Giving up privilege: A sermon on Philippians 2:5–11

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-123
Author(s):  
F. Timothy Moore
Keyword(s):  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Christian Discipleship

The hymn in Phil 2:5–11, which may be the earliest statement about Jesus’s death on the cross, omits typical concepts of substitutionary atonement. This hymn sees the cross within the story that Jesus gave up the privilege of divinity to become human and offers a fresh way to see the intersection of Jesus’s death and Christian discipleship. Feminist and womanist theologians have rightly criticized substitutionary atonement, because the powerful inevitably place the message of sacrifice and suffering upon women and the marginalized. The hymn, however, speaks not of sacrifice and suffering, but of God’s willingness to give up privilege to create solidarity. For those with privilege to be of the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (v. 5), they must choose not to exploit that advantage, but to empty themselves of it and collectively create atonement through solidarity with one another.

scholarly journals PERAYAAN EKARISTI SEBAGAI SUMBER DAN PUNCAK SELURUH HIDUP KRISTIANI

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-100
Author(s):  
Don Bosco Karnan Ardijanto
Keyword(s):  
Christian Life ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. Many faithful celebrate the Eucharist: some experience the Eucharist's impact, but many do not feel the impact of the Eucharist on their daily lives. The Eucharist is the memory of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He himself is present at the Eucharist. Therefore the Eucharist is a source of grace and blessing to the lives of the faithful: to bring the fruits of redemption and to be the source of life for the faithful; building–living–reviving the Church. The Eucharist is also a source of repentance and forgiveness as well as a source for developing faith, hope, and love. The Eucharist is the offering of Christ and His Church. Therefore, in the Eucharist the faithful offer their entire lives to be transformed into a source of life and blessing for them and the whole world. In the spirit of repentance, the faithful are also called to offer themselves in faith, hope and love. Celebrating the Eucharist and seriously believing its truths will illuminate the daily lives of the faithful and grow in love for the Eucharist, so that they grow in love for God and others in Christ.

Jesus Christ in Martin Luther’s Theology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Zachhuber
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Trinity

Luther’s theology is strongly Christocentric, but Christology is rarely the central focus of his writings. In some of his most considered summaries of his own faith, he presents Chalcedonian Christology alongside the church’s teaching on the Trinity as the uncontroversial foundation of the Catholic faith, which he shared with his opponents. At the same time, it is evident that Luther’s most celebrated theological innovations, including his teaching on justification by faith, his theology of the cross, his soteriology, and in particular his doctrine of the Eucharist, had considerable Christological implications that sometimes seem at variance with received orthodoxy. Luther’s Christology must therefore be largely reconstructed from these various strands in his thought. The result is a distinctive albeit not systematic Christology that is focused on the paradoxical unity of divine and human in Christ. In this, Luther often appears close to the teaching of the Alexandrian fathers, but with a much fuller emphasis on the concrete humanity of the savior. His historical debt to late scholasticism is most evident in his few, albeit consequential, attempts to enter into the field of technical Christological doctrine, especially his affirmation in his controversy with Zwingli of the ubiquity of Christ’s human nature after the ascension.

Luther’s Theologian of the Cross and Theologian of Glory Distinction Reconsidered

Pro Ecclesia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-351
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Late Time ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Textual Basis ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Christian Discipleship

This article argues that most of the contemporary appropriation of Martin Luther’s distinction between the theologian of the cross and the theologian of glory is mistaken, in five points: First, the distinction has a thin textual basis, found explicitly only a handful of times in Luther’s early writings. Second, recent scholarship and an examination of Luther’s wider writings call into question contemporary accounts as to what Luther meant by the distinction. Third, the theological tradition did not make use of this distinction until the 20th century. It would be a mistake, therefore, to demand that a distinction which was not popularly received until such a late time act as a normative framework. Fourth, when referring to God and His people, “glory” and “glorification” are useful biblical and theological terms, and this distinction casts these terms in a negative light. Fifth, a thorough-going theology of glory is crucial for Christian discipleship.

Hermeneutisch relevante triniteitsleer: De bijdrage van Ingolf U. Dalferth aan de trinitarische renaissance

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-116
Author(s):  
Hans Burger
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Human Subjectivity ◽  
Social Doctrine ◽  
The Social ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Trinity

Discussions concerning the trinitarian renaissance often focus on the social doctrine of the trinity. However, this renaissance was originally also of hermeneutical significance, as demonstrated in the work of Ingolf U. Dalferth. In the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Spirit discloses God’s presence to us and affords us new orientation in this light. The main problem of Dalferth’s contribution is the lack of hypostatical weight of the Son. As a result, the renewal of human subjectivity in Christ is neglected.

‘Rooted in Detachment’: Transfiguration as Narrative, Worship and Community of Faith

Ecclesiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Kenneth Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
Latin West ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Christian Discipleship ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe Transfiguration is recorded in all three synoptic gospels, and points the onlookers towards the cross. The article looks at these narratives, with their variations, and then examines the way in which expositors and preachers, patristic, medieval and modern, have applied the Transfiguration to Christian living. Important are the two quite distinct ways in which the narrative has been used liturgically, in the Latin West, originally as a feature of Lenten preaching, and in the East as a festival in its own right on August 6th. Drawing the two traditions of interpretation and worship together, it is possible to see fresh ways of understanding the impact of the Transfiguration on the Church’s self-understanding: the tension between continuity and discontinuity; the transformation of the three uncomprehending apostles; and the hidden but mobile character of the community of faith. The Transfiguration emerges as a truth that illuminates Christian discipleship at its most profound.

“Peace, Peace … Cross, Cross”

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-205
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Wengert
Keyword(s):  
Human Experience ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross

This article explores Luther's theology of the cross, based on his often overlooked comments in Explanations of the Disputes concerning the Power of Indulgences from 1518, Luther's defense of the Ninety-Five Theses. The article dismisses approaches that reduce this topic to one theology among many or claim more for it than theology can deliver. In explaining Thesis 15, Luther grounds theology of the cross in human experience of suffering and abandonment. In Thesis 58, he derives this theology from God's alien and proper work and contrasts it to the “illusory theology” of Aristotelian scholastics. The theology of the cross does not bless suffering but proclaims the God who declares the nothingness of suffering and death to be life and grace. The Christian lives and prays under suffering and cross and yet possesses ears filled with promises of resurrection in Christ.

Does Paul Need to Be Saved?

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Setzer
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Existential Guilt ◽  
God's People ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Individual

AbstractWhile many liberal Jews have endorsed Jesus as one of their own for at least a century, Paul has often borne the blame for injecting anti-Judaism into early Christianity. The work of these scholars helps overturn these judgments against Paul. Several emphases of their work help us to better appreciate Paul as a pedagogue of multiple identities. 1) Being "in Christ" and being part of Israel are compatible, not contradictory identities for Paul. 2) Paul believes that Gentiles, by being "in Christ" come under the umbrella of Israel, even without circumcision or conversion. 3) Paul's mission as the teacher to the Gentiles shapes every aspect of his rhetoric and message. 4) Paul is animated by the question of Gentile inclusion in God's people, not the existential guilt of the individual. This article also poses four questions as we pursue this approach to Paul. 1) Why does Paul, the robust Jew who continues to believe in Israel's election, so virulently oppose Gentile circumcision or conversion, which was part of the Judaism of his time? 2) What is the role of the cross, which does not spring from the language and myths of Israel, in Paul's thought? 3) Does Paul think he is doing anything new, particularly since he uses the language of novelty? 4) How much does Paul need to be "saved," i.e. made to conform to our contemporary standards, for us to appreciate him as part of our experience and traditions?

CHRIST CRUCIFIED: Lutheran Missiological Themes for a Post-Christian Century

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-116
Author(s):  
Mark Thomsen
Keyword(s):  
Missio Dei ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Lutheran Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
God's Mission ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Reign Of God ◽  
Christian Century

AbstractDespite the fact that Lutheran theology is molded by the medieval theological context, argues Mark Thomsen in this article, its central reality of a theology of the cross offers a surprising "potential for constructing a dynamic foundation for a contemporary vison of the Missio Dei." What this theology of the cross is not is neither "a glorification of suffering and death," a simple repetition of the Anselmian doctrine of atonement, nor is it a doctrine of the atonement at all. Rather, a Lutheran theology of the cross is one with mission at the center. It means dying to oneself for the sake of the vision of the Reign of God. It means being in solidarity with the suffering peoples of the world. It means recognizing the almost overwhelming power of evil, and God's struggle in Christ with that power. Finally, a theology of the cross points to God's vulnerability in the world. Christians participate in God's mission by themselves taking up the cross, recognizing God's gracious commitment to offering abundant life to the entire creation.

scholarly journals The unity of the divine and the human in Christ: The Chalcedonian definition and Paul Tillich’s Spirit Christology

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-416
Author(s):  
Alexander L. Chernyavsky ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Paul Tillich ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
Alternative Description ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Spirit Christology ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The Christological disputes of the 6th–7th centuries (the polemics of Leontius of Byzantium with the Nestorians and Eutychians, and Maximus the Confessor with the monoenergistes/monothelites) showed that the Chalcedonian definition gives rise to a number of problems that cannot be solved within the framework of traditional theology: the unclear ontological status of human nature without a human hypostasis; the inconsistency of the ontological models underlying trinitology and Christology; the need to resort to an artificial interpretation of the gospel testimonies about Christ. However, the Chalcedonian definition is only one possible way to describe the unity of the divine and the human in Christ. The Christology of Paul Tillich is considered as an example of an alternative description in which the above problems do not arise. Tillich’s idea is to replace the traditional concept of the Logos incarnated in man with the concept of the Spirit of God transforming man. According to this view, God does not act on human nature without hypostasis, but on the hypostasis of man through its unifying center. During the earthly life of Christ, this effect occurred only in the hypostasis of Christ as man. And after (and thanks to) the death on the cross and the resurrection of Christ, it extends to all people.

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