Christology Chapter Summary

Christology: A Global Introduction

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen is associate professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and holds a teaching post at the University of Helsinki and Iso Kirja College in Finland. He is the author of Christology: A Global introduction, Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in Ecumenical, International, and Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical, and Global Perspectives (Back Cover). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen presents the latest, comprehensive introduction to the various opinions about Christology from around the world. His book presents three main perspectives on Christology (biblical, historical, and contemporary).

He attempts to combine classical views and contextual views of Christology.

Docetism comes from the Greek term dokeo meaning “to seem” or “to appear” (64). This view recognizes Christ as fully divine. The humanity of Christ is only a visible appearance not a manifestation of the physical. In essence, this view states that Christ was not a physical human being. Therefore, if Christ is not a physical a human being one could assume he did not really suffer for our sins. This would mean Christ’s sacrifice could not entirely cover the sinful nature of man. There could not be a genuine salvific event without a physical sacrifice on the cross. These two views understand the divinity and the humanity of Christ as either one or the other but not both. However, Kärkkäinen connects the Johannine concept of Logos to explain how Jesus is both human and divine (65). “Logos Christology is a dominant way of interpreting Christ’s incarnation while showing us how Christology has taken various forms throughout history” (67). The union between the logos and Jesus of Nazareth gives us a better perspective of how we can have humanity and divinity living as one. According to the philosopher Justin Martyr, the logos that was known by pagan philosophers, has become flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In contrast, John teaching of the Logos states, Jesus was in the beginning the word and that the word became flesh. Some even teach that the Logos was God. However, modern

He discussed in depth about how Christological traditions emerged and developed over the decades (59). However, his focus leans towards the first five centuries of the church. As the church was beginning to grow the emergence of the canon was informing believers of the historical events of Jesus sacrifices. It was a wonderful era to study how the culture perceived the recently crucified Christ. Those who were followers of Christ began to raise the question about the person and work of Christ. Understanding this epoch of time opens the door for believers to comprehend the religious system and our roles as modern Christians in today’s society. When we as Christians can see how our historical roots connect to our personal beliefs. We strengthen our theological foundation and we develop into a persuasive witness in own