Catholic Thought and Practice Christology (Detail, John Piper, The Supper at Emmaus, Llandaff Cathedral) Dr Amy Daughton Michaelmas Term 2015
Christology Module description This module on Christology intends to consider a variety of different models of understanding the historical figure of Jesus Christ and the significance of these understandings for theology and practice today. Beginning with a general overview to offer appropriate historical context, the course will continue through important perspectives in contemporary debates in Christology. A range of sources (scriptural, historical, artistic and literary, critical) will be drawn on to enrich student understanding of the doctrine of Christ in the context of other doctrinal ideas and other theological disciplines. In this way various issues for the Church and the world will be considered through the doctrinal focus on Jesus: the environment, love and justice, the role of women, intercultural encounter. Learning outcomes By the end of the course the student will be able to: Identify a variety of different models of Christology; Critique the implications of given models of Christology; Articulate key continuing debates within the contemporary study of Christology; Reflect on how the person of Jesus is normative for her theology and practice. How we will use our weekly readings Readings are supplied for each week. Each week deals with a different area of debate and teaching in relation to the overall theme of Christology. For this module, the choice of texts has been made to prompt your thinking about that week s particular question. The texts do not usually offer an overview of the question (with the exception of week 1) but instead represent a significant viewpoint within that particular debate. For example, in week 5 we deal with the idea of grace and its role in the person of Christ by looking at the meditations of Julian of Norwich, a significant female theologian in the history of Christianity in Britain. The questions that accompany each reading are designed to get you thinking critically about the viewpoint in the text, so that as we broaden the question out in the classroom, you will already have a sense of where you might stand on the debate even if it s only a tentative notion! In this way you are learning to interrogate a text when you read it and relate it to your own thinking. Often these question will include asking you to reflect on your own experience in relation to the argument or worldview being offered in the text. So during class we ll be able to draw on each other s experience or critical thinking to mutually shape our understanding of the question under discussion - this allows a balance between learning from each other and contributing wherever we are each able.
Reading List and Questions Week 1 Believing in Christ Reading: Rowan Williams, A History of Faith in Jesus in Marcus Bockmuehl (eds.) Cambridge Companion to Jesus (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) How many different models of christology can you identify in this text? Is there any particular model that particularly speaks to you? Week 2 Jesus of Nazareth Sean Freyne, The Galilean Jesus and a Contemporary Christology in Theological Studies 70 (2009) What aspects of Gallilean life that Freyne highlights already speak to your sense of who Jesus was? Is the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman concerning to you? Week 3 Incarnation NB: This week you will be divided into two groups, one will be required to read Cone, the other Radford Ruether. You can feel free to read both! Rosemary Radford Ruether, Christology: Can a Male Savior Save Women? in her own Sexism and God-Talk. Toward a Feminist Theology (London: SCM Press, 1983), pp. 116-138 Is Radford Ruether s concern reasonable? Do any of the alternative Christologies appeal to you? James Cone, Jesus Christ in Black Theology in Curt Cadorette, Marie Giblin, Marilyn J. Legge, Mary H. Snyder (eds.) Liberation Theology: An Introductory Reader (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock), pp. Is Cone speaking literally when he says that Jesus Christ was black? Do you agree with his argument on that point? Week 4 Parable, going beyond NB this looks like a lot, because there are two readings, but the Ricoeur text is very short, and the Dostoevsky is a story, so don t panic! Do read both. Paul Ricoeur, The Logic of Jesus, the Logic of God in his own with Mark Wallace (ed.) Figuring the Sacred. Religion, Narrative and the Imagination (Augsburg, MN: Fortress Press, 1995) AND
Fyodr Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (London: Vintage, 2004) Does the relationship between Jesus s commandments and those of Hebrew Scripture offered in this text make sense to you? How would you describe the relationship between love and justice? Week 5 Holy Saturday NB Again, don t panic, this looks like a lot, but each one is very short, so please read them all. Anonymous, Homily on Holy Saturday: The Lord s Descent Into Hell (available at: http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html, last accessed 14/11/14) Anonymous, The Harrowing of Hell in A. Cawley (ed.), Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays, (Letchworth, Herts: Dent & Sons Ltd, 1956) I, II.1-212 Karl Rahner, Grace in Freedom (The Catholic Book Club, 1970), pp. 124-5 In what sense are these texts offering the reader doctrine? How do you think these stories about Holy Saturday relate to the resurrection? Week 6 Jesus and Grace Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text, tr Elizabeth Spearing (London: Penguin, 1998), 51-64 Our sensory being is in Christ alone what do take this to mean? Does the image of Jesus as mother offer you any difficulties? Week 7 The Missiology of Jesus Teresa Okure, Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in Janet Martin Soskice, Diana Lipton (eds.) Feminism and Theology (Oxford: OUP, 2003) Have you ever been bothered by the image of Jesus saying touch me not? Do you agree with Okure s argument that Mary Magdalene s is the foundational commission to discipleship? Week 8 Jesus and Cosmology Reading - J. Moltmann, Cosmic Christ in E. Moltmann-Wendel, J. Moltmann, Humanity in God (London: Pilgrim Press, 1983). How important is it to think about Jesus in cosmic terms? Can you see any problems with this way of thinking?
Suggested Essay Questions Could Jesus speak Chinese? What happened on Holy Saturday? What is at stake in naming Jesus as God s Son? To what extent is Jesus identity as Christ confirmed by his resurrection? Choose a literary representation of Jesus. Do you find this a satisfactory refiguration of who Jesus is? What does Jesus incarnation mean for his relationship with humanity? Further Reading Jeff Astley, David Brown, Ann Loades (eds.), Christology: Key Readings in Christian Thought (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) Paul Blowers, Drama of the Divine Economy: Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety (Oxford: OUP, 2012) Marcus Bockmuehl (ed.) Cambridge Companion to Jesus (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) Leonardo Boff, Jesus Christ Liberator: A Critical Christology of our Time (London: 1980) Thomas Bohache, Christology from the Margins (London: SCM Press, 2008) Anne Clifford, Christology: Memory, Inquiry, Practice (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003) James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2011) Celia Deane-Drummoned A Critique of Jürgen Moltmann s Green Theology in New Blackfriars (2007), pp. 554-565 Celia Deane-Drummond Ecology and Christology in her own Eco-Theology (London, Dartman, Longman & Todd, 2007), pp. 99-113 Tom Driver, Christ in a Changing World (New York: Crossroads, 1980) Fyodr Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor in his own The Brothers Karamozov (many editions) Sarah Edwards (ed.) Christology in Dialogue (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2003) John Hick, The Metaphor of God Incarnate (London: SCM Press, 1993) Larry Hurtado, How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005), Elizabeth Johnson, Quest for the Living God. Mapping Frontier in the Theology of God (London: Bloomsbury, 2007) Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ, (multiple editions), Jesus the Christ (multiple editions) Kwok Pui-Lan (ed.), Hope Abundant. Third World and Indigenous Woman s Theology. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2010) Nicholas Lash, 1977, Continuity and Discontinuity in the Christian Understanding of God in Irish Theological Quarterly, Vol.44/3, 291-302.
Nicholas Lash, 1980, Up and down in Christology in New Studies in Theology vol. 1. Paul Molnar, Incarnation and Resurrection: Toward a Contemporary Understanding (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007) Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, Jesus of Asian Women (New Delhi: Logos Publishing, 2006) Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jesus - God and Man, tr. Lewis L. Wilkins and Duane A. Priebe. (London: SCM, 1968) T.E. Pollard, Johannine Christology and the Early Church (Cambridge: CUP, 2005) Ben Quash, Ward, M., 2007, Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why it matters what Christians believe. (London: SPCK, 2007) Karl Rahner, Dogmatic Questions on Easter, in: Theological Investigations IV, tr. Kevin Smyth. (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966), pp. 121-133. Friedrich Schleiermacher, Christmas Stories in his own Christmas Eve. Dialogue on the Incarnation, tr. Terrence Tice (Lampeter, Wales: Edward Melyn Press, 1990). Christoph von Schönborn, 1994, God's Human Face: The Christ-icon (Ignatius Press) Denys Turner, Darkness of God and Light of Christ in Modern Theology 15:2 April 1999 Rowan Williams, The Finality of Christ in his own On Christian Theology, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000)