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.

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.

Agency and Action in Christ in Maximus the Confessor

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Divine Nature ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

This chapter considers the species of divine action in Maximus the Confessor’s teaching on the two natural wills of Christ. Specifically, the author examines Maximus’ claim that the actions of the Son must be both of his divine nature and his human nature, and what this entails for the teaching of his two wills. The author brings Maximus’ theological concerns into dialogue with contemporary theology and philosophy, seeking to clarify what Maximus meant in his context. It is shown how Maximus is concerned to display as far as possible the ontological commitments that are required for the full embrace of the Chalcedonian Definition. The author then engages the “three-agent” problem that arises from Maximus’ theology, namely, properly referring to the logos, the divine nature, and the human nature.

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 The “A-theist” Christ

Kairos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-205
Author(s):  
Teofil Stanciu
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Secular World ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Way

For Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the kenosis of Christ climaxes with his God-forsakenness on the cross. It is this aspect of kenosis that the present article tries to explore and build upon. One key element will be the meaning of the concept of “a-theist” Christ – coined by Bloom – and how this status of the incarnated Son can function as a basis for our identification and solidarity with today’s atheists. By the way of kenosis, the incarnation brings together in one hypostasis the divine and human nature. This reality endowed both our nature and created order with significant dignity. This paper explores the possibilities from this dignity and how it can serve as a bridge for dialogue with humanists and materialists. As Bloom suggests, this can open the discussion towards the secular world and Christians could take some responsibility for the process of secularization. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that Anthony Bloom’s controversial idea of “a-theist” Christ can become a connection point with the other and a mirror in which western Christians might look at some of their anthropological shortcomings that hamper their solidarity and dialogue with those who do not share the faith in God.

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.

The Death of God

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Death Of God ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Cross

This chapter turns to Plato's Phaedo as well as the Gospel of Matthew: two narratives about death, and two visions of human nature. Christ's cry on the cross, as told by Matthew, gives voice to an understanding of human life that is radically different from that of Socrates. For Phaedo's Socrates, the truly important things in life are ideas: the eternal order of the world, the understanding of which leads to unperturbed peace and serenity in the face of death. The Gospel is the complete opposite: it testifies to the incurable presence of the Unknown in every moment of life, a presence that rips apart every human certainty built on what is known, that disturbs all peace, all serenity—that severs the continuity of time, opening every moment of our lives to nothingness, thereby inscribing within them the possibility of an abrupt end and the chance at a new beginning.

Presence and absence of προαίρεσις in Christ and saints according to Maximus the Confessor and parallels in Neoplatonism

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Grigory Benevich
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Presence And Absence ◽  
Natural Will ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

Abstract The article shows that prior to the debate with the Monothelites, Maximus the Confessor followed the Christian tradition going back to Gregory of Nyssa in recognizing the presence of προαίρεσις in Christ and the saints. Later during the debate, Maximus declined to apply προαίρεσις to Christ and started to speak about the deactivation of προαίρεσις in the saints in the state of deification. Maximus was the first Orthodox author who distinguished deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) and natural will (θέλημα), and defended the presence of natural will in Christ according to His humanity. At the same time, the opposition of desire (βούλησις) and deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) can be found in some Neoplatonists, such as Iamblichus, Proclus, and Philoponus. Iamblichus and Proclus rejected the presence of προαίρεσις in the gods and god-like humans, admitting only the presence of βούλησις - the desire for the Good. Thus, the evolution of the doctrine of Maximus the Confessor, regarding the application of προαίρε- σις to Christ and the saints, finds a parallel doctrine (and even possibly a source) in Neoplatonism.

Impatience and Humanity's Sinful State in Tertullian of Carthage

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Person ◽  
The Cross

AbstractTertullian's unique use of 'patience' as a salvific paradigm, grounds a conception of human nature, and particularly sin and 'fallen nature', articulated in economic terms. This article takes this conception, together with Tertullian's bipartite anthropology, to disclose a unique understanding of humanity's sinful condition. As the two composite 'parts' of man art interrelated in an economy of relation to God, so we will argue Tertullian grounds his concept of soteriology in his vision of the human person, linking it intrinsically to the life of Christ and the offering of the cross, uniting the human to the trinitarian life of Father, Son and Spirit.

Are There Two Consciousnesses in Christ? Transposing the Secondary Act of Existence

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-168
Author(s):  
Robert M. Doran
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Bernard Lonergan ◽  
Ontological Ground ◽  
In Christ

Bernard Lonergan has proposed an original thesis concerning two consciousnesses, divine and human, on the part of the incarnate Word Jesus of Nazareth. But he has not specified how these are related to each other precisely as consciousnesses. He has also retrieved from Aquinas the notion of a secondary act of existence bestowed on the assumed human nature of Christ. The article draws on but also modifies Hans Urs von Balthasar’s correlation of person and mission as a way of transposing the secondary act of existence into the condition of possibility, or ontological ground, of Jesus’ mission consciousness, and then uses this transposition to begin to answer the question of how the divine and human consciousnesses are related to each other.

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