The Issues of Systematic Christology - Assignment Example

Systematic Christology LESSON 6 Question The treatment of the nature, which Kereszty reflects in the systematic Christology, is based on the notion that Jesus Christ possessed the divine nature as well as the nature of human being, i.e. based on the two criteria of (1) the objective one and (2) the subjective one. According to Kereszty, these two criteria often lack in unifying Christology such as in the case of hypostatic union which idealizes the unification of the divine nature with the human nature. Accordingly, Keretszty (329) mentions, “The presence of Christ necessitates the statement “Jesus is fully man” — and it necessitates the statement “Jesus is fully God”.” Correspondingly, Kereszty also reflects the consequences of the sin by human beings emphasizing that the nature of human sin. As stated by Kereszty, the effects or consequences of human sin are wide ranging, which not only contaminates through the body but also through the larger daises of the society, getting channelized politically, economically, culturally as well as socially. However, at a wider extent, Kereszty asserts that punishment to sin is a “natural consequence”. In his words, “while sin is a freely chosen opposition to one’s true self, to God and to one’s neighbor, the punishment is the suffering that results from this threefold estrangement” (Kereszty 348). Notably, Kereszty is constructing such foundation, as he believes that the nature and the consequences of human sin described, raises a question, focusing whether the belief of conscious independence of the human beings is right or wrong. Kereszty believes that such feeling of superiority will ruin the entire human being. The main perspective of Kereszty is therefore to remove such feelings from within the human society and to lead a life in communion with God, similar as Jesus Christ has lived (Kereszty 351-352). Question 2. Keresztys reflection on the hypostatic union, when considered ontologically, describes about the dual nature of Jesus Christ. The term hypostatic union is used to describe Jesus Christ and the way Jesus Christ took on to the nature of being a “true human” and simultaneously as a God too. As described by Kereszty, the two natures are inseparable even though they are different, wherein their separation may act in favor to the gravitational pull attracting humans towards sins. With the virtues of his hypostatic nature, Jesus Christ was able to serve the entire humanity and also helped him to know about the problems or the issues related to the entire humanity. Similarly, his divine nature helped him serve his deity as well. Describing the fact ontologically, it can be asserted that Jesus, on one hand, is entirely divine, while on the other, he is completely human, indicating hypostatic union in him quite apparently. It is in this context that the human nature borne by Jesus does not subsist within its defined periphery but extends in the eternal sphere, that is, in the eternal son. Relating to the soteriology of St. Thomas, Kereszty stresses further on the relevancy of universal reality in defining the hypostatic union, wherein “created reality depends on God and participates in God, the more that created reality comes into its own” (364). However, defining the notion of “potential obedientials”, Kereszty argues that the St. Thomas provides limited or no significance towards segregating the infrahuman nature and the true human nature, which in turn precludes that it is not impossible to exclude any chance a priori “that God would become incarnate in an irrational creature” (365). Question 3. Kereszty’s reflection on the hypostatic union, when considered psychologically, reflects that Jesus is neither considered as a man with God within him nor is he considered as a man who actually manifested the principle of God. Jesus, throughout his life, was rather performing as a Son worshiping his Father, and was also known as a ‘Son of Man’. Being a man he has gathered wisdom and has helped the entire humanity to walk in the path of directed by his Father, the God himself. Again, as a God, Jesus has been worshipped by all the Christians who consider Jesus to be sinless. Taking these aspects into consideration, Kereszty notes that Jesus Christ is a ‘God-Made-Man’. He is considered as God as he posses the nature of The Divine and simultaneously, Christ has a real human soul with real human body. He actually possesses two natures — one is divine and the other is human, which again suffices Kereszty’s definition to hypostatic union. However, when considering psychologically, the difference between person and nature is hidden. As per Kereszty’s psychological definition to hypostatic union, in Christ, there are two natures to one person. While, human beings possess only one apparent nature, it is not possible to attain both the natures within the human without communion with God. It is in this context that hypostatic union becomes conflicting causing a friction when unionizing Christology as individuals today have come to refer “human consciousness and freedom”. Correspondingly, such views and inferences create tritheism rather than Trinity, as likely to be associated with hypostatic union (Kereszty 365-367). In the words of Kereszty — “the person understood as subject of consciousness and freedom leads to metaphysical notion of person as its necessary presupposition” (367). LESSON 6.2 Question 1. According to Keresztys view, Jesus has assumed the human nature as so important to main order in the universe, as the men and the women who have committed sin also has a chance to change their will and revert to the same principles as followed by Jesus Christ Himself. Contextually, it is this particular feature that differentiates between humans who commit sin with fallen angels. In context to the theological opinion, the angles are very different to that of the normal human beings and once they are sinned, there is no possible path to repent back as they possess a simple ‘spiritual nature’ unlike the human beings who possess a ‘composite nature’ of the spiritual and the material forms. Hence, angels can make themselves into what they have intended to become without any possibility of future alterations, thus driving towards one direction acting as pure spirits. As mentioned by Kereszty, “The decisions of pure spirits are all final: upon choosing evil or good they have freely but fully determined their nature in one direction or another, without leaving any potentiality in their will for a change of direction” (383). Correspondingly, as human beings posses a composite body of nature and soul, instead of being simple, they are fragmented, wherein their acts and wills cannot be determined by either of the directions. Arguably, it is owing to this unique nature of human beings that God has given such importance to them in creating order in the universe. Hence, referring to the viewpoint of Kereszty, it can be asserted that because humans possess the dual nature of spirituality and physicality, Jesus assumed men and women as the key to create unity in the cosmos (Kereszty 386-387). Question 2. Despite of the fact that Jesus has both the divine and the human natures, Jesus Christ has gone for only one incarnation. As per the viewpoints of Kereszty, there are several reasons that suffice the need and importance of Jesus taking the human form only once and correspondingly, justifying the only one incarnation. Such an act has been further justified by Kereszty, emphasizing the concept of divinity in other religious, viz. “Hinduism and Mahanaya Buddhism”. On one hand, the Brahman ideology in Hinduism and the universal Buddha ideology in Buddhism emphasize the significance of “Absolute Reality” for humankind. Thus, according to these religious principles, divinity cannot be established as a personal reality but an impersonal and “Absolute Reality”. To accomplish this objective, God needs to have “an infinite variety of faces”, that is, “to have no face at all” (Kereszty 387). Hence, at this juncture, the doctrines of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism extends in an interconnected fashion, towards the notion of universal reality, which in turn justifies Jesus’ choice of taking human form only once and having only one incarnation. Another key reason that justifies Jesus’ choice in the fashion it is, is the logic that many incarnations would have, although united humans “to the one Logos spirituality”, on the other hand it might also have encouraged “irreducible plurality of religious centers based on the plurality of incarnations.” This shall further not have substantiated the human nature encompassing both physical and spiritual daises. However, because there was only one human form taken by Jesus and only one incarnation, human beings can unite to a singular spiritual as well as physical center. As stated by Kereszty, “Several incarnations would obscure rather than reveal the unique Person of the Son” (387). Question 3. Taking a perfectly, or as called, the true human nature, Jesus had also taken a human will as the doctrine of willing is considered to be an integral part of the human nature. It is based on this context that Monothelites and Monophysites have often been arguing on the contradictory nature of the human will, which can further be segregated into two divisions, that is of the ‘willed will’ and the ‘willing will’ (Chapman, “Monothelitism and Monothelites”). As described by Kereszty, Jesus also had this dual will, which becomes apparent when being agonized on the betrayal of evangelists. During this occurrence, Jesus had to undergo tremendous struggle with his ‘willed will’ residing in contradiction to his ‘willing will’, which was principally owing to his emotions and his instincts. However, when justifying the reason as to how Jesus could relate as the one center of unity to human beings even though he was sinless in his human form, which is unique to human nature, Kereszty indicates that Jesus’ will was solely guided by his divine will of dedication to God. This in turn abolished the chances of his will getting overpowered by temptation of any kind that is common among human beings, as they have concupiscence and are often provoked by temptations of different kinds, undermining the ‘willed will’ and overpowering the ‘willing will’. As Jesus had no concupiscence, he had a harmony existing between his divine will, emotions, instincts and reasons. Thus, rather than overpowering/undermining each other, these components of Jesus’ human will rebelled within their own defined boundaries and hence, could not affect Jesus’ dedication to God, his divine will in human form (Kereszty 391-392). LESSON 6.3 Question 1. The doctrine of Trinity mainly believes that The Father, The Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, are eternally the same and reside as one true God. It is admittedly not easy to understand the real truth of Christian foundation, from the Trinitarian unity, which mainly describes that the God is triune. The teaching of the Bible, in this regard, considers that God is a Tri-unity with every Person of the Godhead as well as eternally and fully God. Everyone is required, wherein each is different, and yet all reflects the one, The Father. The Father is the invisible and is omnipresent for all human beings. It is with the same reason that the Son is observed and the Holy Spirit is experienced by everyone reflecting the communion and unity notions underlying the doctrines of Christianity. It is in this context that Son preceded with the guidance of the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is mainly defined as the three persons under the unity of one God. The principle concept of the Kereszty, in this context, asserts that God alone and apart for the human being wants to set out for salvation of the human being. His viewpoints also reflect that the three plays a very prominent role in the salvation of the sinned human being. The human being are surely going to be benefited as the Father has send his Son to serve the entire universe and make the people understand the purpose of God will help the entire human kind to take proper decisions and remain away from committing a sin. Hence, the three aspects mainly help the individuals to have a proper knowledge of the Trinity (Kereszty 397-429). Question 2. The Role of the Father: The role played by the Father, for the entire of humanity is unignorable. Among the foremost, the Father gifted His Son to serve humanity and give a meaning to human life making the spiritual assumptions behind the huge significance offered to human beings more apparent. The Father has offered His Son, not only in the revelation to the mankind, but on the mission to serve the humanity with love and affection while remaining close to them to know more (Kereszty 397-429). The Role of the Son: The Son, as he willed, has followed the instructions and the guidance of his Father wholeheartedly. During the mission, the Son has managed to serve the whole humanity, remaining free of concupiscence and correspondingly, away from the sin, but being in the human nature and serving the humanity has made him suffer the various consequences of the human beings’ sin. This actually shows the love of the Son towards the father in carrying out the mission following his divine will to remain dedicated to God (Kereszty 397-429). The Role of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit, in the doctrine of Christianity, mainly comprises of both the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit mainly served the humanity being the dual role of Father and Son making the trinity complete and meaningful. The main role of the Holy Spirit can be observed as the union of the Father and the Son’s roles. Both Father and Son have carried out almost similar roles, wherein God Himself died in the human body of Jesus, to serve the humanity and ultimately lead to the execution of the main objectives of the Holy Spirit (Kereszty 397-429). Question 3. Kereszty, in general, emphasizes the notion that in every religion, human beings have to follow the guidelines of their Holy Book and know about the existence of God. Different religions have different doctrines, principles and verses noted in their respective Holy Books, but the main motto of every religion is to know their God, unite with the Holy Spirit and to follow the same as it has been followed by the Prophets of the God. In Christianity, the path followed by Jesus Christ helps His followers to lead a balanced life, harmonizing their spiritual being and their physical being. The nature of the Christ also helps individuals to distinguish between the good and the evil and helps to prosper in the life, connecting the self with the God. As argued by Kereszty, it is here that the bible reflects almost the same message as the other religious doctrines do. The bible clearly reflects the way the human beings should live his or her life. As per Kereszty, other Holy Books also direct human beings in the same way as the Christians, that is, to follow the path of goodness and remain away from sin being aware of their concupiscence. Bible and the other religious books have actually helped the individuals to know more about the way one should live his or life and it has also made the other religion to know more about the dual character of Jesus Christ, which common humans lack. It is in this context that no other man in the history possesses the dual character in harmony, as Jesus Christ possesses, dragging the attention of human beings to know more about Jesus Christ. Similarly, as asserted by Kereszty, the principles of other religions also guide human beings to lead their life following the pathway shown by their Prophet’s in unity with God (Kereszty 397-429). Works Cited Chapman, John. “Monothelitism and Monothelites.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. Web. 19 Jun. 2014. Kereszty, Roch. Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology. New York: Alba House, 2002. Print. Read More