Evangelical Christologies

2. Evangelical Christologies

3. What is Evangelicalism? • Transdenominational • Evangelicals affirm the importance of: • The authority and sufficiency of Scripture • The uniqueness of Christ • The importance of the cross of Christ for salvation • The necessity of personal appropriation of faith • The urgency of mission and evangelism • Emerged from Fundamentalism (but not identical to it)

4. Main tenets of evangelical Christology • Pre-existence of Christ • Incarnation as unique and unrepeatable • Jesus is the true image of God (God-become-human) • Resurrection as an historical event which serves to validate Jesus’ claims of divine Sonship

5. Stanley Grenz (Baptist) • Introduction • Influence of Pannenberg • approach from below but with the result of a high Christology • Centrality of resurrection • You need the resurrection to make sense of the cross • Divinity • Basis for divinity • Combination of Jesus’ resurrection as a historical fact and Jesus’s claims for being the Son sent by the Father (the former validates and makes sense of the latter) • Humanity • Jesus’ fellowship with humankind • Along the same lines of Jesus’ divinity, the resurrection confirms the validity of Jesus’ claim for true humanity • Resurrection shows us that human life can be united with the life eternal of the triune God.

6. Grenz (cont.) • Unity (the two natures, fellowship of deity and humanity • “Word” and “Son” • Jesus as the Son • In regards to the gospel: • Jesus’ historical life • His unique relationship to the Father • Jesus as the Word • Logos • Hebrews 1.1-3 • Son and Word are related

7. Grenz (cont.) • Reflections • Approach from Below • Strong in the biblical text, but not fideistic • Assigns importance to the earthly life of Jesus • Makes sense of key Christological titles • The importance of the resurrection • Challenges • Are his fears regarding the problems of “incarnational Christology” exaggerated?

8. Donald Bloesch (Reformed) • Defines his theology as: • Catholic • Protestant • Evangelical • Key Issues • Identity of Jesus- these needs definition • The meaning of the cross and atonement • Theology religions; pluralism • Key emphases • Importance of affirming Chalcedon • Beyond modernity and postmodernity

9. Key Evangelical Convictions and Orientations

10. Key Convictions and Orientations • Much diversity among Evangelical theologians regarding Christology along with common convictions • Method needed “from Below”, not just “from Above” • We know about Jesus Christ’s humanity and divinity from looking at the life of the historical person, Jesus. • Necessary to engage with non-evangelical views • Necessary to engage with NT scholarship • Biblical Orientations • Important to acknowledge the plurality and diversity of biblical testimonies concerning Jesus • Necessity for critical study of biblical traditions

11. Key Convictions (cont.) • Value of Orthodox formulations (creeds) • Creed build on NT foundations even as they go beyon NT • Formulations of the undivided church • Yet even creeds need to be critiqued and renewed • Creeds, too, are a response to a particular cultural and social situation and are themselves contextual • Our task as theologians • Tradition as dynamic and living (Holy Spirit’s activity)

12. Main Tenets of Evangelical Christology • Affirmation of pre-existence • Uniqueness of Christ’s incarnation • In terms of salvation • Cannot be repeated • Christ as the true image of God • Historicity of the Resurrections • As confirmation of validity of Christ’s claims and • In securing our participation in the divine life

13. Challenges to Evangelical Christology • Religious Pluralism • Contextualization • Postmodernity