Classical Christology - Case Study Example

ical Christology: Lesson 4 Question It’s widely agreed that the Fathers of the Church are those early teachers and who instructed the Church in the teaching of the Apostles, “during her infancy and first growth” (Chapman n.p.). Having been faced with a bewildering religious and philosophical pluralism, which was characteristic of the Hellenic culture, the Fathers encountered the daunting task of explaining the universal claim of Christianity about being qualitatively different from the existing religions, or, as Kereszty so succinctly put it, the absolute religion (198 – 199). Due to the number of “philosophical questions and distortions regarding the Christian notions of Trinity, incarnation, and redemption”, the Fathers were compelled to use “non-biblical, philosophical language” in order to work out and express the philosophical, most notably metaphysical, implications of the Christian message (Kereszty 198). Thus, they prompted a dialogue between Christianity and Hellenistic philosophies, which was intended to articulate the mystery of Christ, transforming these philosophies and reconciling the Christian faith with the dominant cultural context (Kereszty 198). This dynamics, however, was a two-way issue – insofar as many Fathers, like Origen, St Clement of Alexandria, St Gregory the Theologian, St Augustine of Hippo, etc., have had a philosophical background, their theology was quite naturally influenced by philosophy, especially Platonic philosophy; not surprisingly therefore, considering the universal revealing activity of the Logos (Word), the Fathers believed that the seed of the Word (Logos spermatikos) had been sown “in the souls of philosophers like Heraclitus and Socrates” (Kereszty 201). St Clement of Alexandria, for example, compared the function of Greek philosophy with that of the Law of Moses, admitting that philosophy paved the way for the perfection in Christ, just as the Law lead the Jews to Him (Kereszty 202). Question 2 On the other hand, the relationship between Christianity and the non-Christian religions, and religious philosophies had been grounded in the uniqueness of Christianity; according to the Fathers’ theology, in contrast to the other religions, Christian teaching was not a result of human effort to find God, “often distorted by error and even by satanic influence”, but rather was “revealed and taught by God” himself (Kereszty 199). Thus, although God has taught and educated humankind ever since the Creation – as seen from the pages of the Old Testament – He became personally present to humanity in Christ and began teaching them “without any intermediary” such as messengers and prophets (Kereszty 200). Or, as Kasper points out, being the “image of the invisible God”, by whom “all things on heaven and on earth were created” (Col. 1.15), Jesus Christ revealed God to humankind as His Father and “the Father of all humankind” (x; Mt. 5.45). As St Irenaeus writes, men possess the fullness of the Logos in Jesus Christ, hence God brought himself to the world in the person of Christ; therefore, the absolute claim of Christianity is substantiated via the assumption that “all men are ordained to find their fulfillment in Christ”, or in the words of St Gregory the Theologian, the Logos became “leaven for the dough of all humanity” (Kereszty 200 – 201). According to the Fathers, due to God’s self-revelation to mankind, Christianity is universally valid and its unique dignity comes from God himself (Kereszty 199 – 201). Hence, in Fathers’ view, the Christian faith is not just another religious philosophy, philosophical school, or a religion among many others; rather, it is a religion “in a qualitatively different sense from any other religion”, or, as already mentioned above, the absolute religion (Kereszty 199). Despite being appreciative of philosophy, regarding it as a “schoolmaster” (paidagogos) for the Hellenic mind, the Fathers – St Justin in particular – denounced the “ignorance and moral corruption… of the polytheistic Greco-Roman religion” (Kereszty 202). Origen and St Augustine, in turn, admitted that the philosophers “often discover partial truths”, but their pride led them to idolatry, rather than to fulfillment in God; thus, the Fathers’ attitude towards other religions and religious philosophies could be considered twofold (Kereszty 202). It is noteworthy that the source of both their “openness to non-Christian religions” and their claim “for the uniqueness and universality” of the Christianity was Christ, who, as the Eternal Word (Logos), “enlightens the soul of every human being… and has become flesh in the man Jesus” (Kereszty 203). Question 3 The early Fathers regarded the Eternal Logos as the universal mediator between God and His creation; following the teaching of the Gospel of John, they believed that from the Creation, and throughout the history of Salvation, God the Father has always acted through His Word (Kereszty 209). Creating the world, God the Father manifested His Son, His “Eternal Wisdom and Word” in creation; however, prior to Arianism, there’s no a clear distinction between the creation of the world and the generation of the Son (Kereszty 209). According to the Church Fathers, the Logos (Son) is the perfect image and representation of God the Father, revealing Him through the created world, as well as through the Salvation History (Kereszty 210). Thus, God’s communication with mankind has always been through the Son, whose mediation was “consummated in the incarnation and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ” (Kereszty 210). According to the Arian conception of Christ, He is “a being below God but above humanity”, hence “neither truly God nor truly man”, or an “intermediate being between God and his creation” (Kereszty 210). The Arian conception of the “intermediary” referred to Platonism where the contact between the “Transcendent Divine Reality and Creation” is carried out through such a “mediator” (Kereszty 210). The mediation of Christ, according to the Fathers, is based on His true humanity and true transcendent divinity joined together, and comprises His “whole work of redemption”, i.e. incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, which is actually the fulfillment of His mediation (Kereszty 210). St Augustine, in turn, comments that just as no one but Christ, the Word incarnate, could die for, and save mankind, no one else could ascend to God the Father and share in the Father’s love (Kereszty 211). Hence, one of the most often used soteriological implications is the theme “marvelous exchange” (admirable commercium), which expresses the central notion of profound communion between God and humankind (Kereszty 212). Classical Christology: Lesson 4.2 Question 1 As Kereszty points out, the Fathers considered the incarnation and redemption instrumental in undoing the consequences of sin, as well as in assuming mankind into God’s Trinitarian life (206). According to the Fathers, there are different dimensions of redemption; thus, the metaphysical condition for redemption, for instance, is being fulfilled when God the Son united human nature, which exists in every human being, to Himself (Kereszty 208). Assuming human nature (incarnation), God sanctified by Himself the whole humanity; this, however, is not sufficient for salvation, but only denotes the first step to it (Kereszty 209). Furthermore, the humankind sanctification is accomplished via the Word’s whole existence, including his death and resurrection; on the other hand, it is necessary for all human beings to be willing to know God in order to be “restored to true freedom” (Kereszty 207). Thus, salvation is a gift of God’s love, which actually surpasses the expectations and needs of the fallen humanity, and the cooperative work of the free human being (Kereszty 207). In other words, God the Word, in the person of Jesus Christ, took up the human nature (metaphysical) and took into himself every human being and every human life (existential); thus, the Eternal Son became the subject of full human experience, including solidarity in sin, and throughout His life and death on the cross, all evil was purged from the human beings (objective redemption, or the gift of communion offered to us), and they become united to Him, “as member to Head” (participation), hence solidarity in redemption (Kereszty 214, 229). Having shared in Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil, those who believe in Him “anticipate victory over these powers already here on earth”, which denotes the term subjective redemption, or our gradual participation in Christ, i.e. the “personal acceptance” of the communion gift through faith and sacraments (Kereszty 219). Question 2 The phase in Christological development, which clarified the relationship between the divinity and humanity of Christ, had taken place in two steps – first, the Council of Ephesus defended the “ontological unity of Christ” against the Nestorians, and second, the Council of Chalcedon “professed two integral natures, divine and human, in the one person of Jesus Christ” (Kereszty 231). The Christological terminology of Tertullian – developed in the context of his polemics against the Monarchian heresy – indicated “a real Trinity of persons (personae) in God”, but one substance (substantia) in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Kereszty 240). The term persona is considered to have a twofold background, where the meaning adopted by Tertullian is “a speaker in a drama”, hence “a subject who acts and speaks”; whereas St Augustine defined it as “the appearance or manifestation of someone” (Kereszty 241 – 242). Later on, persona is defined as “the pre-existent subject of the Eternal Son, who takes up human nature”; thus St Augustine used the expression “the one person consisting of two substances” (Kereszty 242). The Antiochene theologians, in turn, used the term “hypostasis”, which could mean either “an individual nature or an existing individual”; thus, according to their view, two physeis (essence or nature) and two hypostaseis were available in Christ – one human and one divine of each kind – and therefore, the unity of Christ should be sought on another level (Kereszty 245). Since each physis manifests itself in a prosopon (self-manifestation), the two physeis in Christ manifest themselves in a common prosopon – the prosopon of union, and thus Christ shows himself in the world as one (Kereszty 245). The Antiochene terminology and texts clashed with the Alexandrian theological trend, and the controversy developed into fierce rivalry and mutual excommunications at Ephesus (Kereszty 246). Question 3 The Monophysite movement, named after their acknowledgment of one physis in Christ, was organized under the leadership of Dioscorus – Cyril’s successor in Alexandria (Kereszty 249). Having clarified the “ambiguous formulas of Cyril” in the wrong direction, the Monophysites insisted that Christ had only one nature, i.e. a fusion between the human and divine, which put in danger the very mystery of the incarnation (Kereszty 249). The Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD adopted the balanced formulation of Pope Leo the Great, which affirmed that Christ was one person with two natures, namely divine and human (Kereszty 249). The Third Council of Constantinople consequently asserted that Christ had two wills, divine and human, which actually confirmed the conceptual articulation found in the New Testament – “the one and same Jesus is truly and fully God and truly and fully man” (Kereszty 230). Thus, only being truly and fully God – God the Word – who took up the human nature, Christ could sanctify humanity and overcome sin, death and the devil, inspiring those who believe in Him to “anticipate victory over these powers already here on earth” (Kereszty 219). Works Cited Chapman, H. P., “Fathers of the Church”. Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1913. Web. 3 June 2014. http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4585 Kasper, W., The God of Jesus Christ, New Edition. London: T&T Clark International, 2012. Print Kereszty, R., Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology, Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Alba House, 2002. Print Read More