Fidelity with plausibility : modest christologies in the twentieth century / Wesley J. Wildman ; with a foreword by John B. Cobb, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wildman, Wesley J., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jesus Christ--History of doctrines--20th century.

Jesus Christ.

Physical Description:

xxii, 441 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [1998]

Summary:

The task of interpreting the religious significance of Jesus Christ takes shape in this book with the tension determined by two goals: fidelity to the classical Christological tradition, which draws our attention to Jesus in the first place, and plausability with respect to all forms of contemporary knowledge. To ignore the classical tradition is to assume uncritically that contemporary plausibility structures are beyond question, while to forsake plausibility is to embrace the irrationalism of the theological ghetto-dweller. This book argues that maintaining this tension in our time can be achieved only with a modest interpretation of Jesus Christ, one that repudiates the hermeneutical absolutism associated with affirming that Jesus Christ is uniquely, exhaustively, unsurpassably significant for revelation and salvation.

Contents:

Part 1 Reflections on Ernst Troeltsch and the Origins of the Crisis of Plausibility in Contemporary Christology 15

Chapter 1. Christology and the Historical Jesus 23

Strategies for Managing Dependence 26

Criticism of the Extant Dependence Strategies 40

Troeltsch on the Dependence of Faith and Dogmatics upon History 46

Chapter 2. Christology and the History of Religions 65

The Theology of the History of Religions 66

Supernaturalism and the History of Religions 82

The Development of Doctrine and the History of Religions 90

Chapter 3. Christology and the Sciences 103

The Philosophical Sciences 104

The Natural Sciences 117

The Human Sciences 121

Part II Modest Christology and the Resolution of the Crisis of Plausibility in Contemporary Christology 141

Chapter 4. The Absolutist Principle and Modest Christologies 147

The Origin and Structure of the Absolutist Principle 148

Absolutist Christology 158

Modest Christology 171

Chapter 5. Incarnational and Inspirational Modest Christologies: Two Case Studies 191

John Hick: The Logic of Modest Inspirational Christologies 193

The First Step: The Myth of God Incarnate 195

The Second Step: Jesus as Inspired 200

The Third Step: Jesus' Inspiration as Divine Love Incarnate 211

John Cobb: The Logic of Modest Incarnational Christologies 217

The First Step: Christ as Principle of Creative Transformation 221

The Second Step: Identification of Jesus as Christ 224

The Third Step: Affirming Christian Uniqueness 231

Chapter 6. Modest Christological Solutions to Internal Challenges 238

History: Christological Dependence on Knowledge of Jesus 240

Tradition: Reassessing Christological Development 260

Metaphysics: The Universal and the Particular 276

Assessment of These Three Perspectives 281

Chapter 7. Modest Christological Solutions to External Challenges 289

Ethics: Christological Responsibility? 289

Natural Sciences: Evolutionary Biology and Cosmology 304

Religious Pluralism: The Modest Consensus 325

Modest Christologies and the Quest for a Believable Jesus 346

Approaching the Conceptual Heart of Modest Christologies 357.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-418) and index.

ISBN:

0791435954

0791435962

OCLC:

37903561