Contemporary Christologies

While many know of the signal contributions of such twentieth-century giants as Paul Tillich or Karl Barth or Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the important work since their time often goes unremarked until some major controversy erupts. Here is a smart and helpful survey of the chief approaches and thinkers in today's understanding of the person, significance, and work of Jesus Christ.Schweitzer offers an insightful introduction to the contemporary context of Christology, in which basic questions in the discipline (and soteriology) are being rethought in light of globalization, postmodernity, and the contemporary experience of evil. He then offers a kind of typology of the current approaches and voices: Jesus, Revealer of God (like the Gospel of John): Karl Rahner, Dorothee Soelle, Roger Haight Jesus, a Moral Exemplar (like Abelard): Rosemary Radford Ruether, Mark Lewis Taylor, Carter Heyward Jesus as Victor (like Origen): Luis Pedraja, James Cone, Elizabeth Johnson Jesus as Representative (like Anselm): Douglas John Hall, Marilyn McCord Adams, J rgen Moltmann Jesus as Source of Openness (like Francis of Assisi): Raimon Panikkar, John B. Cobb, Jacques DupuisSchweitzer's volume concludes with a reflection on the recent past and present imperatives of a discipline that virtually defines what Christianity has to offer the present age.Chapter 1 Adobe Acrobat DocumentContents Adobe Acrobat DocumentIntroduction Adobe Acrobat DocumentPreface Adobe Acrobat DocumentSamples require Adobe Acrobat ReaderHaving trouble downloading and viewing PDF samples?"Surveys succeed when they illuminate the character of a given historical epoch and inspire readers to explore the original works they examine. Most surveys, in my experience, fail on both counts. They fail spectacularly when they function as substitutes for their own primary sources. Professor Schweitzer's book seems to me an exception. His generalizations about the post-War period in Christological thought are well worth contemplating; and his brief, interesting introductions to the thinkers whom he has chosen to study ought certainly to send his readers to the originals."-Douglas John Hall, C.M.Professor of Theology EmeritusMcGill University, Montreal"Five major trajectories in christology are here explored in the works of fifteen leading Protestant and Catholic theologians from around the world. Well researched and deftly portrayed, Don Schweitzer invites readers to consider how these theologies have arisen from the life and social context of each theologian and how they address the animating concerns that define our age."-Bradford HinzeProfessor of TheologyFordham University