God is doing a new thing. It is complex, and yet it can be summarized in a single word. The ancient church called it recapitulation. The word means, “to do over again.” In Jesus Christ, God does creation “over again.” Jesus Christ is the second creation, the new beginning of creation and creatures. God’s embrace of us in Jesus Christ recapitulates the human situation.
-Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 137-138.