Essay on "Development of Christology in Catholic Theology"

Essay 6 pages (2146 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Christology and Catholicism

The Development of Christology

From the beginning, the Church has been Christocentric. This means that Christ has the central place in the relationship between the world and God. Christ is viewed as the mediator between God and humankind, standing in the middle of Christian faith. Catholic spirituality works through Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Thus, Christ is not separate from the Trinity, but one of its persons. Christ's saving work founds the Church, which is his "body" and which works out Christ's mediating action in the world. None of this has changed over the years. Out of the early scriptural formulations, Christology developed in ecclesial tradition.

The Catholic Church holds the position that Jesus is simultaneously truly human and truly divine. This is the doctrine of hypostatic union. This doctrine was worked out through the early years in ecumenical councils and eventually asserted as doctrine at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. These councils were spawned by the several heresies that rose early on and were combated by those who came to be recognized Catholic figures. One heresy was Docetism, which claimed that Jesus only appeared to have a body. Apollinarianism was not as extreme, but was likewise deemed heretical. It said that Christ's mind was sinless and divine, although his body and soul were human. Both of these heresies were rejected because they presumed that God could not assume sinful flesh without compromising divinity. Monophysitism claimed that Jesus's humanity and divinity were united in one nature. This was debated and rejected for the position that Christ was one divine person in two natures (human and divine). There were other heresies that denied the divinity of Christ in various ways, such as the Ebionites, the Arians, and the Nestorians (to mention just a few). Ultimately, the Catholic Church developed its position through the church councils in Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople that met to discuss biblical interpretation. These ecumenical councils established right doctrine for the Catholic Church, asserted through the creeds that came out of the councils.

This Christology is linked directly with salvation. The mission of Jesus Christ was not only the proclamation of salvation but the accomplishment of salvation on behalf of the believing Church. Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming are crucial. Christ brings about salvation -- the reconciliation of humanity and God -- through a mysterious process that the Church mediates through the sacraments.

The Church Links Christ, the People, and the Magisterium

The Church is the communion of believers in Christ. People become members of the Church through incorporation into the "body of Christ" by baptism and the Eucharist. Here the Catholic Church emphasizes the sacraments, which unify the believer with the community and disperse grace. The Church's origin goes back to the mystery of Christ, who founded it when the disciples established themselves together in a community of faith. It is based on God's incarnation and is the sacramental continuation of that incarnation. The Church is where the incarnate Word resides in the world and where proclamation of the gospel takes place. It has a mission in the world, guided by the Holy Spirit. It is not only an institution, but also a place of mystical communion and liturgical worship. There is, in addition, the Church and many local churches. In the Catholic tradition, there is a priority of a uniform and exclusive church united under the pope. What is important is that only the Catholic Church exists without defects as the place where Christ subsists in it. It possesses the instruments needed, aside from proclamation and the sacraments, that allow it alone to fulfill the full nature of the Church on earth.

The ecclesial magisterium is an authority within church structure that preserves and interprets the elements of faith in a binding way. That means that it believes itself to have the power to pass on doctrines and truth claims within and to the whole community of Christians. This transmission began through apostolic succession and consensus. It works now through synods, councils, and decrees. Like the sacraments, which mediate grace for salvation, the magisterium mediates truth and correct doctrine to the Church. It is the infallible doctrinal authority. The pope is the highest person of the magisterium. According to Catholicism, he has the authority to dictate infallible dogma on points of faith and morals to the Church community. As such, the magisterium functions within the Church, making sure that its members perpetuate the correct teaching and understanding of Christ. The Church has this task of bearing God's message of revelation through history to the faithful community. Its authority stands under God's word but is answerable to no other source of revelation.

The Relation between Human Salvation and the Incarnation

The incarnation means that God assumed human reality in the form of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, so that God could save humankind. This is perhaps the fundamental article of faith for Catholics. It comes essentially from John's Gospel where it says that the Word became flesh and dwelled among humans. It encompasses both the actual act in which God became human and the lasting situation that follows from this incarnation. Without the condescension of Christ into the world, God's incarnate presence to the world would not have taken place. Thus there would be no salvation.

The incarnation is essential to God's redemptive work. One aspect of it is Christ's uniqueness. The Catholic Church believes that only in Jesus Christ did such a union of divine and human take place. Another part of it is the role of Mary, a virgin who conceived by the Holy Spirit. This shows the Trinitarian work and is part of the way in which Christ achieved both natures fully. As a result, Jesus Christ is thought to have escaped original sin, which is passed down through birth. Lacking the normal depravity, he existed sinless. Because of this, his perfect nature was able to redeem human beings from sin. He freely chose to suffer and die in order later to achieve a mystical marriage with the Church that mediates this salvation to humans.

The encounter with God after the incarnation alters. God has established an integral relationship to the historical and material world. Humans encounter this relationship in the Church with its words, sacraments, and grace. In other words, the fact of the incarnation means that the physical world or human flesh in history no longer separates one from God, but ties one to God more strongly. The incarnation opened what was previously enslaved to guilt and sin onto a new path of hope and forgiveness. It does this because the incarnation makes possible the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Without the incarnation, there is no payment for sin and no salvation. The incarnation means the historical achievement of God's act which redeems, frees, and rescues. It is clear that the Catholic notion of salvation through incarnation and its result is closely linked with historical reality. God establishes a saving presence in the world -- the Church, which is based on Christ's mysterious saving act. It establishes as well a new moral order in the world that is dedicated to easing suffering and death. The Church is the sacrament of salvation in Christ for the world, but its sacraments of baptism and Eucharist are effective administers of grace and universal salvation to all who wish only because they are founded on the incarnation.

The Historical Jesus and the Third Quest

The historical Jesus of Nazareth is important in contemporary Catholic tradition. There is not an exclusive focus on the risen Christ, but attention to finding out information pertaining to the historical person of Jesus. This portrait is reconstructed by applying historical-critical methods of research to texts. It is possible that the earthly Jesus will remain elusive forever due to the inadequacy of source material, but some things may be known. These are important for integrating the notion of Christ's full humanity into Catholic theology. They speak concretely about how God has incarnated God's presence into the world.

The original quest for the historical Jesus came to an end with Albert Schweitzer's critique of Jesus as an eschatological prophet of the world's imminent end. After this, a new quest arose that sought to place Jesus outside and in conflict with his historical setting. In the present day, still ongoing, the Third Quest seeks again to discern the historical Jesus. The search is more optimistic about what can be known. It highlights the Jewish context of Jesus, attempting to make sense of Jesus as a Jew rather than as a Christian. It uses the same types of source, form, and redaction criticisms from the earlier searches. The biblical text is subject to analysis from the perspective of literary criticism. On the other hand, it adds comparisons with Greco-Roman sources as well to find similarities between Jesus and philosophical movements. The methods, sources, and traditions used for this search have expanded beyond… READ MORE

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