Modern Christology and Chalcedon

Catalog description

This seminar will examine the Christologies of key Eastern and Western modern theologians. We will focus on identifying patterns of biblical interpretation, doctrinal argumentation, and metaphysical definition in modern uses, or reactions against, the Chalcedonian conception(s) of Christ. Recurring topics will include the picture of Christ given in the 'plain' sense of Scripture; the 'communicatio idiomatum,' or cross-predication of divine and human statements in the biblical texts; the 'perichoresis' of the divine and human natures or attributes in Christ; the categories of nature and hypostasis; God's suffering in the incarnation; the various patterns of Christological exegesis that accompany these positions (single-subject, double-subject, hybrid, etc.); the metaphysical schemes employed for defining Christ's identity; and the nearly constant exegetical, liturgical, and soteriological dimensions thereof. Instructor consent required