L u d w i g F e u e r b a c h We se n de s Ch r i s te n t um s 1 84 1 T h e E s se n c e o f C h ri s t i a ni t y, 1 8 54 A d ol f vo n Ha r n ac k D a s We se n d e s C h r i s te n t u m s 1 9 0 0 Wh at i s C hr i st i a ni t y? 19 01 F ri ed r ic h G og a rt en Was is t Christen tum? 1956 C h ri s t ia n i ty i s C h r is t c e n tr a l i t y o f C h ri s t Kar l Bar th D o gm a t i cs i s C h r is t o l og y C hr is to l og ic al re du ct io n is m or Ch ri st o mo ni sm 1 1 Emil Brunner 3 A new Barth! Emil Brunner, The New Barth, Observations on Karl Barth s Doctrine of Man, SJT 4 (1951): 123 35
38 20 03.1 c o n t r o l l i n g fa ct or C h r is t i a n i t y i s a n h i s t o r i ca l r e l i gi o n 2 s o l u s C h r i s t u s 3 23 32 36 6 5 6 2 Alan Richardson, Creeds in the Making (London: SCM, 1935), 5ff.
39 2 7 4 N ic e n e- C on s t an t in o po l i ta n C r e ed Ch al ce do ni an C re ed G ot th ol d E ph r ai m Le s si ng t h e c o n t i ng e n t t ru t h s of hi sto ry c an nev er pro vide th e p roo f o f t he n ece ssa ry t ru t hs of r ea s on D a s We s e n d e s C h r i s t e n t u m s Pa ul T il li ch 3 3 Paul Tillich, Perspectives on Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Protestant Theology (London: SCM, 1967), 225 26. How is it possible to lay a foundation for a responsible and universal understanding of this Person (of Jesus)
40 20 03.1 re li gi on abo ut J e s u s r e l i g i o n o f J e s u s 4 a do pt io n is t Ch ri s to lo gy t he e te r na l pr i nc ip le of v ic a ri ou s l ov e an d self-sac rifice other than through a critical-historical study, therewith to prevent the trading-in of an uncritical Christ for the real Christ? (G. C. Berkouwer, A Half Century of Theology: Movements and Motives [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 43) 4 Adolf von Harnack, What is Christianity? (New York: Harper & Row, 1957), 39 51.
41 T h e M y t h o f Go d I n c a r n a t e C hr is ti an it y wi th o ut i nc ar na ti on 5 M a u r i c e Wi l e s 6 Ge orge Ty rrel l 5 John Hick, ed., The Myth of God Incarnate (London: SCM, 1977). 6 Maurice Wiles, Christianity without Incarnation? in The Myth of God Incarnate, 1 10.
42 20 03.1 7 8 9 r ad ic al h is to ri ca l sk ep ti ci sm 2 10 R u d o l f Bu l t m a n n A lb e rt Sc hw e it z er Vo n R e i ma r u s zu Wr ed e 1 9 0 6 T h e Q u e s t o f t he H i st or i ca l J es us, 19 10 1 9 2 6 J e s u s J e su s a n d t h e Wo r d, 1 9 34 E n t m y t h o l o g i s i e r u n g 7 The Christ that Harnack sees, looking back through nineteen centuries of Catholic darkness, is only the reflection of a Liberal Protestant face, seen at the bottom of a deep well (George Tyrrell, Christianity at the Crossroads [London: Longmans Green, 1909], 49). 8 Hermann Diem, Dogmatics: Its Way Between Historicism and Existentialism (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1959), 8. 9 Tillich, Perspectives on Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Protestant Theology, 226 27. 10 227
43 11 1 2 13 14 w h a t - C h r i s t - i s - t o - m e w h at - J es u s -i s - hi m s el f 1 5 11 Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, 2d ed. (New York: Charles Scribner s Sons, 1958), 6, 8. 12 Rudolf Bultmann, Bultmann Replies to His Critics, in Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate, ed. Hans-Werner Bartsch, 2 vols., combined ed. (London: SPCK, 1972), 1:191 92. 13 Rudolf Bultmann, What Does It Mean to Speak of God? in Faith and Understanding (London: SCM, 1969), 1:55. 14 Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology (London: SCM, 1960), 53. 15 Rudolf Bultmann, On the Question of Christology, in Faith and Understanding, 1:132.
44 20 03.1 v a n i s h i n g p o i n t re duc ti oni st Ch ris tol og y C h ri s t a ft e r th e f l es h cristo.j kata. sa,rka 1 6 16
45 Ph ili pp Mela nch tho n To know C hr is t is t o kn ow al l hi s be ne fi ts, n ot t o co nt em pl at e h i s n a t u re. 17 fu,sij, ouvsi,a, upo,stasij r e d e m p t i v e c on ce r n o r re d em p ti ve co n tr ol 18 for us men and f or our salvation [ he ] ca m e d o w n a n d b e ca m e i n c ar n a te... i n t h e s e l a s t d ay s b e ca u s e o f u s a n d b e c a u s e o f o u r s a l v a t i o n b e g o t t e n f r o m t he Vi r g in Ma r y... 17 Hoc est Christum cognoscere, beneficia eius cognoscere. 18 For he (the Word) was made man that we might be made God, and he manifested himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father. [St. Athanasius of Alexandria]; The unassumed is the unredeemed. (to. ga.r avpro,slhpton, avqera,peuton) [St. Gregory of Nazianzus]; What has not been taken up has not been saved. ( o] ga.r mh. prosei,lhptak, ouvde. se,swstai) [St. Cyril of Alexandria]
46 20 03.1 A r i u s p r o t o n k t i s m a 1 9 2 0 o`moou,sion tw / Patri, o`molo,gon tw / Patri, o`moene,rgeia tw / Patri, 2 1 19 Athanasius, Contra Arianos 1:6 20 Alasdair I. C. Heron, Homoousios with the Father, in The Incarnation: Ecumenical Studies in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, ed. Thomas F. Torrance (Edinburgh: Handsel, 1981), 68. 21 For if this Foundation stands and is ours by faith that Christ is both God s Son and the Virgin s Son in one person then I have all that is necessary.... And I am relieved of all fear and anxiety of my
47 22 S t. A t ha n a s iu s ouvsi,a tou/ Cristou/ ouvsi,a qeou/ i u s t i t i a C h r i s t i i u s t i t i a D e i D ie tr ic h B on h oe ff er W H O q u e s t i o n H O W q ue s t i o n 23 h o c e s t h o c s i g n i fi c a t 24 own heart (Helmut T. Lehmann and Jaroslav Pelikan, eds., Luther s Works, 55 vols., American ed. [Philadelphia: Fortress; St. Louis: Concordia, 1955 76], 24:97). 22 George Yule, Luther s Understanding of Justification by Grace Alone in terms of Catholic Christology, in Luther: Theologian for Catholics and Protestants, ed. George Yule (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1985), 87 112 23 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christology (Glasgow: Collins, 1978. 24 Thomas Forsyth Torrance, God and Rationality (London: OUP, 1971), 58 64
48 20 03.1 2 5 25 Karl Barth, How I Changed My Mind (Edinburgh: St Andrew Press, 1969), 8. Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann An Attempt to Understand Him, in Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate, 2:83 132; Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., Karl Barth Rudolf Bultm ann Letters 1922 1966 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1982)
49 26 2 7 26 652 2000 2 27 11 27 I am afraid this only shows that they are blinding their eyes to the real problem. I mean, one should rather be startled that philosophy is saying the same thing as the New Testament and saying it quite independently (Rudolf Bultmann, New Testament and Mythology, in Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate, 1:25).
50 20 03.1 Gustavo Gutiérrez 28 29 o p e n n e s s o f G o d 28 Society of Christian Philosophers 29 Thomas Torrance John Polkinghorne
51 3 0 plurality diversity 30 The Christ of History and the Christ of Revelation, The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 43 (1998): 401 19 The Epistemological Significance of Homoousion in the Theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance, SJT 45, no. 3 (1992): 341 67
One Christ, Many Discourses (An abstract) Kang Phe e Se ng @ Jiang Pishe ng Associate Professor Department of Religion and Philosophy Hong Kong Baptist University From the earliest time of the New Testament till the present day, there have always been different Christological discourses. This paper examines three of the most influential Christologies in the twentieth centuries, namely, the moral exemplar of Harnack s historical Jesus, the religious symbol of Bultmann s Christ of faith, and the incarnate Christ of Barth s Nicene Christology. The paper argues that these Christologies, stric tly spe aking, are not diffe re nt Christological discourses of the one same Christ. They are so radically different that they cannot be taken properly as pluralistic approaches in Christology. It is argued that Harnack in fact needs no Christology in his simple and sublime Christian religion. His at best is a Jesusology constructed out of the science of historical method. Bultmann, on the other hand, having shown no interest in the biography of Jesus, resorts to simply dismissing the life and person of Jesus as cristo.j kata. sa,rka. The Christ in his Christology soon becomes a function of religious experiences. Ultimately, this Christology has to let go of any insistence of one Christ. The paper argues that Nicene Christology best fits the expression of one Christ, many
One Christ, Many Discourses 53 discourses. By holding on to the one incarnate Christ, Nicence Christology has been and remains the anchor of historical Christianity. Far from being conservative and static, it has proven to be fertile in the history of Christian thought and ha s produce d differe nt Christologic al discourses.