The incarnation is the fundamental Christian belief that God the creator deigned through his Son to enter the order of creation itself and become human. It is the central act in the drama of creation and salvation, considered to either restore the original created order, which had gone awry through sin, or as its culmination whereby creation itself is brought to completion through participation in the life of God.

The idea that God may appear in human form has antecedents in the Greco-Roman tradition. For instance, in Acts…