While many know of the signal contributions of such twentieth-century giants as Paul Tillich or Karl Barth or Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the important work since their time often goes unremarked until some major controversy erupts. Here is a smart and helpful survey of the chief approaches and thinkers in today's understanding of the person, significance, and work of Jesus Christ. Schweitzer offers an insightful introduction to the contemporary context of Christology, in which basic questions in the discipline (and soteriology) are being rethought in light of globalization, postmodernity, and the contemporary experience of evil.

In this revised introduction, an internationally respected scholar explores biblical, historical, and contemporary developments in Christology. The book focuses on the global and contextual diversity of contemporary theology, including views of Christ found in the Global South and North and in the Abrahamic and Asian faith traditions. It is ideal for readers who desire to know how the global Christian community understands the person and work of Jesus Christ. This new edition accounts for the significant developments in theology over the past decade.

A Fresh Look at the Doctrine of Christ. Christology was the central doctrine articulated by the early church councils, and it remains the subject of close theological investigation today. Christology, Ancient and Modern—the first volume in a series of published proceedings from the annual Los Angeles Theology Conference—brings together conference proceedings, surveying the field and articulating the sources, norms, and criteria for constructive theological work in Christology. The ten diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: The types of historical Christologies and evaluations of various approaches to the theology of Christ. A close look at the trajectory and divergence of modern denominational understandings of Christ's work and person. Discussions of implications and challenges to specific Christologies regarding detailed exegetical considerations. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.

"Jane Barter Moulaison's remarkable book engages contemporary critical understandings of Jesus Christ including postcolonial, feminist, pluralist, ecological, and socialist to argue that the core convictions of traditional Christology remain a viable, valuable, and even indispensable witness to the gospel in an imperiled world. Contemporary theology often makes a virtue of deconstructing traditional claims about the person and work of Christ. Claims about the central significance of Jesus Christ appear to be oppressive, intolerant, and even violent. Jane Barter Moulaison engages several contemporary christological critiques of classical Christology and argues that such critical theologies are not undermined by the claim of Christ's central significance but are rather radicalized by it. She ably re-reads the tradition that seeks to interpret Christ's saving activity in light of several contemporary theological and political concerns. In so doing, she suggests that there are extraordinary resources available to those who long for political and material transformation precisely through the abandonment of spiritualized answers to Jesus' question: 'Who do you say that I am?' -- Publisher description.

Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life is an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, grounded in what can be known historically of Jesus and informed by subsequent reflection upon him, which hopes to help shape a Christian identity characterized by "bounded openness." Don Schweitzer moves from the historical Jesus to the present in three parts. In the first part Schweitzer develops an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, who became incarnate to give the goodness and beauty of God further expression in time and space. Second, he explores how various atonement theories articulate ways in which Jesus empowers people to further express this beauty and goodness in their own lives. And finally, Schweitzer explores how Jesus relates to people in the church, to the events and movements in history, to other religions, and to Christians in their dialogue with God in prayer.

In this multidisciplinary interpretation of world Christianity and the changing shape of the global religious landscape, scholars consider the complex dynamics shaping Christianity's recent expansion in all parts of the globe. They view the explanations of homogenization or American cultural influence as being necessarily limited and point to the far more varied intersections of external influence and indigenous appropriation. The geographical coverage and the voices from various corners of the globe exemplify the shift of Christianity's center of gravity away from the northern hemisphere. New voices, new methods, and new perspectives emerge here. Contributors: Afe Adogame Edith L. Blumhofer Joel Carpenter Paul Freston Anthony dela Fuente Jehu J. Hanciles Brian M. Howell Ogbu U. Kalu Sebastian C. H. Kim Philomena Njeri Mwaura John Parratt Dana L. Robert Brian Stanley Diane Stinton Feiya Tao Kevin Xiyi Yao

The Incarnate Lord, then, considers central themes in Christology from a metaphysical perspective. Particular attention is given to the hypostatic union, the two natures of Christ, the knowledge and obedience of Jesus, the passion and death of Christ, his descent into hell, and resurrection. A central concern of the book is to argue for the perennial importance of ontological principles of Christology inherited from patristic and scholastic authors. However, the book also seeks to advance an interpretation of Thomistic Christology in a modern context. The teaching Aquinas, then, is central to the study, but it is placed in conversation with various modern theologians, such as Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Ultimately the goal of the work is to suggest how traditional Catholic theology might thrive under modern conditions, and also develop fruitfully from engaging in contemporary controversies.

Jesus Our Salvation: An Introduction to Christology is an innovative text designed with the introductory student in mind. The text is written in an engaging style and is enhanced by pedagogical elements which make the complex material accessible to the student reader. Jesus Our Salvation is both sensitive to the challenges of contemporary Christology and well grounded in Catholic identity. The book maintains a positive, though critical, dialogue with many voices in the Christian tradition including those of the classical tradition, historical Jesus research, the evangelical tradition, and contemporary theological thought. It addresses important issues of today such as Christology's capacity to promote social transformation and the questions that are raised about Jesus from the perspective of religious pluralism.

Most theologians believe that in the human life of Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter God. Yet how the divine and human come together in the life of Jesus still remains a question needing exploring. The Council of Chalcedon sought to answer the question by speaking of one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in divinity and also perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly a human being. But ever since Chalcedon, the theological conversation on Christology has implicitly put Christs divinity and humanity in competition. While ancient (and not-so-ancient) Christologies from above focus on Christs divinity at the expense of his humanity, modern Christologies from below subsume his divinity into his humanity. What is needed, says Ian A. McFarland, is a Chalcedonianism without reserve, which not only affirms the humanity and divinity of Christ but also treats them as equal in theological significance. To do so, he draws on the ancient christological language that points to Christs nature, on the one hand, and his hypostasis, or personhood, on the other. And with this, McFarland begins one of the most creative and groundbreaking theological explorations into the mystery of the incarnation undertaken in recent memory.