What Christ? Whose Christ?: New Options for Old Theories

Christology can no longer be confined to the task of making philosophical sense of the figure of Jesus of Nazareth in terms of the formulation of the “two natures in one person” doctrine derived from the early Christian centuries. Christian theology is now required to interpret the impact and person of Jesus of Nazareth by responding to critical demands from many perspectives. 

What Christ? Whose Christ? therefore explores the Christological challenge by paying attention to a number of different perspectives, each bringing their own specialist lens to bear. These include Jesus of History research, recognition of differing historical and cultural contexts from the classical period to the present day, feminist perspectives, post-colonial and race studies, and developments from the field of interfaith theology. Each of these specialisms represent substantial fields of study and each therefore approaches any relevance for Christology with searching questions and considerable intellectual force. 

Significant for the essays in this book is reliance on the full humanity of Jesus as a figure of history who is capable of being received in new ways according to the requirements of a range of disciplines and who in turn remains capable of mediating the presence of divine reality for our times.

Chapters

Foreword (John Saxbee)

Introduction (Alan Race and Jonathan Clatworthy)

1. The Girton Conference of 1921 and the Reshaping of Liberalism in the Church of England (Mark D. Chapman)
2. Imperial Theology and the Nicene Creed (Jonathan Clatworthy)
3. Does it matter if Jesus did not think of himself as divine? (Alan Race)
4. Who do you say that I am? Christology in feminist perspective (or why feminist theologians should continue to speak about Jesus) (Natalie K. Watson)
5. Jesus Christ under Hindu gaze (Anantanand Rambachan)
6. A Buddha from Nazareth? Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus (Mathias Schneider)
7. Liberating White Jesus: A Palestinian Liberation Theology Approach to Tackling Racism, Antisemitism, and Colonialism in Christology (Paul Hedges)

Afterword: Towards a Hopeful Future (Alan Race and Jonathan Clatworthy)

About the contributors

Alan Race is an Anglican priest–theologian, and has authored and edited a number of books and articles on Interfaith Theology and Dialogue. His most recent book is My Journey as a Religious Pluralist: A Christian Theology of Religions Reclaimed (Wipf & Stock, 2021). He was Chair of the Modern Church Trustees (2017–22) and continues as Chair of the World Congress of Faiths.

Jonathan Clatworthy is a retired Anglican priest and tutor in Theology, Ethics and Philosophy. He has been General Secretary of Modern Church. His books relate to his main research interest, the relationship between monotheism and ethics. Among his publications are Liberal Faith in a Divided Church (O Books, 2008) and Why Progressives Need God: An Ethical Defence of Monotheism (Christian Alternative, 2017).

John Saxbee was Bishop of Lincoln from 2002 to 2011.

Mark D. Chapman is Vice-Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon and Professor of the History of Modern Theology at the University of Oxford. An Anglican priest and Canon Theologian of Truro Cathedral, he has worked in many different areas of modern theology and Church history. He has written and edited over 30 books, including Theology at War and Peace: English Theology and Germany in the First World War (Routledge, 2017); Theology and Society in Three Cities: Berlin, Oxford and Chicago, 1800–1914 (James Clarke, 2014); Anglican Theology (T&T Clark, 2012).

Natalie K. Watson is a theologian, writer, and editor based in Peterborough, England. She has a doctorate in theology from Durham University, and is the author of several books and articles on feminist theology, including Introducing Feminist Ecclesiology (Continuum, 2002) and Feminist Theology (Eerdmans, 2003).

Anantanand Rambachan is Emeritus Professor of Religion at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota, United States. Rambachan has been involved in interreligious relations and dialogue for over 40 years as a Hindu contributor and analyst. His most recent book is Pathways to Hindu–Christian Dialogue (Fortress Press, 2022).

Mathias Schneider is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Religion and Modernity and interim chair at the Institute for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the University of Münster. He has recently published a monograph Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus: A Religious-Historical and Theological Study (TVZ Zurich, 2023). His main research interests are Buddhist–Christian relations, Comparative Theology, Christology, Eschatology, interreligious dialogue, and the theology of religions.

Paul Hedges is Associate Professor at SRP, RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has published 14 books and over 80 academic papers. His latest books are: Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies (University of California Press, 2021) and Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021).