Toward Theological Anthropology: Tracing the Anthropological Principles of John Webster

John Webster rooted his doctrine of the human creature in a thick portrait of the living God in and of himself as well as in his works wherein he creates, sustains, redeems and perfects them unto life in him. This essay will seek to unfold, introduce and assess his methodological principles for pursuing a distinctly theological anthropology by attending to his engagement of external threats in postmodern anthropology and internal challenges from christocentric anthropologies. We will suggest ways in which his anthropological project suggests a way forward for those doing systematic work today in as much as it not only offers a confident approach on distinctly Christian terms but slowly ponders the fundamental facets of such a schema, tending to theology and creation prior to a focus upon incarnational Christology as a necessary means of engaging in 'biblical reasoning'.