a prominent Adventist theologian, delves into what she calls the “infinite risk,” the potential reality of the death of God the Son. Drawing on her extensive writings, this book analyses White’s Christology, Incarnational model, and views of the Godhead and of what (could have) happened at the cross, cutting new paths in the comprehension of God’s love while challenging conventional theological paradigms.

Stefano Salemi is a Departmental Tutor in Theology and Biblical Studies at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He is also Professor of Biblical Studies, Languages, and Theology at the Sydney College of Divinity and previously Director of the Australian Centre for Biblical and Theological Research. He has held or continues to hold research and/or teaching posts at various universities, including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, King’s College London, University of London, North-West University (as an extraordinary researcher), Sheffield University (SCIBS), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.