David Bradshaw: What Is Divine Condescension?

The notion of divine condescension (συγκατάβασις) is widely used by the Fathers in interpreting the anthropomorphisms of Scripture, such as references to divine wrath, to God delighting in animal sacrifice, and to his changing his mind and learning from new events. However, “condescension” can mean two quite different things. It can mean that God merely pretends to take on the attribute depicted, so that, for example, he does not actually delight in animal sacrifice, but acts as if he does for our sake. Or it can mean that he does take on the attribute, but only in a temporal context and not in his eternal being; on this view, for example, he actually does delight in animal sacrifice during a certain period of human history. I will attempt to sort out to what extent the Fathers endorse either or both of these interpretations, and what the resulting view implies for their understanding of God’s relation to the world.