Christoph Schönborn - God Sent His Son: A Contemporary Christology

GOD SENT HIS SON

CHRISTOPH CARDINAL SCHNBORN

____________________

With the assistance of
Michael Konrad and Hubert Philipp Weber

TRANSLATED BY HENRY TAYLOR

IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

First published in English in Europe by
LIT Verlag under the title Christology
2004 by LIT Verlag, Berlin, Mnster, Vienna, Zurich
This edition has been published under license from LIT Verlag

Original German edition:
Gott sandt seinen Sohn: Christologie
Volume 7, AMATECA: Lebcher zur katolischen Theologie
2002 by Bonifatius GmbH Druck, Paderborn

Cover art:
The Death of Christ
Sano di Pietro (1406-1481)
Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Germany
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz /
Art Resource, New York

Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum

2010 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-58617-410-1
Library of Congress Control Number 2009935364
Printed in the United States of America

Contents

(ScriptureTraditionExperience)

1. The Three Pillars

2. The Pillars Give Way

1. The Crisis of Natural Science

2. The Historical Crisis

3. The Existential Crisis

1. The Impression Made by the Figure: Recognizing Jesus as Christ

2. A Reversal of View: The Case of Paul

3. Authority and Lowliness

a. The Dispute about AuthorityA Day in Capernaum

b. Evangelizare Pauperibus as the Basic Shape of Jesus Proclamation

: The Mission of the Son as the Heart of Christology, The Creed as the Framework of Christology

1. Biblical Witness to the Idea of Preexistence

2. The Arian Crisis and the First Council of Nicaea (325)

a. The Concerns and Teaching of Arius

b. The First Council of NicaeaInterpreting the Profession of Faith in Christ

THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN GENERATED FROM THE FATHER

BEGOTTEN, NOT MADE

CONSUBSTANTIAL WITH THE FATHER

c. Beginning or End? The Hellenization Theory

THE HELLENIZATION OR THE DE-HELLENIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY?

ORTHODOXY AND HERESY AS A PROCESS OF DIFFERENTIATION

THE IMAGE OF CHRIST AND IMPERIAL POLITICS AFTER NICAEA

THE CRITERIA AND LIMITATIONS OF UNITY IN MULTIPLICITY

SUMMARY

3. The Implications of the Nicene Creed

a. Christ as the Perfect Image of the Father

b. The Incarnation of the Logos and the Divinization of Man

1. Approaches to the Incarnation of God in the Old Testament and Judaism

a. Gods Self-Abasement in Jewish Theology

b. The Prophet as the Representative of God

2. Conceived by the Holy SpiritBorn of the Virgin Mary

a. A Historical Question but Not Only That

b. The Symbolic Language in the Bible

c. Life Wrought by the Spirit: The Root of the New Man

3. The Council of Chalcedon: True GodTrue Man

a. Two Wrong Tracks: Christologies of Separation and of Intermixture

THE LOGOS-SARX SCHEMA IN APOLLINARIS OF LAODICAEA

ANTIOCH, THE LOGOS-MAN SCHEMA, AND NESTORIUS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF PERSON

THE PERPETUATION OF THE SCHISM

b. The Council of Ephesus (431) and Cyril of Alexandria

c. The Council of Chalcedon (451)

THE CREED OF CHALCEDON

THE AUTHORITY OF THE COUNCIL

CHALCEDON AS A KEY FOR THE CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

1. Jesus Consciousness of Himself and His Mission

a. Imminent Expectation: Was Jesus Mistaken?

THE DECISIVE WILL OF GOD: JESUS MORAL MESSAGE

b. Christs Knowledge in the History of Theology

INTEGRATION AND PERFECTION IN PATRISTIC LITERATURE

CHRISTS VISION OF GOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES

CHRISTS SELF-AWARENESS AS A PROBLEM IN MODERN TIMES

c. Theological Reflection

KARL RAHNERS BASIC DISTINCTION

HANS URS VON BALTHASARS TRINITARIAN OVERVIEW

BASIC MODE OF BEING AND THEMATIC KNOWLEDGE

2. Further Aspects of Jesus Humanity

a. Jesus Will and Work as God and Man

THE QUESTION OF THE WILL IN THE WRITINGS OF MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR

THE THIRD COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE (680/681)

THE LASTING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE THIRD COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

THE SOTERIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO WILLS

b. Jesus True Body

ENEMIES OF IMAGES

THOSE WHO DEFENDED ICONS

c. Jesus Heart

3. On the Theology of the Life of Jesus: The Mysteries of Jesus

a. History of the Contemplation of the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus

b. The Theological Significance of the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus

JESUS LIFEREVELATION OF THE FATHER

JESUS LIFEMYSTERY OF THE REDEMPTION

JESUS LIFERECAPITULATION OF EVERYTHING

c. Contemplating Some of the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus

THE MYSTERIES OF THE HIDDEN LIFE OF JESUS

THE MYSTERY OF JESUS FELLOWSHIP

THE SIGNS OF THE COMING KINGDOM OF GOD

THE MYSTERY OF JESUS STRUGGLE WITH SATAN

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST

1. Jesus Christs Conflict with the Jewish Authorities

a. Jesus and Israel

THE LAW

THE TEMPLE

JESUS AND ISRAELS BELIEF IN THE ONLY GOD WHO SAVES

b. The Trial of Jesus

c. Christianity and JudaismThe Question of the Guilt

2. Died for Us on the Cross: The Doctrine of Redemption

OVERVIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE OF REDEMPTION

a. Anselm of Canterbury s Doctrine of Satisfaction

ANSELMS METHOD

THE AXIOMS OF THE INVESTIGATION

INTERPRETATION

FREEDOM AND SIN

SATISFACTION OF PUNISHMENT

THE FREEDOM THUS REGAINED

SUMMARY

b. Martin Luthers Theology of the Cross

PUTTING THE QUESTION

THE UNDERSTANDING OF SIN

CHRISTS REDEEMING ACT

THE AFTERMATH OF PENAL SATISFACTION

c. The Synthesis of Thomas Aquinas

WAS THE INCARNATION NECESSARY (STH III, Q. I, A. 2)?

THE EFFECT OF CHRISTS PASSION (STH III, Q. 48)

REDEMPTION THROUGH CHRISTS MERIT

SUMMARY

d. Final ReflectionsAve Crux Spes Unica

3. Descended to the Realm of Death

a. The Biblical Basis: Hell as Sheol

b. The Descent into Hell as the Victory over DeathThe Anastasis Icon

c. The Descent into Hell in Solidarity with the Fate of Men

1. Risen from the Dead on the Third Day

a. The Context of Jesus Promise of the Resurrection

b. A Historical and Transcendent Event

c. The Trinitarian, Ecclesiological, and Soteriological Significance of Jesus Resurrection

THE TRINITARIAN SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS RESURRECTION

THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS RESURRECTION

THE SOTERIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS RESURRECTION

RESURRECTION AND IMMINENT EXPECTATION

NEW BEING IN CHRIST

BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION

2. He is Seated at the Right Hand of God the Almighty Father

a. Witnesses to the Rule of Faith

b. The Article of Faith in Controversy

c. The Mystery of His Present Rule

OUR HOME IS IN HEAVEN

PRESENT IN HIS EUCHARIST

3. From Thence He Will Come to Judge the Living and the Dead

a. Christ Will Come Again at the End of Time

LIGHTNING AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

LINES OF PROMISES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE CHURCH IS FIGHTING THE ENEMY WHO IS ALREADY DEFEATED

CHRISTS RETURN AS HOPE FOR ISRAEL

CHRISTALPHA AND OMEGA

b. To Judge the Living and the Dead

BEFORE CHRISTS JUDGMENT SEAT

THE SCARS OF THE SOUL

IN THE FACE OF CHRIST

IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME (GAL 2:20)

CRIB AND CROSS AS CORNERSTONES OF CHRISTOLOGY

THE MERCIFUL GODTHEOCENTRICITY

ONLY JESUSCHRISTOCENTRICITY

THE CREATURES DIGNITY AND POVERTY

THE FIRE OF LOVE

1. Studies and Textbooks on Christology

2. History of Christology