In this revised introduction, an internationally respected scholar explores biblical, historical, and contemporary developments in Christology. The book focuses on the global and contextual diversity of contemporary theology, including views of Christ found in the Global South and North and in the Abrahamic and Asian faith traditions. It is ideal for readers who desire to know how the global Christian community understands the person and work of Jesus Christ. This new edition accounts for the significant developments in theology over the past decade.
In recent years, the doctrine of God has once again become a central focus of theological discussion and debate. In this ecumenical, international, and contextual introduction, internationally respected scholar Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen offers a global survey of understandings of God in Scripture, Christian history, and contemporary theology. This new edition incorporates developments in theological research over the past decade and has been substantially updated throughout.
Global realities of human inequality, poverty, violence and ecological destruction call for a twenty-first-century Christian response which links cross-cultural and interreligious cooperation for change to the Gospel. This book demonstrates why just action is necessarily a criterion of authentic Christian theology, and gives grounds for Christian hope that change in violent structures is really possible. Lisa Sowle Cahill argues that theology and biblical interpretation are already embedded in and indebted to ethical-political practices and choices. Within this ecumenical study, she explores the use of the historical Jesus in constructive theology; the merits of Word and Spirit Christologies; the importance of liberation and feminist theologies as well as theologies from the global south; and also the possibility of qualified moral universalism. The book will be of great interest to all students of theology, religious ethics and politics, and biblical studies.
Why did some people want Jesus dead, while others came to honor him as the Christ? What does it mean to say that he was raised," and how did this belief get started? What about the classical expressions of Jesus' religious significance? Where did they come from and what do they mean? What does belief in Jesus have to do with justice for the poor, the women's movement, concern for the environment, and respect for other world religions? These are just a few of the questions that have given Christology a whole new shape in recent years. Through the process of inquiry, conversation, and debate, students, clergy, and other professional ministers receive a complete introduction into the current thinking about Jesus' religious significance the present stage of Christology. In The College Student's Introduction to Christology, Loewe focuses on Christology today, especially the religious significance of Jesus for culture and society. By surveying Jesus' life in light of the Easter experience and by tracing the Christological process the process whereby Christians seek to capture and communicate in words Jesus' salvific impact this work grasps current Christian, and especially Catholic, theological reflection on the significance of Jesus. Loewe focuses on becoming familiar with issues regarding how people discuss Jesus today; grasping the historical and cultural background from which these issues emerged; and developing an understanding of the methods for resolving them. Part One deals with the question of the historical Jesus, Part Two examines the origin and meaning of Christian belief in Jesus' resurrection, and Part Three uncovers the Christological process as it unfolds through the New Testament, classical patristic dogma, and today. The ways in which Christians have sought to express Jesus' religious significance offer insight for what those exThe College Student's Introduction to Christology offers individuals a method for encountering Christ in the world. William P. Loewe, Ph.D., is associate professor and former chair of the Department of Religion and Religious Education at The Catholic University of America. His teaching and writing focus on Christology, soteriology, and Lonergan studies. "
This book explores Christology through the lens of whiteness, addressing whiteness as a site of privilege and power within the specific context of Christology. It asks whether or not Jesus' life and work offers theological, religious and ethical resources that can address the question of contemporary forms of white privilege. The text seeks to encourage ways of thinking about whiteness theologically through the mission of Jesus. In this sense, white Christians are encouraged to reflect on how their whiteness is a site of tension in relation to their theological and religious framework. A distinguished team of contributors explore key topics including the Christology of domination, different images of Jesus and the question of identification with Jesus, and the Black Jesus in the inner city.
Theological dictionaries are foundational to any theological library. But until now there has been no Global Dictionary of Theology, a theological dictionary that presumes the contribution of the Western tradition but moves beyond it to embrace and explore a full range of global expressions of theology. The Global Dictionary of Theology is inspired by the shift of the center of Christianity from the West to the Global South. But it also reflects the increase in two-way traffic between these two sectors as well as the global awareness that has permeated popular culture to an unprecedented degree. The editorial perspective of the Global Dictionary of Theology is an ecumenical evangelicalism that is receptive to discovering new facets of truth through listening and conversation on a global scale. Thus a distinctive feature of the Global Dictionary of Theology is its conversational approach. Contributors have been called on to write in the spirit of engaging in a larger theological conversation in which alternative views are expected and invited. William A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Juan F. Martinez and Simon Chan edit approximately 250 articles written by over 100 contributors representing the global spectrum of theological perspectives. Pastors, theological teachers, theological students and lay Christian leaders will all find the Global Dictionary of Theology to be a resource that unfolds new dimensions and reveals new panoramas of theological perspective and inquiry. Here is a new launching point for doing theology in today's global context.
An authoritative and beloved textbook, updated for the current generation of theology students. Daniel L. Migliore’s classic theology textbook returns in a new edition, revised and supplemented with fresh material. Faith Seeking Understanding covers fundamental topics for budding theologians, from biblical hermeneutics to the incarnation to the life of faith. As in previous editions, the material culminates in four imaginative dialogues between prominent thinkers to illustrate major theological debates. In addition to updates throughout the text, the fourth edition also includes a new introduction and an additional chapter on Christology. Students will appreciate the textbook’s accessible style, comprehensive reading recommendations, and glossary of theological terms.
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen provides an up-to-date survey and analysis of the major ecclesiological traditions, the most important theologians, and a number of contextual approaches to both the unity and the diversity of ecclesiastic understandings and practices.
Long familiar to theologians and theology students, John Howard Yoder (1927-1997) is increasingly recognized as one of the most significant theologians of the later twentieth century. Yoder, hailed as a gifted proponent of Anabaptist social ethics, was also an astute and ecumenically-minded constructive theologian. Preface to Theology, initially developed as seminary course material, is key to understanding Yoder's theology and his ever central commitment to Christology. It provides an introduction to the traditional categories of systematic theology, suggesting Yoder's concern with our posture toward theological study and the importance of viewing this study as a vital, ongoing process. Preface to Theology, introduced by Stanley Hauerwas and Alex Sider, includes updated documentation of Yoder's sources. The approachable, student-friendly format makes this volume, now offically in print for the first time, ideal for both the beginning theology student and the advanced scholar. Readers in all Christian traditions will find it a penetrating introduction to theology; students of Yoder's thought will find it indispensable.
In Christ and Reconciliation Veli-Matti Karkkainen develops a constructive Christology and theology of salvation in dialogue with the best of Christian tradition, with contemporary theology in its global and contextual diversity, and with other major living faiths. Karkkainen's Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World is a five-volume project that aims to develop a new approach to and method of doing Christian theology in our pluralistic world at the beginning of the third millennium. Topics such as diversity, inclusivity, violence, power, cultural hybridity, and justice are part of the constructive theological discussion along with classical topics such as the messianic consciousness, incarnation, atonement, and the person of Christ. With the metaphor of hospitality serving as the framework for his discussion, Karkkainen engages Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism in sympathetic and critical mutual dialogue while remaining robustly Christian in his convictions. Never before has a full-scale doctrinal theology been attempted in such a wide and deep dialogical mode.
