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Fidelity with Plausibility

Modest Christologies in the Twentieth Century

Fidelity with Plausibility

Modest Christologies in the Twentieth Century

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Paperback / softback

£27.50

Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 9780791435960
Number of Pages: 441
Published: 15/01/1998

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 plausibility 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.

Foreword

Preface


Acknowledgments


Introduction


PART I
Reflections on Ernst Troeltsch and the Origins of the Crisis of Plausibility in Contemporary Christology

Introduction to Part I


Chapter 1. Christology and the Historical Jesus


Strategies for Managing Dependence
Criticism of the Extant Dependence Strategies
Troeltsch on the Dependence of Faith and Dogmatics upon History


Chapter 2. Christology and the History of Religions


The Theology of the History of Religions
Supernaturalism and the History of Religions
The Development of Doctrine and the History of Religions


Chapter 3. Christology and the Sciences


The Philosophical Sciences
The Natural Sciences
The Human Sciences
Conclusion


PART II
Modest Christology and the Resolution of the Crisis of Plausibility in Contemporary Christology


Introduction to Part II


Chapter 4. The Absolutist Principle and Modest Christologies


The Origin and Structure of the Absolutist Principle
Absolutist Christology
Modest Christology


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


John Hick: The Logic of Modest Inspirational Christologies
The First Step: The Myth of God Incarnate
The Second Step: Jesus as Inspired
The Third Step: Jesus' Inspiration as Divine Love Incarnate
John Cobb: The Logic of Modest Incarnational Christologies
The First Step: Christ as Principle of Creative Transformation
The Second Step: Identification of Jesus as Christ
The Third Step: Affirming Christian Uniqueness


Chapter 6. Modest Christological Solutions to Internal Challenges


History: Christological Dependence on Knowledge of Jesus
Tradition: Reassessing Christological Development
Metaphysics: The Universal and the Particular
Assessment of These Three Perspectives


Chapter 7. Modest Christological Solutions to External Challenges


Ethics: Christological Responsibility?
Natural Sciences: Evolutionary Biology and Cosmology
Religious Pluralism: The Modest Consensus


Conclusion


Modest Christologies and the Quest for a Believable Jesus
Approaching the Conceptual Heart of Modest Christologies


Notes


Bibliography


Index

Wesley J. Wildman

Wesley J. Wildman is Assistant Professor of Theology at Boston University. He is coeditor with W. Mark Richardson of Religion and Science: History, Method, Dialogue.