The word, Christology, is rather like biology, or zoology, or
any other word with “logy” attached to the end. It is the study or knowledge of
Christ. What is Christ? How is Jesus of Nazareth Christ? What does Christ mean
to me/us?
In seminary I had to submit periodic papers in which I
described my own personal Christology. The formation of my Christology was, and continues to be, a
process. I trust that process is growth toward the
truth. The comments that follow represent my latest articulation of that
process.
The question of Christ is an extension of the question of
God. The identity and nature of God are at stake in the rabbinic debates which
make up a literary form in much Hebrew Scripture. What is God like? It’s a
primeval question; and the varied approaches in Hebrew Scripture may seem to reveal
more contradiction than consensus.
One testimony, generally represented by more ancient wisdom
and prophetic writings, describes God as adversarially jealous in regard to his
(sic) people and his territory. This testimony portrays a brutal God: judging and punishing any who defy or ignore him. Not even Genocide
bothers this God; indeed, he orders it.
Counter-testimony, represented primarily by later wisdom and prophetic
writings, presents God as gracious, nurturing, and restoring. The role of judgment
belongs to God’s antagonist, Satan, while God works to reconcile a Satan-duped
humanity to himself (again, using the male pronoun only to be consistent with
Scripture).
It was the latter representation of God that Jesus of Nazareth
chose to manifest in his own life and ministry. The Gospel of John picks up on one
Hebrew concept of God’s presence, viz., “Word of the Lord”, and identifies Word
as a manifestation of the eternal, pre-existent quality or persona of God: “In the beginning was the Word” (John
1:1). In Jesus of Nazareth, that Word was lived out in human community—the
“Word became flesh” (John 1:14). C. S. Lewis wrote, ““It is Christ Himself,
not the Bible, who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit
and with the guidance of good teachers will bring us to Him.”[1]
Theologian,
Walter Wink, begins the 9th chapter
of his book, The Powers that
Be (Doubleday, 1998) with these words:
“American culture is presently in the first stages of a
spiritual renaissance. To the degree that this renaissance is Christian at all,
it will be the human figure of Jesus that galvanizes hearts to belief and
action, and not the Christ of the creeds or the Pauline doctrine of
justification by grace through faith. And in the teachings of Jesus, the
sayings on nonviolence and love of enemies will hold a central place. Not
because they are more true than any others, but because they are crucial in the
struggle to overcome domination without creating new forms of domination.”
Recently on Facebook I posted a quote from a late colleague,
teacher, and friend:
“If in reading the Bible you find justification for abusing,
humiliating, disgracing, harming, or hurting, especially when it makes you feel
better about yourself, you are absolutely wrong.”
― Fred B. Craddock, The Collected Sermons of
Fred B. Craddock
In response, a long-time friend (she used to
baby-sit with our kids) posted: “If
you're reading a Bible that justifies any of those things, you probably need to
enroll in a remedial reading class AFTER you start wearing your new
prescription lenses...”
That response is what stimulated this whole string of thought
(for me, that’s not a difficult thing to accomplish!), and I responded:
“Actually,
by being very, very selective in your reading of Scripture, it's possible to
justify all of the above. The rabbinic method of testimony/counter-testimony
debate runs throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and into the recorded teachings of
Jesus. That method compared contradictory propositions and the subsequent
debates among the rabbis were seen as ways of increasing the faith. There is a
distinct and consistent trajectory throughout, and if we follow that trajectory
we eventually find Jesus of Nazareth, who took sides in the debate, rejecting
all the things named in the Craddock quote above. My choice is to affirm Jesus'
position and try to live it. After more than 77 years, I feel as if I'm just
beginning to comprehend what Jesus was all about.”
The thoughts kept coming. The following concluding comments are
an expansion of a subsequent post in the Facebook conversation with my friend:
The idea of the biblical trajectory isn't my idea originally; I
discovered it in the writings of a postmodern theologian named Derek Flood[2].
Moreover, the testimony/counter-testimony[3]
tag is from Walter Brueggemann, a leading scholar of Hebrew Scripture. Perhaps
a better way to apply Jesus' relationship to that trajectory is to say that it
describes the human comprehension of the will of God, and Jesus CHOSE that
trajectory (see the temptation narratives in Matthew 4, Mark 1, and Luke 4) and
lived it out as "the visible image of the invisible God" (Colossians
1:15). It is in his total obedience to that divine will that he fulfills the Hebrew
anticipation of the servant of God.
“Servant” is Isaiah’s
characterization of the messianic anticipations of Israel. Isaiah described the
“servant” in a series of Servant Songs: Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-7 and
52:13-53:12. Some scholars add Isaiah 61:1-3; although the word servant does
not appear in the passage. I believe it was specifically through these passages
that Jesus experienced and accepted his identity. It is through those servant
songs that I find the clearest and most consistent understandings of Jesus as
the anticipated Christ. To the degree that we live and
manifest that same divine will we live "in Christ" (Romans 6:11, 23,
et. al.)”
[Note: All footnotes were added during this present writing and
did not appear in the initial Facebook posts.]
That’s how it looks through the Flawed Glass that is my world
view.
Together in the Walk,Jim
[1]
C. S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol III, edited by
Walter Hooper (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco: @ 2007)—Spcifically, a letter
written to a Ms. Johnson on November 8, 1952.
[2]
Derek Flood, Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking Liberals, Violence-Loving
Conservatives, and Why We All Need to Learn to Read the Bible Like Jesus Did.
(San Francisco: Metanoia Books, 2014), 82, et. al.
[3]
Walter Brueggemann. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute,
Advocacy. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), 317-318.
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