"St. Cyril of Alexandria is known as the 'pillar of faith' and 'seal of the Fathers', St. Cyril reminds us that the center of our faith is the encounter with Jesus, our goal and our all." -- Pope Benedict XVI "Through the incarnation...
more"St. Cyril of Alexandria is known as the 'pillar of faith' and 'seal of the Fathers', St. Cyril reminds us that the center of our faith is the encounter with Jesus, our goal and our all." -- Pope Benedict XVI
"Through the incarnation of the Logos, the nature of man as living being having the Logos is consummated: Jesus is the man who finds himself in full possession of the Logos. Athanasius expressed the matter in this way in his work about the incarnation of the Logos. Irenaeus expressed it similarly, as did the Alexandrian Christology later. Only through the incarnation of the Logos does the true man come into existence."
In Wolfhart Pannenberg's famous Christology book, Jesus: God and Man, he provided an impressive outline of how Christology as a dogma had developed historically. All Christian doctrines develop over time as the Church revises its talk about God, as Karl Barth would say, and Christology is no exception. The most famous epoch in the development of Christology was the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., when the Hypostatic Union was formulated. Chalcedon Christology was not merely restating what had been believed everywhere and by all, but was a new statement that was a compromise between two prevailing Christologies: Alexandrian Christology emphasizing a human nature in general verse Antiochene Christology emphasizing a particular human's nature.
Kasper’s rigorous work in The God of Jesus Christ illustrates his ability as an expert synthesizer to take the reader through the criticisms of the Christian faith offered by modern and post-Enlightenment thinkers like Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche, followed by a comprehensive walk through the history of the development of the doctrines on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is a journey through the Ecumenical Councils and the writings of the Church Fathers along with attention to twentieth century thinking in biblical criticism, the feminist movement, and the theologies of Rahner and Barth. Kasper concludes the book by spelling out a specifically Trinitarian theology as the only true proclamation of the Christian God." --Bill Walker
The messianic perspective. "Pannenberg begins his discussion of anthropology and Christology by saying that Christology begins with the primitive Christian interpretation of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as the messiah of God. Moltmann is on the same track... Jesus is the Messiah, the church is the Messianic community, and being a Christian means living life in a messianic way. Jesus understood himself and his message in the context of this messianic hope. His followers would experience him in the context of that hope. I will say that he makes a powerful point when he says that the mission of Christianity is the way in which Israel pervades the world of the Gentile nations with a messianic hope for the coming of God. He refers to Martin Buber, who referred to the mysterious spread of the name, commandments, and the kingdom of the God of Israel through Christianity."--George Plasterer
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Kasper's Pillars of Faith
By Didaskalex, Vine Voice, February 1, 2004
Prologue
As an admirer of this Doctor of the universal Church, I wonder if I am qualified to expose his elevated Tubingen Reconstruction Theology whose standard was set by K. Rahner and von Balthasar.It is true that the renovation of the Church came through the rediscovery of the Holy Scripture as the living source of a true redemptive theology. It was the 'Nouvelle Theologie' move that rediscovered the riches of the early Church fathers especially Origen and the Alexandrine interpretation and liturgical tradition, that motivated the peritos of Vatican II.
Theology and Anthropology
The first part of this fresh systematic approach to theology starts the logical way in 'Revelation and Mystery,' exposing the mystery of God and personal character in salvation history. Followed by the place of Christianity in the modern world, and the sense of freedom and human rights.
Christology and Anthropology
Alexandrian Christology reserved for Christ a soteriological title: the Philanthrope which Cardinal Kasper summarizes in a Vatican II statement, "in Jesus Christ God 'revealed man to himself,' a modern restatement of Athanasius theosis slogan, "God became man, that man can become god." I would have this book just for chapters IV & V, where Walter Kasper wrote the best concise defense of true Christology, just in 36 pages. He traces the controversy of Christ's person in his compelling treatment of Chaledonian aftermath of the miaphysite out cry, 'One of the Trinity suffered in the flesh.' He candidly quotes few of the outstanding theological observations (Luther, Ebeling, Stockmeier)
A Sacrament of Salvation
Part two of this study is concerned with the role of the Church in and as a universal sacrament of salvation. He declares, " So if the sacraments are embodied Word, and signs of faith, this provides the justification for seeing sacramental acts as an integral part of the actualization of God's saving mystery in Jesus Christ. This holistic viewpoint has been more or less maintained in the orthodox Church down to the present day,"
Aspects of the Eucharist
The unity and variety of the Eucharistic expression is a basic reassessment of the Eucharist as Christ with us in the summing up of Christian mystery of salvation, quoting cardinal Kasper; "We cannot therefore understand the Eucharist if we start from only one of its manifold aspects. It is not solely, or primarily, a meal; nopr is it thanksgiving and sacrifice. It is at once God's gift and grateful, sacrificial self-giving, because it makes Jesus Christ present in his person and his work. But we cannot stop short even at this glorious all-embracing vision, inspired by Origen."
