Work Of Christ Research Articles

Jesus the CEO: A Managerial Perspective

In the corporate world, the significance and the pivotal role of the CEO have been elaborated upon and he is the one who steers the company in both calm waters and troubled waters. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity came to redeem the world and he has been seen by many in the role of a CEO by many management thinkers and practitioners. Jesus exemplified many management styles and techniques. The commonly understood managerial dimensions of effectiveness are reflected in his public life from start to finish. The modern day managers are to learn from the life and works of Christ.

The Spirit in creation

AbstractThe result of the Arian controversy was the affirmation of the total equality of the trinitarian persons. This led to the realisation that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in every external action of God. Despite this, the role of the Holy Spirit in creation has not been clear, partly due to few specific references in the creation narratives. However, it may be suggested that the Spirit does not act in the creation of matter, which is the role of the second person, but in the provision of the underlying form and order necessary for very existence, and specifically for the dynamic interaction which is of the essence of life, as in the second account of the creation of the man (Gen 2). This reflects the fact that the action of the Spirit is also essential in salvation to link Christ's work on the cross to the believer. While separation is a feature of the Genesis creation narrative, this is balanced by the interrelating of what had been created.So, although Christian theology has commonly seen the world as ‘spirit’-less, restricting the action of the Holy Spirit to the church, this would be understood as referring to the limitation of his direct action. His immanent presence is nevertheless essential in all for very existence. The Spirit is not in the world, but underlies it.Creation may be seen as a theistic act, by transcendent intervention to give matter, and giving interaction in immanent presence. The nature of the world therefore reflects the theistic nature of God, involving both distinction and relating. Indeed it then reflects the trinitarian nature of the creator, in which the persons maintain their absolute distinction at the same time as their total equality through the interaction of perichōrēsis, specifically enabled by the action of the Spirit as generating and undergirding relationship. The parallel between the created and the creator is seen especially insofar as the discrete elements of matter interrelate to give form and interaction.It is in their interaction that the elements of creation fulfil their purpose, and so specifically that humanity reflects its nature as created in imago Dei.

A Truly Human Incarnation: Recovering a Place for Nativity in Contemporary Christology

Theological reflection on the person and saving work of Christ in the past several decades has been concerned primarily with the adult man Jesus, his life-giving ministry, his consequent death on the cross, and the salvation that his life, death, and resurrection offer to sinful human beings and a broken and unjust world. But the liberating good news of divine incarnation does not begin with Jesus’ public ministry as an adult. Rather, it begins with a socially high-risk pregnancy; with a humble, messy, and painful birth; and with the natal body of a squalling, dependent, and vulnerable infant. This article draws on both contemporary feminist scholarship and premodern theological voices to posit that recovering the nativity as a christological symbol brings into focus at least three important theological insights that a predominant emphasis on the adult Jesus marginalizes in christology and the Christian community today: that the natal life taken on in the Incarnation, like all human life, is inherently vulnerable from the start; that the nativity is an overlooked, yet powerful icon of divine redemption; and that contemplating the vulnerability of Christ’s natality can cultivate the practice of peace in a vulnerable and violent world.

Liturgy and Morality. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium in the Context of Moral Theology

50. rocznica uchwalenia Konstytucji o liturgii świętej zachęca do teologiczno-moralnej interpretacji tego dokumentu Vaticanum II. Jej owocem jest stwierdzenie istniejącej w historii zbawienia korelacji pomiędzy liturgią i moralnością. Objawienie Starego Testamentu odsłania koniunkcję kultu i moralności, a próby jej rozerwania w historii Narodu Wybranego spotykają się z ostrym sprzeciwem proroków. Krytyka ta zawiera jednak zapowiedź nowej przyszłości, w której Bóg usunie podział między kultem a moralnością. Nowy Testament przedstawia realizację tej obietnicy w wydarzeniu Jezusa Chrystusa. Jego zbawcze dzieło ustanawia chrześcijańską liturgię, w której człowiek uczestniczy jako istota duchowo-cielesna. Zbawienie aktualizowane w liturgii uświęca przez łaskę, która może być przyjęta jako miłość Boga respektująca wolne działanie człowieka. Zbawienie uobecniane w liturgii Kościoła jest bowiem relacją, współdziałaniem Boga i człowieka, łaski i wolności. Sacrosantum Concilium wyraża tę objawioną prawdę, podkreślając obiektywny i subiektywny wymiar liturgii jako dzieła Chrystusa, w którym chrześcijanin czynnie, świadomie i owocnie uczestniczy (participatio actuosa). Jest to przede wszystkim udział duchowy, zatem również moralny. Tylko wtedy możliwy jest zewnętrzny wymiar liturgii, w którym zawierają się szczegółowe formy, postawy, gesty i różnego rodzaju działania uczestnika świętej liturgii. Oznacza to, że liturgiczna participatio actuosa wymaga moralnego działania poprzez konkretne naśladowanie Chrystusa, prowadzące do nawrócenia. Wówczas „wiara działa przez miłość” (por. Ga 5, 6). W ten sposób dochodzimy do pojęcia ofiary, która w przypadku człowieka polega na jego całościowej przemianie. Grzeszny człowiek obdarowany miłością Trójjedynego Boga może na nią odpowiedzieć własną, stopniowo dojrzewającą miłością. Proces ten konstytuuje dramat Boga i człowieka, czyli napięcie pomiędzy łaską i wolnością, któremu odpowiada właśnie korelacja liturgii i moralności. Co więcej, zależność ta pozwala na autentyczne doświadczenie liturgii i moralności, chroniąc je przed redukcją do rytualizmu i moralizmu.

Book Review: Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation

Book Review: Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation

The Unity of Christ: Continuity and Conflict in Patristic Tradition. By CHRISTOPHER A. BEELEY.

This is a good book. Dr Beeley writes clearly and with authority on the person of Christ as presented by undeniably influential—indeed he might justly claim the most influential—theologians of the first eight centuries. The dust jacket carries commendations from Mark Edwards for Dr Beeley’s account of Origen’s Christology and from Frederick Norris, who praises the ‘highly developed theological insights’ on ‘this large canvas sketching a new “story line” for patristic Christology that will have to be studied for decades’. I gladly offer my own endorsement. ‘Will have to be studied for decades’ overdoes it, but it might perhaps even turn out to be the case. The new ‘story line’ is, of course, not truly new, as Professor Norris and Dr Beeley are both well aware. It is, though, a welcome and refreshing shift in the interpretation of a classic theme. The story is that the theologians who established the Church’s doctrine were in theology and Christology followers of Origen of the kind that Eusebius was: Christ is divine in person, exact reproduction of his Father, though there might be doubts over consubstantiality; they were unitive thinkers in their account of Christ, who would eventually accommodate the post-Nicene to the older understanding with much the same arguments. Dr Beeley surveys the views of the relay of theologians who carry the baton of patristic tradition and evaluates their contribution to the race. Origen starts it off, followed by Eusebius of Caesarea, now rightly, I am glad to see, here rescued from long-standing undervaluation: the rot set in after the Nicene doctrinal settlement and, so far as I know, nobody has counted him as a ‘Church Father’. Athanasius loses his gold medal; Gregory of Nazianzus is upgraded to most significant amongst the Cappadocians and allowed to be a prime influence on Cyril of Alexandria and so on all subsequent interpretation of the person and work of Christ. The Latins Hilary and Ambrose are not neglected and Augustine is granted a pithy discussion. Post-Chalcedonian Christology gets a briefer treatment with accounts of the contributions of Leontius, Maximus, and John Damascene. Dr Beeley’s book has the added merit of being useful to newcomers to the subject. It does not aspire to the level of Dorner, Harnack, or Grillmeier in either depth of analysis or scope but it is undeniably more approachable.

Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, and Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), pp. 489. $37.00.

Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, and Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), pp. 489. $37.00.

Onherhaalbaar, onontdoenbaar: Die doop as simbool van eenheid in die kerk

Irrevocably singular: Baptism as a symbol of unity in the church. In this article I conduct a phenomenological analysis of the concept ‘one baptism’ in Ephesians 4:4−6. Such an analysis seeks to reveal the essence of a particular concept by bracketing out the theological and ideological presuppositions usually associated with it. The essential concept is then expanded by linking it to the terms most closely surrounding it in the text. A critical theological reflection on the expanded concept shows that ‘one baptism’ refers to an event by which believers are inducted, once and for all, into the church as the one body of the one Lord, Jesus Christ. The church exists through the presence of the one Spirit who binds believers in an unbreakable bond of love to God and to each other. Because baptism can never be undone or repeated, any liturgical act depicted as a ‘re-baptism’ is, by definition, impossible. This means that churches that baptise the children of believing parents are able to accommodate requests from people who, having been baptised as an infant, in later life wish to celebrate and testify to some significant milestone in their spiritual journey by means of an official church ritual. Such ritualised testimonies, however, refer to the existential lifeworld of believers (their repentance, confession of faith etc.) and are distinct from baptism that refers to the singular eschatological work of Christ and thus cannot be repeated. The church should, however, take pastoral care to ensure that people do not substitute their own spiritual experiences for the reality of salvation that is founded on the singular act of God, for us once and for all in Christ, to which baptism irrevocably refers.

Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ – By Thomas F. Torrance

Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ – By Thomas F. Torrance

The Possibilities of the Hebrew Sabbath for Black Theology

Within the sources of black theology no narrative is more important than the Exodus. Its importance within the slave religion and the civil rights movement has made it foundational for understanding the nature of God, the work of Christ, and the purposes of humanity. However, the Sabbath, which is the Israelite response to the Exodus, has not been adopted as a part of the Exodus narrative. As such, it has been underutilized as a form of social ethical critique. A rediscovery of the Sabbath provides a meaningful way of reinforcing the extant concerns of black theology and providing avenues for new exploration and conversation. The purpose of this essay is to point out a few of those meaningful avenues and to argue for continued exploration of the theological and ethical possibilities presented by the Sabbath.

Not Salvation History, but Salvation Territory: The Main Subject Matter of Galatians

This article argues that the central question of Paul's letter to the Galatians is not ‘what time is it?’, but ‘what has Jesus done for you?’ In Paul's explanation of Christ's work, spatial categories are more important than temporal ones, as he impresses upon the Galatians that they have been delivered from the domain of slavery and transferred into the realm of freedom. The purpose of the letter is to urge the Galatians to remain in Christ's domain and not return to slavery by submitting to the law of Moses.

Imitating Christ's Cross: Lonergan and Girard on How and Why

The article begins with the gospels’ admonition to take up one's cross and asks how Christians might understand Christ's work on the cross so that we might better imitate or participate in it. Using tools from recent advances in literary analysis and systematic theology, the article attempts to provide some answer to this question. It considers contemporary feminist and liberation theologians’ criticism of the common but problematic interpretation of Christ's cross, what is often called ‘substitutionary penal atonement.’ It compares this with Anselm's atonement theory of satisfaction and Bernard Lonergan's and René Girard's analysis of the cross as a communication of love that invites others into loving relationship. With these interpretations of Christ's work, it concludes with some thoughts on how Christians might take up their own daily crosses.

Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), pp. lxxxiv + 489. $37.00.

Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), pp. lxxxiv + 489. $37.00.

The Mind of the Spirit: Explorations in the reciprocal relationship between the work of the Spirit and the work of the Son

Building upon research that resulted in my article in the 2006 edition of JEPTA, called, ‘There is Power in the Blood’, in this article, I will trace a thread of thought that is discernable in the history of Pneumatology that envisions Easter and Pentecost as mutually indispensible: the blood and the Spirit, the cross and the Spirit, go together. It will be clear that the practical integration of the work of Christ with the work of the Spirit in an absolute and perfect mutuality still seems to be a young and tentative experiment. I begin my story with an important figure within the prehistory of Pentecostalism, Andrew Murray.

The Humanity of Christ: John Calvin's Understanding of Christ's Vicarious Humanity

AbstractThere are two different hermeneutical principles between the views of the fallen and unfallen humanity of Christ. Scholars who deny Christ's assumption of corrupted human nature emphasise that, due to a fallen humanity, Christ would have inevitably committed sin in the context of the original sin. However, theologians who are in favour of Christ's fallen humanity explain the issue in the person and work of Christ himself. Here, I present John Calvin's biblical views on the body of Christ as the vicarious humanity for all of us. With regard to the biblical truth that the Word became flesh without ceasing to be the eternal of God, Calvin describes the paradoxical character of the event in scripture. Although Calvin never supports the fallen nature of Christ at a literal level, he is inclined to accept the view of Christ's fallen nature at the level of interpretation, because Calvin has no hesitation in saying that Christ assumed a mortal body like us. Calvin is in line with the views of Christ's fallen human nature, for he uses the biblical concept of Christ's mortal body and the principle of sanctification in his own body through the Holy Spirit, except in that Calvin denies Christ's assumption of the sinful nature of Adam after the Fall. Calvin's opinions not only provide us with the common biblical ground with which the two theological camps would agree, but also demonstrate that Christ assumed fallen humanity for us. In this article, I will explain how the view of Christ's unfallen humanity has logical errors and how it distorts the integrity of the Gospel. Next, in order to demonstrate how Christ's assumption of fallen humanity accords with the orthodox faith in Reformed theology, I examine Calvin's biblical arguments of Christ's assumption of our true humanity. Then, I explain that without assumption of our mortal body by Christ there is no vicarious humanity of Christ in Calvin's christology. Particularly, in order to understand the original and biblical arguments for the humanity of Christ, I will use a dialectical approach to both the Institutes of Christian Religion (1559) and Calvin's commentaries, as the best way to grasp the essence of Calvin's theology.

The Servant Lord: A Word of Caution Regarding themunus triplexin Karl Barth's Theology and the Church Today

AbstractContemporary theology exhibits a lively interest in using the traditional doctrine of themunus triplex(the threefold mediatorial office of Christ as prophet, priest and king) to unify our understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ and ground it in the Old Testament witness. This article explores Karl Barth's contribution to this trend and draws from it a set of reflections for the church today. Scholarly consensus suggests that Barth offers an exceptionally robust development of themunus triplexin shaping the formal structure and material content of his doctrine of reconciliation. In this article I contend that his use of this concept is actually quite superficial in nature. As scholars are wont to point out, Barth incorporates themunus triplexinto eye-catching summary statements throughoutCDIV – but these statements are more ambiguous than they might at first seem. A closer examination of the details of his account of the work of Christ, and particularly his hamartiology, demonstrates that themunus triplexdoes not substantially inform his treatment of these subjects, and that his own unique christological concerns provide the determining influence. While Barth was eager to align his position with that of Reformed orthodoxy, focusing on themunus triplexultimately distracts the reader from his primary concerns. Much the same is true for the church today – when used as a sufficient interpretative device for offering an account of the person and work of Jesus Christ, themunus triplexsuffers the fate of many an artificial schema for biblical interpretation, distracting us from the breadth and depth of the biblical witness by offering an overly tidy, artificially organised account of the material. Nevertheless, when modestly employed, it remains a significant though limited conceptual device for understanding Christ's person and work, which the church should employ in several ways so as to integrate the Old and New Testaments in its proclamation of the Gospel.

The Universal Work of the Holy Spirit in the Missiology of Pope John Paul II

This article examines John Paul II’s understanding of the universal work of the Holy Spirit and the possible salvific role of other religions. It examines various critiques of his thought on these questions and concludes that, for him, the work of the Holy Spirit is never separated from the work of Christ. It maintains that, for John Paul II, there is no salvation apart from Christ, the Holy Spirit is working in every human heart, there are spiritual riches in other religions through which God can influence people, these ‘seeds of the Word’ are preparations for the fullness of the Gospel, and the Church plays a necessary role in mediating salvation to all. Dialogue with other religions and respect for their spiritual riches are not opposed to evangelization; rather, such dialogue and respect are expressions of evangelization.

Tradition as Impulse for Renewal and Witness: Introducing Orthodox Missiology in the IRM

AbstractAt the dawn of the 20th century the Orthodox churches found themselves in a strange, even contradictory situation. On the one hand, they had a rich missionary past (the Byzantine and the Russian missions) and a dynamic theology which accepted local cultures and stressed the importance of trinitarianism and pneumatology. Yet on the other hand, the Orthodox churches had turned inwards, locked in with the national identities of the traditionally Orthodox countries. Thus Orthodox theology was almost completely absent during the first two decades of the International Review of Missions. Then some Orthodox voices began to appear. The most important Orthodox contributions to the IRM have been the holistic understanding of mission as martyria and diakonia, an inclusive approach to Christ's cosmic work, and the understanding of the church as the foretaste of the kingdom and the servant of the missionary God.

The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus: The Laterculus Malalianus and the Person and Work of Christ. By JAMES SIEMENS.

The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus: The Laterculus Malalianus and the Person and Work of Christ. By JAMES SIEMENS.

Lesslie Newbigin's Missional Approach to the Modern Workplace

In the vast collections of secondary literature related to Lesslie Newbigin's life, ministry, and thought, writers have reflected very little on his enduring passion for a missional approach to the modern secular workplace. This article examines the formative characters and experiences that shaped his groundbreaking thought on the theological nature of the laity's work. It focuses specifically on how his experience as a missionary in India equipped him with a unique contribution to the Western debate regarding workplace ministries. The article outlines the theological foundations of his approach and closes with an exploration of his radical ecclesial proposals for equipping the laity for Christ's work in modern vocations.