Jesse Sharpe PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

Introduction 11
movements; whereby, in his suffering, death, and resurrection it becomes humanity’s
suffering, death, and resurrection. The return of Jesus to heaven is the assurance that the
rest of humanity can follow because one human has made the path. It is this constant
movement of the Incarnation coming down for humans and then elevating them as being
worthy of heaven that becomes the focus of the devotional poetry which will be discussed
in this dissertation.
This chapter has primarily discussed the teachings of Protestant theologians, but
when Roman Catholic writings on the doctrines are considered, it is clear that there is no
disagreement between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics on this piece of religious
belief. In The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the First Contemplation for
the First Day of the Second Week is ‘upon the Incarnation’. 14
The founder of the Jesuits,
an order that was illegal during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, instructs his followers to
contemplate the Incarnation, and it is the first piece of doctrine that The Spiritual Exercises
instruct for meditation. Additionally, The Creed of the Council of Trent makes no
doctrinal statement regarding the Incarnation. Since much of the purpose of the Council of
Trent was to address the issues of doctrinal controversy raised by the Reformation, it could
be seen that the lack of a statement on the Incarnation could be because there was no
disagreement on this point. Furthermore, when one reads The Canons and Decrees of the
Council of Trent, under the section on ‘Decree Concerning the Symbol of Faith’, this
statement is found,
For this reason it has thought it well that the symbol of faith which the holy Roman
Church uses as the cardinal principle wherein all who profess the faith of
14 W. H. Longridge (ed.), The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (London, 1919), p. 84.