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What is Christology?
• Starts with Jesus of Nazareth, that is, the Jesus of history, and tends
to emphasize his humanity.
• We begin with Jesus, a human being like us in all things but sin, living
out his early life in obscurity and who, by his unique proclamation of
the Kingdom of God, stands out from the rest of humanity.
• He is led to Calvary and the Cross by his lifelong giving of himself in
service to others
• God raised him up and exalted him.Notice how Christ’s life proceeds
according to this Christology? It ascends.
What about modern skeptics? Modern skeptics and their claims are
UNORIGINAL. It was not modern theologians and book writers that invented
the idea of the extramarital conception of Jesus—it was insinuated by some
of his contemporaries (Jn 8:41). Reimarus did not invent the notion of Jesus’
body being stolen from the tomb; it was a well-known rumor by the time of
Matthew’s composition (Mt 28:11). D.F. Strauss was not the first to reject
the mystery of the Incarnation as unworthy of educated human beings;
Celsus and Porphyry, pagan philosophers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries derided
it well before.
But that does not mean that the Early Church was a group of
fundamentalists! It would be wrong to insinuate that the Church of the 2 nd
and 3rd centuries—which determined the biblical canon—shared 21st century
Christian fundamentalist anxiety for historical accuracy. The biblical canon
attests the Church’s conviction that the four Gospels together, in their
relative differences and essential complementarity provide the full, authentic
portrait of Jesus and the full, authentic depository of his teachings. By
preserving four DIFFERENT VERSIONS of the same story the Church
expressed that the truth of the “Quadriform Gospel” does NOT depend on
the historical accuracy of the contradictory details among the four
documents called “Matthew,” “Mark,” “Luke,” and “John.” To speak of the
Godman Jesus Christ is to speak of ultimate mysteries, the complementary
mysteries of “God” and “Human being.”
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you sent.
John 20:28ff
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to
him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
God calls us in Christ to a mystical intimacy and divine eros. This is more
than a head thing. This is a PRAYER thing. Pray.
Father
All things praise you in your Son
By your Spirit conform all things to
Jesus Christ
Grow our faith to illuminate our reason
And grant us reason to critically appropriate
Our faith.