Essay On Christology From Above

INTRODUCTION

Christology is the study of the person of Jesus the Christ, what and who he is / was: his natures, person, obscurity, ministry, consciousness, etc. (Harvelle, 2009). Originating from the Greek word ‘Christos’ meaning, “anointed one”; it often includes such topics as the pre-existence and eternality of Christ, Old Testament prophecies about Christ, Christ’s humanity, deity, and incarnation (Herrick, 2004). Recent decades have seen an increasing concern that Jesus of the Bible was different to the Christ of theological Tradition. This has seen the development of two evaluative approaches of reflecting on the mystery of Jesus Christ called “Christology from Below” and “Christology from Above” (Stafford, 2012, p. 1; Krieg, 2002, p.

This approach can unintentionally convey the idea that the Son of God only appeared to be human during his earthly life as Jesus of Nazareth (Krieg, 2002, p. 2). There is a notable tendency to read the New Testament singularly through the eyes of John 's writing to demonstrate this methodology, while there is a visible contrast between John and the Synoptic Gospels (Krieg, 2002, p. 2). Consequently overlooking the diversity and complexity of Christ 's identity. In a sense, Christology from Above undermines the human that is Jesus Christ as well as the divine. In Religious Education we also need to be very careful when we speak of His divine nature, although this approach does not ignore the human dimension of Jesus ' earthly history. Some issues could arise with this, as young primary students may struggle to understand the union of divine and Human in Jesus of Nazareth and recognise the distinctiveness of the historical individual of Jesus the carpenter (Emil, 2012). To truly teach and for students to comprehend Jesus we cannot start with Christology from above, because of the many problems that arise from the depth of thought and knowledge

This is an essential concept when teaching Religious Education in the early years. Students can better understand how Jesus worked with his hands, thought with his mind and acted with his heart, just as students do (Krieg, 2002, p. 2). And that Jesus was someone that faced and overcame weakness and emotion as we do in our every day live. In general, this approach is that it appeals to many students today. As we tend to think in chronological terms, we want to know when Jesus lived, how he fit into the Jewish world back then, and why he was such a hazard to the Romans (Krieg, 2002, p.