Christology as the Clarification of Creation

Abstract

HE thesis presented in this paper presupposes that the Christian message is final and ultimate for the human race. In Jesus the meaning of the whole creation and of man's existence has been clarified once and for all. However, the conceptual content in which this normative revelation is expressed is necessarily relative to the time and place of the interpreter. If the Christian message is to be meaningful, it must be connected with the present experience and idea system of the persons to whom it is addressed. The conviction which underlies the thinking expressed here is that the conceptual system in our time which is best equipped to assist faith in understanding the biblical view of God and of his relationship to the world is the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. Extensive use of this philosophy has been made in working out this paper. It should also be said that the view set forth is in agreement with Rudolf Bultmann that the underlying intention of the New Testament kerygma is to express a certain way of understanding human existence. It needs only to be added that human existence can be understood only in the light of man's actual situation in the world and before God. This means that theology must speak of God and his relationship to the world and to man as well as of possibilities of human existence. It is at this point that process philosophy can be of valuable service.