Christology Revisited

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A Christology "from below" - Rated
Christology Revisited is a simple book that focuses on what it means to call Jesus the God-Man. The first chapter discusses the importance the "absolute paradox" that is the God-man and its centrality to Christian theology. Chapter 2 outlines some of the tendencies in the New Testament teaching that can devalue the humanity of Jesus. Chapter 3 focusses on the Chalcedonian Christological formulation arguing that their was an ever-present bias towards docetic interpretations of the incarnation. Chapter 4 is an examination of contemporary adoptionism. In chapter 5 Macquarrie asks the question "How do we know Christ?". In answering he argues that a over-emphasis on the historic "Jesus Quest" approach is unhelpful and he suggests a more holistic method that incorporates Buber's I-Thou concept of personhood. Finally in chapter 6 Macquarrie discusses how we can the metaphysical Christ is central to all human history.

The major strength of this book is its relative simplicity. Macquarrie shows that it is possible to pursue a Christology "from below" approach and still have a high regard for historical orthodoxy. Whilst some knowledge of the history of Christological formation is useful this book is not overloaded with technical apparatus and caveats that make similar works inaccessible. I do think a broader survey of the results of the work of historians of Jesus' life and early church Christology would be helpful but over than this this book is definitely recommended as an accessible and thought provoking book.