In Defense Of Conciliar Christology

This volume offers a philosophical investigation into the systematic coherence of the Christology developed by the first seven Ecumenical Councils (from the First Council of Nicaea in ad 325 to the Second Council of Nicaea in ad 787).

In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay examines the logical consistency and coherence of Extended Conciliar Christology-the Christological doctrine that results from conjoining Conciliar Christology, the Christology of the first seven ecumenical councils of the Christian Church, with five additional theses. These theses are the claims that multiple incarnations are possible; Christ descended into Hell during his three days of death; Christ's human will was free; Christ was impeccable; and that Christ, via his human intellect, knew all things past, present, and future. These five theses, while not found in the first seven ecumenical councils, are common in the Christian theological tradition. The main question Timothy Pawl asks in this book is whether these five theses, when conjoined with Conciliar Christology, imply a contradiction. This study does not undertake to defend the truth of Extended Conciliar Christology. Rather, it shows that the extant philosophical objections to Extended Conciliar Christology fail.

that offer some more critical perspectives." --Book Jacket.

This study draws upon the resources of both contemporary analytic theology and the theological interpretation of the New Testament in order to investigate a set of important issues in Christology. It is the first work in analytic Christology to draw upon both recent scholarship in biblical studies and recent contributions to analytic philosophy and theology. Thomas H. McCall explores the themes of union with Christ and the faith of Christ as these are developed by the "apocalyptic" and "New Perspective" interpreters of Pauline theology. The volume offers a careful analysis of recent dogmatic proposals about the identity of Christ and the doctrine of election, and provides an examination of debates over the subordination of the Son in Hebrews. It also probes the relationship of the incarnate Son to his Father in Johannine theology. McCall presents an exegetically-grounded theological engagement with recent work on the place of logic in the doctrine of the incarnation.

This volume offers a philosophical investigation into the systematic coherence of the Christology developed by the first seven Ecumenical Councils (from the First Council of Nicaea in ad 325 to the Second Council of Nicaea in ad 787).

A Fresh Look at the Doctrine of Christ. Christology was the central doctrine articulated by the early church councils, and it remains the subject of close theological investigation today. Christology, Ancient and Modern—the first volume in a series of published proceedings from the annual Los Angeles Theology Conference—brings together conference proceedings, surveying the field and articulating the sources, norms, and criteria for constructive theological work in Christology. The ten diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: The types of historical Christologies and evaluations of various approaches to the theology of Christ. A close look at the trajectory and divergence of modern denominational understandings of Christ's work and person. Discussions of implications and challenges to specific Christologies regarding detailed exegetical considerations. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.

Leading scholar Jc Beall advances a contradictory Christology by addressing the apparent contradiction of Christ's being fully human and fully divine.

The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils examines the role that appeals to Nicaea (both the council and its creed) played in the major councils of the mid-fifth century. It argues that the conflict between rival construals of Nicaea, and the struggle convincingly to arbitrate between them, represented a key dynamic driving--and unsettling--the conciliar activity of these decades. Mark S. Smith identifies a set of inherited assumptions concerning the role that Nicaea was expected to play in orthodox discourse--namely, that it possessed unique authority as a conciliar event, and sole sufficiency as a credal statement. The fundamental dilemma was thus how such shibboleths could be persuasively reaffirmed in the context of a dispute over Christological doctrine that the resources of the Nicene Creed were inadequate to address, and how the convening of new oecumenical councils could avoid fatally undermining Nicaea's special status. Smith examines the articulation of these contested ideas of 'Nicaea' at the councils of Ephesus I (431), Constantinople (448), Ephesus II (449), and Chalcedon (451). Particular attention is paid to the role of conciliar acta in providing carefully-shaped written contexts within which the Nicene Creed could be read and interpreted. This study proposes that the capacity of the idea of 'Nicaea' for flexible re-expression was a source of opportunity as well as a cause of strife, allowing continuity with the past to be asserted precisely through adaptation and modification, and opening up significant new paths for the articulation of credal and conciliar authority. The work thus combines a detailed historical analysis of the reception of Nicaea in the proceedings of the fifth-century councils, with an examination of the complex delineation of theological 'orthodoxy' in this period. It also reflects more widely on questions of doctrinal development and ecclesial reception in the early church.