The starting point of Christology

In preparing for a fall youth ministry series centering on Christology, I've found myself stumped regarding a good starting point for

“The minimalism of Chalcedon, in other words, is not only constitutive but also regulative. It is constitutive with respect to salvation, and regulative with respect to interpretation. More precisely, it is constitutive regarding Christ’s person in the work of salvation, and regulative for the church in its interpretation of Scripture. As a hermeneutical construct in particular, Chalcedon offers no more and no less than a set of spectacles for bringing the central witness of the New Testament into focus. It suggests that just because Jesus was fully God, that does not mean he was not also fullly human; and that just because he was fully human, that does not mean he was not also fully God. When the New Testament depicts Jesus in his divine power, status, and authority, it presupposes his humanity; and when it depicts him in his human finitude, weakness and mortality, it presupposes his deity. No interpretation will be adequate which asserts the one at the expense of the other.” (George Hunsinger, “Karl Barth’s Christology: Its basic Chalcedonian character”, in The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth (ed. John Webster; Cambridge: CUP, 2000), 128)

Comments

Popular Posts