Phrase guide

scandal of particularity

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The paradox inherent in the idea of a particular individual human (Jesus of Nazareth) incarnating the eternal divine God.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: lifestyle, religion, theology

Examples

  • 1994: A materialism [...] was supposed to be what science favoured: and the ‘scandal of particularity’, God becoming incarnate in Christ in human history, was indeed regarded as a scandal — that is, absurd — by contemporary intellectuals. — Richard Swinburne, Reason and the Christian Religion (Oxford 1994, p. 1)
  • 2006: Reformed theologians look to the scandal of particularity as a way of naming how the unknowable God is known to us. — Cynthia L Rigby, ‘Scandalous Presence’, Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics (John Knox 2006, p. 59)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of German Ärgernis der Einmaligkeit