Paulist Press Christology Collection (4 vols.)

What impact does the debate over the historical Jesus have on our faith as Christians? If the “real” Jesus doesn’t fit into what we know about the Middle East in the first century BC, then is he merely a mythic figure? The New Testament message is that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual, living person.

In A Believer’s Search for the Jesus of History, Phillip J. Cunningham takes a hard look at the distinctive—and sometimes irreconcilable—views of scholars involved in this debate: Raymond E. Brown, John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, E.P. Sanders, John P. Meier, and Geza Vermes.

From the first days of the church, Christians confessed their faith in Jesus Christ in both theological discussion and in popular hymns of devotion. After the major church councils from Nicaea to Chalcedon brought clarification and definition to Christological doctrines, the hymns began to express clearly this belief in Jesus as truly God and truly human.

Were the new Christological doctrines deductively developed and imposed by the councils? Or did they arise from the beginning out of the faith of the Christian community as known by its prayers and worship? Father Daniel Liderbach shows that pre-Nicaen hymns inductively held in tension both the full humanity of Jesus and his more-than-human status. Then during the councils from Nicaea to Chalcedon, deductive doctrine held sway in the new hymn compositions. But the final definition by Chalcedon encouraged new hymns in which humanity and divinity are once again held in experiential tension according to the “rule of faith” of the earliest period.

Francis J. Moloney provides a narrative reading of the resurrection stories in Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. His focus is almost entirely upon the text itself. Guided by current scholarship, he uncovers the perennial significance of the four resurrection narratives that are accepted and read as sacred Scripture in the Christian tradition. Without disregarding the historical background that must be understood for an appreciation of the story, a narrative commentary attempts to trace the intended impact of that story upon its readers. This reading and interpretative process uncovers the literary structure of a passage, and then follows the unfolding of the narrative itself, allowing it to speak for itself. The thrust of the book is to uncover the unique theological and pastoral message communicated by means of the narratives.

In this groundbreaking essay, Michael L. Cook addresses two major Christological concerns. First, Cook discusses how Christology must be Trinitarian insofar as it addresses and advocates a more active role of the Holy Spirit as a person. This includes both the economic activity of the triune life in creation and the dynamic, perichoretic, interactive life of God as God. Second, he examines how Christology must be ecumenical insofar as it addresses the concerns of both East and West with regard to the filioque. While it is important ecumenically to return to the original Creed of 381, the theological issues that have developed over the centuries cannot be ignored. The question finally is whether East and West can come to a convergence of views.

Thus Cook sets the Eastern views of Vladimir Lossky and John Zizioulas in dialogue with three Western approaches—Jürgen Moltmann, David Coffey, and Thomas Weinandy—that seek creatively to develop insights potentially compatible with the Eastern viewpoint. The aim is to promote ecumenical dialogue that can transcend the differences occasioned by the filioque, and to seek a higher ecumenical unity based in a renewed emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s activity.