Christology: Christian Writings and the Reflections of Theologians

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on “Christology: Christian Writings and the Reflections of Theologians". The first two entries will be on Scripture: one on the Old Testament images and prophecies of Christ, and the second on the New Testament presentation of Christ. The other entries will be on significant Christian theologians who have written on the person and mission of Jesus Christ. The articles on specific theologians will provide: (a) a brief biography of the theologian; (b) the historical context and influences on the theologian; (c) his or her key Christological insights; (d) the ongoing significance of the Christology of the writer. The theologians to be covered include Origen, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus the Confessor, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Nicholas of Cusa, Margaret Mary Alacoque, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.  There will also be an introductory essay by the editor, which will provide a historical overview of how Christology developed over the centuries, the major controversies, and the variety of Christological perspectives today. The articles in this Special Issue will provide students of theology with an overview of the key Christological reflections of some very important theologians.

Dr. Robert Fastiggi
Guest Editor

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• Jesus Christ
• scripture
• christology
• divinity
• humanity
• redemption

Title: The Nicene Creed's Exegesis of the Johannine Prologue

Abstract: "Dogma in its conception and development is a product of the Greek mind on the soil of the Gospel" -- this famous diagnosis of Harnack would find its most eminent point of application in the Creed of Nicea, 325 AD, which uses language deriving from Greek metaphysics, the highest product of "the Greek mind," in the phrases ek tes ousias tou Patros and homoousion to Patri. The "soil of the Gospel" in this case is the Johannine Prologue, echoed at several points in the Creed. The Creed might even be seen as providing an exegesis of the Gospel text, correcting subordinationist readings, such as Origen's, of the word "theos" (without an article) in John 1:1 and clarifying that the μονογενὴς of Jn 1:18 places the Son on the side of God, not creatures (ēn not egeneto as the Prologue expresses that contrast). In what ways does this Nicene reading of John affect the reception of the Fourth Gospel throughout the rest of the century, creating a powerful tendency to read such texts as "I and the Father are one" (Jn10:30) in terms of the homoousion? But is the Prologue itself "a product of the Greek mind"? This is maintained by exegetes such as Udo Schnelle and Joachim Ringleben, who associate the Johannine Logos with Heraclitus and Stoicism and by theologians such as Fabien Muller who see the Greek metaphysical thought, imported via Philo of Alexandria, as a providential clarification and clothing of the gospel kerygma. (Muller, indeed, translates John 1:1 in Hegelian terms, "Im Anfang war der Begriff"). But while Philo's writings are suffused with metaphysical terminology, so that he ranks among the Middle Platonists, John's apparent reception of them is notably free of such terminology. To step back from the metaphysical reception of John in Origen and the Nicene theologians to the actual texture of Johannine contemplation is the daunting task which Johannine exegesis has not yet faced.