Tiêu đề Theological Matters on Christology.docx ✅

1 THEOLOGICAL MATTERS ON CHRISTOLOGY What is meant by “Christology”? 1. The name Christos = Messiah = the Anointed one. First, it was just a title; then, it became a personal name. 2. Christology in the broad term/ sense It discusses any evaluation of Jesus in respect to: ⇨ Who Jesus is: => his nature => ontological ⇨ The role he played in the salvation history =>function => soteriology 3. Low Christology Vs High Christology ⇨ Low Christology: Affirms Jesus’s humanity, may or may not affirm his divinity ⇨ High Christology: affirms Jesus’s divinity, may or may not affirms his humanity So, High and Low Christology is an assessment of Jesus’ nature either divine or human. It can be called Ontological Christology. 4. Christology from below Vs Christology from above They are about the methodology – the way of studying Jesus ⇨ Christology from below: starting point: history (disciples’ experiences, Jewish at the 1 st century… o It can lead to either low Christology or high Christology o Catholics affirm both: Jesus is fully human, fully divine ⇨ Christology from above: starting point – the doctrines, dogmatic claims of our faith. E.g. Son of eternal God, second person of the Trinity…
2 The Three Quests for the Historical Jesus I. The first quest ⇨ Strong points: o Historical Jesus maybe different from the Christ of faith, of the disciples or of the Church o Maybe the historical Jesus be related or different from Jesus of faith. o So there is a distinction between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith – the Church’s interpretation of Christ evens. ⇨ Weak points: o Solely rely on historical research, while it is not perfect because the researcher has his/her own perspectives, faith, the historical data are not adequate… o Rejecting divine revelation, and purely human effort II. The second quest ⇨ Social science developed in the 19 th century such as historical research – applied to study Bible – we have source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism… ⇨ Strong points: o Not just a product of the Enlightenment o The Gospel does not purely history, but it rooted in history. There is much historical truth. o It recognizes the continuity between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith, between history and kerygma. ⇨ Weak points: o Dismiss the miracles as mythical o Dismiss the eschatological events III. The third quest ⇨ Strong points: o Make use of historical methods of research and other social sciences o Make use of canonical and non-canonical sources o Make use of the natural and social sciences ⇨ Weak points: o The “Jesus seminar”: naïve notions / claim that the real Jesus is the historical Jesus contained by Church’s interpretation => the meaning of an event does not only base on the event itself – but the meaning can extend the original author’s intention. H J CF CF H J
3 o So the interpretation of the Church may bring out the deeper meaning of the historical Jesus – make explicit what is implicit in the Bible.
4 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST (ontological) I. Interpreting the Christ – Event A. From the experience of salvation in Jesus Christ (Soteriology) to the question of who Jesus is in himself (ontological Christology) 1. If he is divine, how is he related to the infinite God? => through his action, we can have a glimpse of his divinity. However, how to understand his divinity in relation with God the Father (2 Gods, lesser God?...) 2. If he was or became human, to what extent did he share our humanity? (only appear to be human? Did he know everything?...) B. 2 nd Century Heresies 1. Condemned: Docetism a. Gnosticism: secret knowledge that was salvific b. Docetism: denial of the full humanity of Jesus 2. Affirmed: conception of Jesus Christ in the “canonical books” a. handed down by Apostolic Tradition b. Safeguarded by the bishops c. Approved by the faithful by usage in the liturgy C. From 3 rd Century to Nicaea 1. Alexandria (Egypt): Logos- Sarx a. Starting point: the divine Logos as subject of Christ (high Christology) b. Incarnation: divine logos is enfleshed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth 2. Antioch; Logos -Anthropos a. Starting point: the full humanity of Jesus (low Christology) b. Incarnation: hypostatic union of 2 natures, divine and human c. Person of Christ is the result of the hypostatic union D. Nicaea (325) 1. Condemned: Arianism – denies full divinity of Jesus a. 2 convictions of Arius: Jesus is lesser God, lesser human –only appear to be human i. Logos cannot be God, equal to or identified with God ii. Logos performs mediatorial role in relation to God and the world b. Thus Logos is not fully God, but mediates between God and creation (Subordinationism) 2. Affirmed a. Logos is not creature, but is eternally born out of God himself b. Therefore, is divine in the same sense as the Father (homoousios toi theoi) c. Athanasius: the Logos takes flesh 3. Problems: Docetism – deny the fullness of humanity of Jesus a. Athanasius: Because he conceived of a Jesus exempted from ignorance and pain and all manner of weakness, he espoused a docetic Jesus, denies Jesus’ humanity b. Hilary of Poitiers: Christ possessed a human mind and will, but did not experience ignorance, hunger, fear or pain. c. Apollinarius: Since the Logos took the place of the human soul of Christ, Jesus was not truly human: “This Christ is not a man.” E. Constantinople I (381) 1. Condemned: Pneumatomachs (denial divinity of the Holy Spirit)