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On or aroundAD33 a Jewish man called Jesus from Nazareth, in Galilee, was crucified by the Roman authorities after a period of preaching and teaching in the region –pretty much every serious historian of the ancient world can agree on this much. But the earliest writings in the New Testament also claim that this man Jesus had been “raised” by God, and refer to him as “the Lord” and as the “Son of God”. By the time of the Nice an Council, in 325, this has become “One Lord Jesus Christ” who is “the only begotten Son of the Father”, “very God of very God”. And now the man from Nazareth is also said to be the one “by whom all things were made”. How did this happen? Why did it happen? And does it make sense? What does it really mean to say that the wandering Jewish teacher from Nazareth was—and is—fully God, whilst also being fully human? This course offers an introductory opportunity to explore these questions, and get a better understanding of a central pillar of Christian teaching.
This course is based on group discussion. There are some resources below that will help you to prepare for the course, if you wish to, and if you have the time. The questions below will help you to engage with the readings, and the audio recordings should provide some food for thought. However, this preparation is not essential.
As a starting point, we map out and explore some of the different ways in which we each understand and imagine Jesus. Are we satisfied with the understanding that we have? What have been the most important influences on our own imagination of Jesus? Where does this understanding come from; where should it come from?
1. Which texts, songs, images, phrases, ideas or stories have had the most decisive influence on the way that you think, feel, imagine and speak about Jesus?
2. To what extent do you find that these add up to a coherent picture? Are there any big differences, or even tensions between the different influences?
3. What is the role of the Creed — especially the ‘Christological’ portions — in your understanding of Jesus?
The New Testament texts leave us with a range of ways of thinking about Jesus. Why was the idea of “the kingdom of God” so important for the Gospel writers, but not for Paul? Why does Paul have so little to say about Jesus’ preaching and parables? In this session we explore some of the contrasts and differences between the different New Testament writers, and get a sense of what the very earliest Christians thought was most important about Jesus. We will also briefly touch on a few examples of historical Jesus research, and ask the difficult question that recurs again and again as a result of this kind of approach: what does the historical figure of Jesus have to do with “the Christ of faith”? We focus, in particular, two response to these problems from Pope Benedict XVI, and the biblical scholar N T Wright.
New Testament, extracts (see handout)
Additional readings
Bauckham,God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament, ch. 2
BenedictXVI, Jesus of Nazareth, forward
O’Collins, Christology, ch. 2
N TWright, The meaning of Jesus, ch. 2
1. Read through the extracts from the New Testament. Have a think about what each one is (and is not) saying, or implying about Jesus;
2. Are there any interesting differences between them? Do some seem like they have a ‘low’ rather than a ‘high’ Christology? What do you make of these differences?
3. Think about how these texts would look to someone for whom belief in God as one was absolutely central (i.e. a first century Jewish monotheist).
Over two weeks we explore the way in which controversy and disagreement in early Christianity led to the formulation of the creedal statements that Christians still profess faith in today. In this session we look at the role that the range of ideas now known as “Gnosticism” played in the development of early Christian doctrine. We look in particular at Irenaeus of Lyon, and his emphasis on the material humanity of Jesus.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies (extracts)
Osborn on Irenaeus (from The First Christian Theologians)
1. Irenaeus says that ‘he came to save all by means of himself’. How do you understand this phrase ‘by means of himself’?
2. How do you understand the reasoning in a phrase like ‘unless man had been joined to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility’? What does it mean for man to be ‘joined’ to God?
3. Irenaeus imagines Jesus as a ‘second Adam’. How helpful do you find this idea?
Finally, we look at the way that the movement known as “Arianism” helped to shape the theology expressed in Christian Creeds, which affirm the full divinity and humanity of the “One, Lord Jesus Christ. We focus in particular on the questions that arise from the claim that Jesus has two natures, and is nevertheless one person. The question of what it could mean to say that ‘God suffers in Christ’ will help us to explore these issues.
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Stuart is the Theology Lead at LJC. He graduated with a degree in Literature and Theology from the University of Hull in 2000. From 2003-9 he studied Philosophical Theology part-time at the University of Nottingham, whilst continuing to work in the third sector with vulnerably-housed or homeless people, and young asylum seekers (as well as pulling pints in a pub). He was Lecturer at York St John University for almost a decade, before moving to London Jesuit Centre in 2021. He now lives in South East London, and spends as much time as he can in the woods.
